Peking University

Peking University (PKU) was established as the first modern national university of China in 1898. Today it is one of China’s top-ranked [Page 933]universities and one of its most significant research universities. Although the city formerly romanized as “Peking” is usually called “Beijing” now, it is standard to refer to the university as Peking University. One of the centers of intellectual culture in China, PKU played major roles not only in the Tiananmen Square protest of 1989 (half of the leaders of which were PKU students) but also in the progressive, Westernizing New Culture Movement of the 1910s and 1920s. In 1920, PKU was the first Chinese university to admit women.

PKU is a member of the nine-university alliance of the C9 League, which consists of ...