Beijing Normal University is a public research university located in Beijing, China, with a strong emphasis on basic disciplines of the humanities and sciences. It is one of the oldest and most prestigious universities in China, and was recognized by the Chinese Ministry of Education as a Class A Double First Class University. The term "normal school" refers to an institution that aimed to train schoolteachers in the early twentieth century. This term reflects BNU's heritage as a former unit of the Imperial University of Peking dedicated to training schoolteachers. The University grew out of the Faculty of Education at the Imperial University of Peking which was established as China's first modern university, on the initiative of the emperor of the Qing Dynasty after the Hundred Days' Reform in 1898. When communist forces established the People's Republic of China in 1949, the capital of Peking was renamed Beijing and the university was consequently renamed Beijing Normal University. During a national initiative of university rearrangement in 1952. In total, the university has 55 undergraduate degree programs, 162 master programs, and 100 doctoral programs. Sixteen of them are honored as "national key disciplines", including 5 general disciplines and 11 specialized disciplines, and are recognized as among the top ranked programs in China.
