Beijing Language and Culture University
Encyclopedia
Beijing Language and Culture University (BLCU; ), colloquially known in Chinese as Beiyu , has the main aim of teaching the Chinese language and culture to foreign students. However, it also takes Chinese students specializing in foreign languages and other relevant subjects of humanities and social sciences, and trains teachers of Chinese as a foreign language. It used to be the only institute of this kind in China. After the push for massification of higher education starting in the 90's, nowadays many other universities in almost every major city in China have a similar offe. Thus bachelor, master or post-doc degrees in "Teaching Chinese to Foreigners" , as well as bachelor and master degrees in several foreign languages are no longer only to be found at BLCU or a "specialized" university.
Early in the 1950s when the teaching of Chinese as a foreign language (TCFL) was still at the initial stage, the first generation of BLCU teachers took an active part in the pioneering work. As a result, the first school of higher education specially oriented to foreign students, "Higher Preparatory School for Foreign Students", was established in June 1962. In 1964, the school was officially named "Beijing Language Institute" and later renamed as "Beijing Language and Culture University (北京语言文化大学）" in June, 1996, this was shortened to Beijing Language University (in Chinese) in July, 2002 with the approval of the Ministry of Education. September 6, 2002 witnessed the celebration of the 40th anniversary of BLCU, for which General-Secretary Jiang Zemin and Vice-Premier Li Lanqing wrote letters of congratulations, and the Chairman of the NPC Standing Committee Li Peng wrote words of encouragement.
Located in the Haidian District of Beijing, close to Tsinghua University
and Peking University
. It is on Xueyuan Lu 学院路 and Chengfu Lu 成府路 and near the Wudaokou
五道口 subway station on line 13.
History
Campus
Tsinghua University
Tsinghua University , colloquially known in Chinese as Qinghua, is a university in Beijing, China. The school is one of the nine universities of the C9 League. It was established in 1911 under the name "Tsinghua Xuetang" or "Tsinghua College" and was renamed the "Tsinghua School" one year later...
and Peking University
Peking University
Peking University , colloquially known in Chinese as Beida , is a major research university located in Beijing, China, and a member of the C9 League. It is the first established modern national university of China. It was founded as Imperial University of Peking in 1898 as a replacement of the...
. It is on Xueyuan Lu 学院路 and Chengfu Lu 成府路 and near the Wudaokou
Wudaokou
Wudaokou , literally in Chinese the fifth level crossing of the Jingbao Railway, is a neighborhood in the Haidian District of North West Beijing. It is around 10 km from the center of Beijing, between the fourth and fifth ring roads, and has good public transport links including a station on...
五道口 subway station on line 13.