Peking University, Apr. 13: PKU in her spring time is perhaps the most beautiful campus of all universities. After having survived a long and cold winter, trees takes on new clothes of green sprouts, grass enlivens the once bare ground, hope and smile gradually crawl on people’s faces. Now I’ll give you a tour of this beautiful land and share with you some of the symbolic sites on campus.

The West Gate, also called Alumnus’ Gate and icon of Peking University, is always crowed with tourists posing for pictures. The plaque above is Chairman Mao’s handwriting and its picture is often used in textbooks from primary to high school to motivate students.  

Scenery inside the West Gate. On the front is the Office Building, the building with the highest standard among traditional buildings and also the offices for major school leaders. The building on the left is the Building of Foreign Languages and the right one is the North Building of Chemistry, both are delicately designed and built buildings with rich Chinese cultural elements. On each side stand two white columns, which are used in ancient China to show social status and exorcise evil spirits. 

The Red Building. There are altogether seven red buildings on campus and their pillars are painted red. During the Yenching University from 1916 to 1952, these buildings served as dormitories for male students and faculty.

Two flowers with different colors on the same branch, a rare scene.

A busy bee. With so many peach trees blooming, the campus becomes a heaven for bees.

Weiming Lake (Anonymous Lake or Lake Without A Name) and Boya Tower, a classic combination on campus. Weeping willow, fresh air, clean water and gentle breeze around the lake make this area a perfect place for relaxing, reading, playing and of course, dating.

The Bell Pavilion on the hill south of Weiming Lake. It was used in Yenching University to tell time and now the bell is ringed to usher in a new year on new year’s eve.

The North Hall. There are two twin square halls called South Hall and North Hall. It is said that John Leighton Stuart, then president of Yenching University, missed his two daughters so much that he built these two halls to ease such strong feelings.

Extended Reading: Yenching University was established in 1916 by merging four American and British church universities in north China. John Leighton Stuart, a Christian missionary in China, was then appointed president and built the Yenching University campus, now the north part of Peking University. In 1950s, due to the deteriorating relations between China and US, Stuart had to leave China and Yenching University was then dismantled and merged into several other universities. Then Peking University moved in and Yenching University ceased to exist.

Reported by: Xiao Chunliang