Beijing Language and Culture University (BLCU) is a national key university, directly under the administration of the Ministry of Education of the People's Republic of China, and the only university named “语言” (language) in China. Known as “the Mini-United Nations”, BLCU is highly internationalized with its main mission to spread the Chinese language and culture across the world. Since its founding, the university has developed into a world-renowned university featuring international Chinese language education, with strengths in language education and research and coordinated development of multiple disciplines.
Under the direct guidance of Premier Zhou Enlai, Beijing Language and Culture University was founded at a time when the diplomacy of the PRC was in its infancy. The characters of the university name were inscribed by Chairman Mao Zedong. The predecessor of the University, was the Higher Preparatory School for International Students, founded in 1962 and renamed “Beijing Language Institute” in 1964, and became the training base for international students to learn Chinese language Chinese students to learn foreign languages before going abroad, and for the Chinese teachers to teach Chinese abroad. In 1996, it was renamed “Beijing Language and Culture University”.
The university boasts a large number of experts and scholars of profound attainments and high esteem, including Zhang Qingchang, Wang Huai, Sheng Cheng, Zhong Qin, Fu Weici, Yuan Shuren, Lyu Bisong, and Fang Li. They all taught here and devoted themselves to education, carrying forward the legacy of the culture. At present, a new generation of teachers and scholars with both moral integrity and academic accomplishments, are active in teaching and scientific research, and have become the leaders and academic pillars in their own disciplines. Among all the universities in China, BLCU has the largest, most specialized, and strongest team of teachers for international Chinese language education. As the first university to cultivate Chinese teachers to teach Chinese to the speakers of other languages (TCSOL), many teachers go overseas annually to teach and promote Chinese language and culture. More than 40 of the current faculty have been selected for major “talent projects” at the national, provincial, and ministerial levels. There are two national excellent teacher teams and four municipal excellent teacher teams. The TSCOL team was awarded the honorary title “Huang Danian Style Teacher Team” of Chinese universities.
To meet the need of developing international Chinese language education and enhancing international communication capacity, the university has built a multidisciplinary system that is interrelated and mutually supportive. As the pioneer, founder and leader of international Chinese language education, BLCU has delivered the first undergraduate program in Chinese language for international students, one of the first batch of undergraduate and graduate programs in TCSOL, the first doctoral program of TCSOL in linguistics and applied linguistics, and the first College for Teacher Education that specializes in cultivating teachers for international Chinese language education. In recent years, the university has been adhering to the development principle of “highlighting the characteristics, strengthening the advantages, promoting quality in all areas by drawing upon the experience gained on key points, and achieving the overall improvement”. BLCU focuses on strengthening the construction of disciplines, continues to play its leading role in the development of international Chinese language education, and promotes the integration of related disciplines by giving full play to the advantage of the discipline of linguistics so as to enhance its comprehensive strength rapidly. At present, there are nine disciplines: Literature, Science, Engineering, Economics, Management, Law, Education, History, and Arts. BLCU has 2 first-level doctoral degree programs, 2 postdoctoral research centers, 11 first-level master's degree programs, and another 9 master’s degree programs. Among them, Linguistics and Applied Linguistics is a national key discipline, and there are 1 municipal first-level key discipline and 10 second-level key disciplines in Beijing. Two disciplines, Chinese Language and Literature, and Country and Regional Studies, have been selected into “Advanced Innovation Disciplines of Beijing Universities”.
BLCU is a leading university in cultivating international talents understanding and befriending China and also an important higher institution for training outstanding talents in various fields.The university is committed to strengthening moral education and adhering to the school motto of “Virtue and Words for a Harmonious World”, staying true to the spirit of “patriotism, responsibility, sincerity, simplicity, virtue, innovation, openness, and inclusiveness”. The University aims at cultivating envoys of friendship and outstanding talents with professional knowledge, humanistic qualities, global vision, innovative spirit and practical ability for Sino-foreign cultural exchanges. BLCU has 42 Bachelor programs, including 18 national first-class discipline programs, 4 municipal first-class discipline programs, 1 municipal key discipline, 7 national featured disciplines and 4 municipal featured disciplines. The university has established three bases for cultivating top-notch talents, including the experimental class for cultivating talents for the United Nations and other international organizations, the experimental class for language intelligence and technology, and the experimental class for finance. The first Department of Linguistics and the first “linguistics” major for undergraduates have been newly established here, and the “Chinese International Communication” center for cultivating top students of Chinese language and literature has been selected as a base for the National Program for Cultivating Top Students in Basic Disciplines 2.0. By now, the University has trained more than 220,000 international students from 189 countries and regions in the world who are proficient in Chinese language and familiar with Chinese culture, as well as hundreds of thousands of outstanding talents for China, many of whom have become well-known figures in the fields of academic, politics and business.
BLCU is a major academic research center for humanities and social sciences, serving national strategies.The University actively conducts academic research on Chinese and foreign languages and cultures, vigorously promotes cross-disciplinary research, and has produced numerous cutting-edge scientific research results and high-quality policy advisory reports in the fields of country and regional studies, language intelligence, language cognition and brain science, and international sinology. To strengthen its international communication capacity, BLCU has undertaken the national project “Talent Database of Chinese and Foreign Sinologists and Translators and Chinese Cultural Translation and Research Network”, and coordinated with the Publicity Department of the Communist Party of China to implement the “Translation Plan of Asian Classics” proposed by General Secretary Xi Jinping at the Conference on Dialogue of Asian Civilizations to promote the translation and dissemination of Chinese culture. The University has leveraged its disciplinary and academic strengths in linguistics to engage deeply in the promotion and popularization of the standard spoken and written Chinese language and make positive contributions to forging a sense of community for the Chinese nation. BLCU has 16 research centers (bases) of the provincial and ministerial level or above. Among them, the Research Institute of International Chinese Language Education is one of the 100 key research bases in the humanities and social sciences of the Ministry of Education; the Center for the Cognitive Science of Language (“111 Program”) is a platform of introducing talents supported by the Ministry of Education and the Ministry of Science and Technology; the Language Resources Conservation Center is a professional institution of the National Language Commission to protect language resources; supported by the Beijing Municipal Education Commission, the Beijing Advanced Innovation Center for Language Resources is one of the two advanced innovation centers for liberal arts in the universities of Beijing. The University is home to seven core academic journals, among which Language Teaching and Linguistic Studies and Chinese Teaching in The World have been elected as “China’s Most Internationally Influential Academic Journals (Humanities and Social Sciences)” for consecutive years.
BLCU is an important window for Chinese and foreign languages education and cultural exchanges.BLCU has established partnership with 406 universities and educational institutions in 76 countries and regions, and has formed a productive international education pattern with all-around, multi-level and wide-ranging features. Every year, more than 6,000 international students from more than 140 countries and regions study at BLCU, and nearly 100 foreign teachers work here. The University receives over 1,500 international visitors each year. With students from all over the world studying together and multiple cultures mingling, the University has created a distinctive international campus, popular for its activities such as the “World Culture Festival”. Every year, around 100 teachers teach overseas and more than 400 students study abroad. BLCU is the first university in China to set up satellite campuses abroad, with Bangkok College in Thailand and Tokyo College in Japan; BLCU is also one of the first Chinese universities to establish Confucius Institutes, with 22 Confucius Institutes (Confucius Classrooms) in total, and has been awarded the “Outstanding Confucius Institute Chinese Partners of the Year” many times.
Looking ahead, BLCU will always adhere to the guidance of Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era and to the CPC’s education policy. Based on the new development stage, the University will uphold the new development philosophy and fully implement its strategy of innovative development with its own features and achieve high-quality development. The University will follow the “three-step” strategy outlined by the Ninth Congress of CPC , promote the implementation of the Fourteenth Five-Year Plan, accelerate the construction of a multi-disciplinary, distinctive, research-oriented, world-renowned high-level university. Through making unremitting efforts to achieve the long-term goal of building a world-class language university with Chinese characteristics, BLCU strives to make greater contributions to making China strong in education and realizing the Chinese Dream of national rejuvenation.
(Statistics quoted are up till July 2022 from BLCU University Office)