Peking University
Peking University is a public university in Haidian, Beijing, China. It is affiliated with and funded by the Ministry of Education of China. The university is part of Project 211, Project 985, and the Double First-Class Construction. It is also a member in the C9 League.
Founded in 1898 as the Imperial University of Peking by royal charter from the Guangxu Emperor, it is the second-oldest university in China after Tianjin University. In May 1912, the government of the Republic of China ordered the Imperial University of Peking to be renamed Peking University. Then Peking University merged with Yenching University during the nationwide restructuring of universities and academic departments in 1952. In April 2000, the Beijing Medical University merged with the Peking University.
Peking University has eight faculties, namely Sciences, Informatics, Engineering, Humanities, Social Sciences, Economics and Management, Interdisciplinary as well as Health Science. It consists of 55 schools and departments, 24 research entities, and six affiliated hospitals. By 2024, Peking University's staff included 54 academicians of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, 16 academicians of the Chinese Academy of Engineering and 20 members of the World Academy of Sciences.
History
Establishment
Following China's defeat in the Sino-Japanese War, intellectuals – including Kang Youwei, Liang Qichao, and Yan Fu – called for reforms to the country's education system. In June 1896, Minister Li Duanfen proposed to create a university in the capital. On 11 June 1898, the Guangxu Emperor, as part of the Hundred Days' Reform, authorised the creation of the Imperial University of Peking. The Imperial University was formally established on 3 July 1898 when the emperor approved the royal charter written by Liang. Minister Sun Jianai was charged with the implementation. IUP served as the country's foremost institute for higher learning, but also as its highest educational authority. William Alexander Parsons Martin was appointed as the first president. Most of the reforms were abolished when the conservative Empress Dowager Cixi seized power on 21 September. The university survived with altered objectives and reduced scope. It opened on 31 December with 160 students, instead of the planned 500.Following the Xinhai Revolution, the Imperial University of Peking was renamed "Government University of Peking" in 1912 and then "National University of Peking" in 1919.
Early Republic of China period (1916–1927)
The noted scholar Cai Yuanpei was appointed president on 26 December 1917. He helped transform Peking University into the country's largest institution of higher learning, with 14 departments and an enrollment of more than 2,000 students. President Cai, inspired by the German model of academic freedom, introduced faculty governance and democratic management to the university. Cai recruited an intellectually diverse faculty that included some of the most prominent figures in the progressive New Culture Movement, including Hu Shih, Liu Bannong, Ma Yinchu, Li Dazhao, Chen Duxiu, Lu Xun and Liang Shuming. Meanwhile, leading conservatives Gu Hongming and Huang Kan also taught at the university. A firm supporter for freedom of thought, Cai advocated for educational independence and resigned several times protesting the government's policy and interference.File:Beijing_students_protesting_the_Treaty_of_Versailles_.jpg|thumb|220x220px|Peking University students protesting the Treaty of Versailles in the May Fourth Movement.On 1 May 1919, some students of Peking University learned that the Treaty of Versailles would allow Japan to receive Germany's colonising rights in Shandong province. An assembly at Peking University that included these students and representatives from other universities in Beijing was quickly organised. On 4 May, students from thirteen universities marched to Tiananmen to protest the terms of Treaty of Versailles, demanded the Beiyang government to refuse to sign the treaty. Demonstrators also demanded the immediate resignation of three officials: Cao Rulin, Minister of the Ministry of Transportation, Zhang Zongxiang, China's Ambassador to Japan and Lu Zongyu, Minister of Currency, who they believed were in cooperation with Japanese. The protest ended up with some protesters being beaten and arrested, and Cao Rulin's house burned by protesters. Following the protest on 4 May, students, workers and merchants from nearly all China's major cities went on strike and boycotted Japanese goods in China. The Beiyang government eventually agreed to release the arrested students and fired the three officials under intense public pressure, China's representatives in Paris refused to sign the Treaty of Versailles.During the Criticize Lin, Criticize Confucius campaign of 1973 to 1976, critique groups formed at Peking University and Tsinghua University disseminated commentaries under the pseudonym of "Liang Xiao". The pseudonym sounds like a person's name but is a homophone for "two schools".
World War Two (1938–1946)
During the Second World War, Peking University staff joined Tsinghua University and Nankai University staff in establishing the National Southwestern Associated University. Based in Kunming, Yunnan, this institution saw a period of high productivity that would shape the course of Chinese intellectual history and its reconstruction post-war.21st century (2001–present)
In October 2015, Peking University alumnus and Professor Tu Youyou was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for her discovery of artemisinin. Having saved millions of lives, artemisinin has made significant contributions to global health in regard to the fight against malaria.On 20 February 2017, the university officially signed a contract with the Open University to establish the Oxford Campus of Peking University HSBC Business School, Peking University Oxford Center and Shenzhen Oxford Innovation Center.
On 29 June 2020, the Sino-Russian Mathematics Center was established. The Sino-Russian Mathematics Center is led by Peking University and Moscow State University, and jointly constructed by relevant domestic units and other Russian universities and research institutes such as St. Petersburg University, relying on the "Double First-class" construction alliance in mathematics.
On 2 April 2021, Peking University Nanchang Innovation Research Institute was inaugurated.
On 15 July 2021, Peking University School of Integrated Circuitswas inaugurated.
On 6 September 2021, the new Changping campus of Peking University was officially opened, welcoming the first batch of teachers and students. On 30 September, Peking University Lanyuan Centre was officially launched. The first dean of Lanyuan Centre is Ke Yang, Professor of Peking University School of Clinical Oncology and a foreign academician of the American Academy of Medical Sciences. In October, Peking University officially announced the establishment of Peking University School of Computer Science, which means the computer major of Peking University was officially upgraded from a department to a school. Yang Fuqing, Academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, served as the honorary president.
In 2022, Peking University and Lancet established a commission on healthy aging in China. The Commission's purpose is to re-focus the debate on aging not just on the risks of China's aging population but on opportunities by "unleashing the intellectual and vocational capacities of the older population and the whole of Chinese society."
In June 2022, the International University Sports Federation released the first series of "Healthy Campus" list. Peking University, as the only Chinese university that has obtained platinum certification from the International University Sports Federation, participated in 4 projects and became the only representative from China among 130 projects worldwide.
In March 2025, PKU split its former Faculty of Information and Engineering into two new faculties—Faculty of Informatics and Faculty of Engineering, with the latter having added two newly established schools—School of Advanced Manufacturing and Robotics and School of Mechanics and Engineering Science.
Campus
The university campus is on the former site of Qing dynasty imperial gardens and it retains traditional Chinese-style landscaping, including traditional houses, gardens, pagodas, and notable historical buildings and structures. American architect and art historian Talbot Hamlin designed some of the university's buildings constructed during the 1919 to 1922 period. There are several gates that lead into campus — East, West and South gates, with the West Gate being the most well known for the painted murals on its ceiling. Weiming Lake is in the north of the campus and is surrounded by walking paths and small gardens. The university hosts many museums, such as the Museum of University History and the Arthur M. Sackler Museum of Art and Archaeology. Notable items in these museums include funerary objects that were excavated in Beijing and date back thousands of years from the graves of royals of the Warring States period. There are ritual pottery vessels as well as elaborate pieces of jewelry on display. There are also human bones set up in the traditional burial style of that period.Beyond its main campus, Peking University Health Science Center is on Xueyuan Road where the country's most distinguished colleges are, and is a fitting site for academics and research.
During the Third Front construction, Peking University opened a branch in Hanzhong, Shaanxi.
In 2001, Peking University's Shenzhen campus, the Shenzhen Graduate School, opened its doors. The campus is located in the northwest part of Shenzhen City.
Academics
Peking University consists of 55 schools and departments, with 137 majors for undergraduates, 59 Master's degree programs, and 59 doctoral programs. In addition to basic research, the university also conducts applied research.At present, Peking University has 420 research institutions, including 7 State Key Laboratories, 5 National Engineering Research Centers, and 1 National Laboratory. With 8 million holdings, the university library is the largest of its kind in Asia.
Peking University, the Georgia Institute of Technology, and Emory University jointly administer the Wallace H. Coulter Department of Biomedical Engineering.
Over the past century, some Peking University alumni have become presidents of other major Chinese universities, including former Tsinghua President Luo Jialun, Renmin University President Yuan Baohua, Zhejiang University President Qian Sanqiang, Fudan University President Zhang Zhirang, Nankai University President Teng Weizao, Chinese University of Science and Technology President Guan Weiyan and many others.