This Day, That Year

Item from May 5, 1998, in China Daily: Peking University alumni and guests from around the world leave Beijing's Great Hall of the People following a grand gathering celebrating the prestigious university's centennial. The country's oldest State university turned 100 yesterday.

In his speech marking the occasion, President Jiang Zemin highly praised the university for its traditions of patriotism, progress, democracy and science, referring to it as the pioneer of the New Culture Movement in 1919, which pushed the country to seek democracy and science ... Among the first 53 Chinese Communist Party members, 21 were connected to Peking University in some way, including late chairman Mao Zedong, who was a campus librarian.

Yesterday marked the 117th anniversary of Peking University. The university has moved up to 32nd place in global rankings, amid continual efforts to build and maintain its international stature, according to the recently released Times Higher Education World Reputation Rankings 2015 of educational institutions.