Peking University

The oldest higher education institution in China, Peking University was founded in 1898 as a replacement for the ancient Guozijian school (Imperial College). By the early 1920s, it had become a center for Chinese progressive thought, playing an important role in China's New Culture Movement, the May Fourth Movement, and the Tiananmen Square protest of 1989, among other significant historical events. Peking University is a comprehensive and National key university. The campus, known as "Yan Yuan"-- the gardens of Yan, is situated at the northeast of the Haidian District at the western suburbs of Beijing. It stands near the Yuan Ming Gardens and the Summer Palace. The University consists of 30 colleges and 12 departments, with 93 specialties for undergraduates, 2 specialties for the second Bachelor's degree, 199 specialties for Master candidates and 173 specialties for Doctoral candidates. While still laying stress on basic sciences, the university has paid special attention to the development of applied sciences. At present, Peking university has 216 research institutes and research centres, and there are 2 national engineering research centres, 81 key national disciplines, 12 national key laboratories. The university has made an effective combination of the research on important scientific issues with the training of personnel with high level specialized knowledge and professional skill as demanded by the country's socialist modernization. It strives not only for the simultaneous improvements in teaching and research work, but also for the promotion of interaction and mutual promotion among various subjects. Thus Peking University has become a center for teaching and research and a university of the new type, consisting of diverse branches of learning such as pure and applied sciences, social sciences and the humanities, and sciences of management and education. Its aim is to rank among the world's best universities at the beginning of the next century.