PekingUniversity(TraditionalChinese:北京大学;SimplifiedChinese:北京大学;Pinyin:BěijīngDàxué),colloquiallyknowninChineseasBeida(北大,
Běidà),wasestablishedin1898.ItisregardedasoneofthebestandthemostselectiveuniversitiesinChina.PekingUniversityisthefirstformallyestablisheduniversity,andthefirstnationaluniversityofChina.TheuniversitypolicyhasmandatedtheuseofPekingUniversityinEnglishratherthanBeijingUniversity[citationneeded]duetotraditionandthedesiretoavoidconfusionwithBeijingNormalUniversityandothersimilarlynamedinstitutions.
History
PekingUniversitywasestablishedinBeijinginDecember1898duringtheHundredDaysReformandwasoriginallyknownastheImperialUniversityofPeking(TraditionalChinese:京师大学堂;SimplifiedChinese:京师大学堂;Pinyin:jīngshīdàxuétáng).In1912,followingtheXinhaiRevolution,theImperialUniversityofPekingwasrenamedtheNationalPekingUniversity(国立北京大学).ThefamousscholarCaiYuanpeiwasappointedpresidentonJanuary4,1917andhelpedtransformtheuniversityintothecountry'slargestinstitutionofhigherlearning,with14departmentsandanenrollmentofmorethan2,000students.Cai,inspiredbytheGermanmodelofacademicfreedom,recruitedanintellectuallydiversefacultythatincludedHuShih,ChenDuxiu,andLuXun.In1919studentsofPekingUniversityformedthebulkoftheprotestersoftheMayFourthMovement.EffortsbytheBeiyanggovernmenttoendtoprotestsbysealingoffthePekingUniversitycampusledtoCai'sresignation.In1920PekingUniversitybecamethesecondChineseuniversitytoacceptfemalestudents,afterNanjingUniversity.
AftertheoutbreakoftheSecondSino-JapaneseWarin1937(andtheresultingexpansionofJapaneseterritorialcontrolineastChina),PekingUniversitymovedtoChangshaandformedtheChangshaTemporaryUniversityalongwithTsinghuaUniversityandNankaiUniversity.In1938,thethreeschoolsmovedagain,thistimetoKunming,andformedtheNationalSouthwesternUnitedUniversity.In1946,afterWorldWarII,PekingUniversitymovedbacktoBeijing.Atthattime,theuniversitycomprisedsixschools(Arts,Science,Law,Medicine,Engineering,andAgriculture),andaresearchinstituteforhumanities.Thetotalstudentenrollmentgrewupto3,000.
AfterthePeople'sRepublicofChinawasestablishedin1949,YenchingUniversitywasmergedintoPekingUniversityandPekingUniversitylostits"national"appellationtoreflectthefactthatalluniversitiesunderthenewsocialiststatewouldbepublic.In1952PekingUniversitymovedfromdowntownBeijingtotheformerYenchingcampus.