Peking University - Notable Faculty, Administrators, and Alumni

Notable Faculty, Administrators, and Alumni

Peking University has produced many notable people, especially prominent thinkers in modern China. These include figures such as Hu Shi, Li Dazhao and Lu Xun. Peking University also has two Nobel Prize winners, Tsung-Dao Lee and Yang Chen Ning, although both conducted their Nobel winning work at Universities in the US. Since 1948, 586 Peking University alumni have been selected into the renowned Academic Division of the Chinese Academy of Science (两院院士), overshadowing any other universities in China.

Peking University is the home to communist, nationalist and liberal thoughts in modern China. Mao Zedong, Chen Duxiu and Li Dazhao, all founders of the Communist Party of China, either taught or held offices in the university. Lu Xun, a notable contemporary writer and influential figure of the Chinese New-Culture Movement, which took place in 1919 and sparked China’s anti-imperialism and anti-feudalism march, was also attached to the university. During the Cultural Revolution, Peking University philosophy faculty Nie Yuanzi notoriously published the first big-character poster. Peking University students also led at the Tiananmen Square Protest of 1989 for democracy.