Founded in 1898, Peking University was originally known as the Imperial University of Peking. It was the first national university covering comprehensive disciplines in China, and has been a leading institution of higher education in China because its establishment. It also served as the highest administration for education at the beginning of its founding.

In 1912, the university adopted its present name. At the end of the 20th century, the Chinese government put Peking University at the top of its agenda for promoting greater education, with the aim to build a world-class university in the 21st Century. Soon after merging with Beijing Medical University in 2000, Peking University as soon as again was strengthened in its disciplinary structure.

Peking University is a comprehensive and national key university. The campus, known as "Yan Yuan" (the garden of Yan), is situated at Haidian District in the western suburb of Beijing, having a total region of 2,743,532 square metres (or 274 hectares). It stands near to the Yuanmingyuan Garden as well as the Summer Palace.

The university has efficiently combined study on essential scientific subjects with the training of personnel having a high level of specialized knowledge and professional skill as demanded by the country's socialist modernization. It strives not merely for improvements in teaching and investigation work, but also for the promotion of interaction and mutual promotion amongst a variety of disciplines.

Therefore Peking University has grow to be a center for teaching and study along with a university of a brand new type, embracing diverse branches of studying for example simple and applied sciences, social sciences and the humanities, and sciences of medicine, management, and education. Its aim would be to rank amongst the world's best universities in the future.

In 2004, there had been over 4000 international students from about 80 countries, such as 1825 long-term students and approximately 2,600 short-term students. Among them, there were 1,292 Degree-Seeking students, such as those seeking undergraduate, postgraduate and doctoral degree.