Peking University,the First National
2 min readComprehensive University in ChinaPeking University was established in Beijing in December 1898 during the Hundred DaysReform and was originally known as the Imperial Capital University(jingshidaxuetang)to replacethe ancient Guozijian.In 1902,the ImperialCapital University’s Faculty of Education was spunoff to become today’s Beijing Normal University,thebest teacher’s college in China.In 1912,followingthe Xinhai Revolution,the Imperial University wasrenamed”National Peking University”.The famous scholar Cai Yuanpei was appointedpresident on January 4,1917,and helped transform theuniversity into the country’s largest institution of higherlearning,with 14 departments and an enrollment of more than 2,000 students.Cai,inspired bythe German model of academic freedom,recruited an intellectually diverse faculty that includedHu Shi,Chen Duxiu,and Lu Xun.In 1919,students of Peking University formed the bulk of theprotesters of the May Fourth Movement.Efforts by the Beiyang government to end the protestsby sealing off the Peking University campus led to Cai’s resignation.In 1920,Peking Universitybecame the second Chinese university to accept female students,after Nanjing University.
After the outbreak of the Second Sino-Japanese War in 1937(and the resulting expansionof Japanese territorial control in east China),Peking University moved to Changsha and formedthe Changsha Temporary University along with Tsinghua University and Nankai University.In 1938,the three universities moved again,this time to Kunming,and formed the NationalSouthwestern Associated University.In 1946,after World War II,Peking University movedback to Beijing.At that time,the university comprised six schools(Arts,Science,Law.Medicine,Engineering,and Agriculture),and a research institute for humanities.The totalstudent enrollment grew up to 3.000.
In 1952,three years after the People’s Republic of China was established,YenchingUniversity was merged into Peking University and Peking University lost its”national”appellation to reflect the fact that all universities under the newv socialist state would be public.In 1952 Peking University moved from downtown Beijing to the former Yenching campus.Thefirst disturbances of the Cultural Revolution began at Peking University in 1966 and educationthere ceased between 1966 and 1970.
In 2000.Beijing Medical University was merged into Peking University and became thePeking University Health Science Campus.Beida now has eight affiliated hospitals and 12teaching hospitals.
In 2001.Peking University set up a satellite campus in Shenzhen.The university’s secondbusiness school was launched on this campus in 2004,and was renamed Beida HSBC School ofBusiness in 2008.
