Renmin University of China


The Renmin University of China is a public university in Haidian, Beijing, China. The university is affiliated with the Ministry of Education, and co-funded by the Ministry of Education and the Beijing Municipal People's Government. The university is part of Project 211, Project 985, and the Double First-Class Construction.

History

The origins of Renmin University of China date back to Shanbei Public School, established in 1937 by the Chinese Communist Party in order to "bring up hundreds of thousands of revolutionary comrades to meet the needs of the War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression." Later it was renamed as the North China United University and North China University.
In 1950, several institutions were merged to form a single Renmin University of China. In 1954, Renmin University of China was established as one of six national key universities of China, becoming the youngest national key university at that time.
Wu Yuzhang, Cheng Fangwu, Guo Yingqiu, Yuan Baohua, Huang Da, Li Wenhai, Ji Baocheng, and Chen Yulu had successively held the position of the president of the university. the president is Lin Shangli.

Present

Currently Renmin University consists of 25 schools, 13 research institutes and the graduate school, with 63 specialties for undergraduate, 8 specialties for the second-bachelor's degree students, 149 specialties for the master's degree candidates, 100 specialties for the Doctor's degree candidates and 33 national key disciplines.
The university library has 2.5 million holdings, and is recognized as the Information Center of Arts Literatures by the Ministry of Education. The new library building opened in the second half of 2011. The Renmin University of China Press is one of the most famous publishers and the first university press in China which has published a large number of academic works in humanities and social sciences. The library of the university covers a total area of 26,000 square meters. It has 15 reading rooms and an economics hall, with more than 2000 seats.
Renmin University has established its communications and cooperative relationships with 125 universities and research institutions of 32 countries and regions, which enables the university to be the center of academic and cultural communications between China and foreign countries.

Schools and departments

In 2015, the China Academy of Financial Inclusion was established at Renmin University. The Academy is a government think-tank tasked with developing financial inclusion mechanisms for China.
On 25 October 2017, Renmin University established a Xi Jinping Thought research center, the first of its kind.
On 25 May 2024, Renmin University opened The Research Centre for Shiology. The current director is Liu Guangwei, the founder of Shiology and director-general of the World Shiology Forum.

Rural Reconstruction Center of Renmin University

Rural Reconstruction Center of Renmin University was established in 2005 and is based in Beijing. Its main mission is to explore the theory and practice of rural reconstruction. It partakes in fair trade advocacy and coordinating urban and rural green energy initiatives as well as the promotion of fair education.
Chongyang Institute for Financial Studies, Renmin University of China
1. General Introduction
The Chongyang Institute for Financial Studies at Renmin University of China was officially established on January 19, 2013. It was built on the education fund set up by Shanghai Chongyang Investment Management Co., Ltd. through a donation to Renmin University of China, and it is the core achievement of this donation project.
As a new-type think tank with distinct Chinese characteristics, RDCY has invited a wide range of talents, inviting dozens of former politicians, senior bankers, and renowned scholars from around the world to serve as senior fellows. It always adheres to the purpose of focusing on reality, advising the country and serving the people. Currently, RDCY has 7 departments and operates 4 professional research centers, namely the Center for Eco-Financial Studies, the Global Governance Research Center, the China-US People-to-People Exchange Research Center, and the China-Russia People-to-People Exchange Research Center. In recent years, RDCY has achieved fruitful results in research fields such as financial development, global governance, major power relations, and macro policies, winning extensive praise and high recognition at home and abroad.
In terms of operation and research, RDCY has built a capable and efficient full-time team. In research work, RDCY's research in areas such as global governance, macro finance, major power relations, and public diplomacy is at the forefront level in China. As of 2025, it has published over a hundred related works and released hundreds of research reports. Its research results have been repeatedly approved and affirmed by General Secretary Xi Jinping and other Party and state leaders. On May 17, 2016, General Secretary Xi Jinping presided over a symposium on philosophy and social sciences. Prof. Wang Wen, the dean of RDCY, was invited to participate and speak, and was immediately recognized by the General Secretary.
At the international cooperation level, RDCY actively expands international exchanges and has established a stable cooperation mechanism with major think tanks in more than 40 countries around the world. It has successfully carried out a series of related activities in more than 20 countries such as the United States, Brazil, the United Kingdom, Russia, Malaysia, and Iran, playing a positive role in promoting China's public diplomacy.
RDCY is very active on overseas media platforms and in the public opinion arena, actively spreading Chinese perspectives and wisdom. It has been interviewed and reported by hundreds of overseas media such as the British Broadcasting Corporation, the Russian Telegraph Agency - TASS, The New York Times, the Financial Times, and Russia Today. In 2024, RDCY voiced its opinions through more than 300 overseas media, covering more than 20 languages. In 2020, RDCY took the lead in publishing the "An Open Letter to the People of the United States from 100 Chinese Scholars" jointly written by 100 Chinese scholars and launched the global initiative of "No the New Cold War" in the internationally renowned magazine The Diplomat, which has hundreds of millions of international audiences and has attracted extensive attention.
In terms of operation management, RDCY has made efforts to build a new-type think tank that has a well-rounded new media operation system. It has established a Chinese-English all-media matrix covering more than 20 platforms, ranging from official Chinese and English websites, WeChat, Weibo, Bilibili, Toutiao, to X, YouTube, Facebook, and LinkedIn, attracting more than5 million followers worldwide, demonstrating RDCY's influence on international communication.
In the rankings of major global and domestic think tanks, RDCY, with its outstanding research results and extensive international influence, firmly ranks among the first-line think tanks in China. It is listed among the "Top 150 Global Think Tanks", "the most influential 'Belt and Road' university think tanks", "the top 100 university think tanks A++", "the top 90 global university think tanks". Its dean, Prof. Wang Wen, was selected as one of the "Top 40 think tankers in 40 years of reform and opening up".

Campuses

The university currently possesses two active campus, one campus under construction and one former campus.
  • The main campus is located at No.59 Zhongguancun Street, Haidian district, Beijing. Most of the university's schools, departments and institutes are located here.
  • *The campus's English Corner is very famous in Beijing. Every Friday evening, people gather at the Qiushi Garden near the east gate to practice English.
  • *The campus is host to about 1,165 international students, many of them from South Korea. There are so many South Korean students that the International Students Dining Room has a separate Korean menu aside from their traditional Chinese menu.
  • The university has a secondary campus located in Suzhou Industrial Park, in the South-eastern province of Jiangsu. It is home to the RUC Sino-French Institute and its 900 Chinese and international students. Besides, a number of Chinese and sino-foreign Master-level programs from several RUC faculties are also located on the same grounds under the supervision of RUC International College. RUC Suzhou campus is part of the Suzhou Dushu Lake Higher Education Town, together with other international Sino-Foreign oriented graduate and post-graduate schools such as Xi'an Jiaotong-Liverpool university or the Southeast University-Monash University Joint Graduate School.
  • Renmin University is currently building its future main campus in Lucheng, Tongzhou district, currently named "Eastern Campus", to the east of Beijing central area. It will be located in the same town as the soon-to-be relocated Beijing municipal government facilities. Completion date is expected by the end of year 2017.
  • The former main campus of Renmin University of China is located east of the Forbidden City, in the Dongcheng district. Although the property still belongs to the university, it is no longer used for educational purposes.