Peking University

Beijing, China · founded 1898 · 42,000 students · public research university

Known for: China's oldest modern university and a premier institution for humanities, social sciences, and natural sciences. It is celebrated as a center of liberal arts education and intellectual thought, with a historic role in China's New Culture and May Fourth movements.

Rankings

QS World: #14
Times Higher Education: #13
ARWU Shanghai: #29

Top programmes

Liberal Arts
Social Sciences
Law
Economics
Chemistry
Life Sciences

Notable alumni

Li Keqiang — Former Premier of the State Council of China
Tu Youyou — Nobel Prize laureate in Physiology or Medicine
Mao Zedong — Founding father of the People's Republic of China (worked as a librarian)
Lu Xun — Influential modern Chinese writer and critic
James Mirrlees — Nobel Prize laureate in Economics
Zhang Yimou — Acclaimed film director

Traditions

May Fourth Commemorations
Weiming Lake Poetry Recitals
Peking University Anniversary Gala
Various academic and cultural festivals

If Peking University were…

As a food: Sichuan hotpot from Haidilao — Complex, layered, intellectually stimulating, and demands active engagement — you can't just consume it passively. Beida is for students who want to debate every ingredient, question the broth, and argue about the proper
As an athlete: Kobe Bryant — Obsessed with mastery, intellectually curious about the game's philosophy, and unafraid to be polarizing. Beida students are cerebral competitors who study the theory behind everything and aren't satisfied with just winn
As a person alive today: Li Keqiang — Beida economics graduate (1982) who became Premier — the school's tradition of producing China's intellectual and political elite who shape policy through ideas, not just technical expertise.
As a historical figure: Mao Zedong — Worked as a library assistant at Beida in 1918, where he was radicalized by the May Fourth Movement intellectuals. The university has always been where China's revolutionary ideas — political, cultural, literary — are bo
As a movie or TV show: Dead Poets Society — Students wrestling with tradition versus modernity, authority versus free thought, in a beautiful historic setting where ideas matter more than grades. Beida is where China's brightest go to question everything and find
As a US president: Woodrow Wilson — The Princeton professor-president who believed in intellectualism, idealism, and the power of ideas to reshape nations. Beida produces scholar-leaders who think China's future should be guided by enlightened minds, not j
As a city: Paris — Historic, intellectual, beautiful, and perpetually arguing about ideas over coffee. Beida is where China's thinkers, writers, and revolutionaries gather to debate the nation's soul in gardens that once belonged to empero
As an element: Carbon — The basis of all organic life, infinitely versatile, forming everything from diamonds to graphite depending on arrangement. Beida is the foundation of modern Chinese intellectual life, producing scholars who shape cultur
As a car: Hongqi L5 — China's hand-built state limousine reserved for top leadership—intellectual prestige, historical gravitas, and cultural symbolism wrapped in exclusivity. Peking's liberal arts tradition meets political proximity to power

Campus life

Life at PKU is known for its vibrant intellectual and cultural atmosphere, with active debates, lectures, and student societies. The campus has a more liberal arts-oriented and socially engaged vibe compared to its technical counterparts, though it remains highly competitive.