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Beijing Bailie University, founded by Rewi Alley

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Banner of Beijing Bailie University website

Beijing Bailie University – Běijīng Péilí zhíyè xuéyuàn 北京培黎职业学院, founded by Rewi Alley

The translated name of this University is variously recorded as:   Beijing Bailie University,  Beijing Peili University, Bailie Vocational Institute or Peili Vocational Institute.

 Location Details:

Beijing Bailie University campus: location map

Location:   Address since 2000:   1 Shuangqing Lu, Beijing    

NOTE: in 2016, all English-language web sources, including wikipedia and googlemaps, were showing the University in it’s previous location (Xiangshan S Rd, Haidian, Beijing), much further to the west of Beijing.  It is NOT there! 
It hasn’t been there for 16 years now, but English sources tend to lag behind Chinese sources.

GPS co-ordinates:  N40.0187167   E116.3409833         

Cost:   No cost to view around campus

Access:    There are several metro/bus combinations that will get close to the University area.  

  • Metro line 15 to Liudaokou station, the University is a couple of km north of the station. 
  • Bus #333 goes past the school gate, but only on it’s southward journey – northward you alight about 500m away.  
  • Metro line 13 to Wudaokou station is also an option.
Beijing Bailie Uni + Peili Park Bus Routes

Founded in May 1983, the Beijing Bailie University (BBU) is one of the earliest non-governmental institutions of higher education officially to be approved by the Beijing Municipal People’s Government and documented by the Ministry of Education of the People’s Republic of China.  It is a full-time vocational college for various professional training, including foreign language, computing, law, accounting, international business, art, and hospitality departments

BBU was founded by Rewi Alley and its history dates back to the anti-Japanese war.  Alley’s role continues to be is acknowledged with his likeness appearing on the top of the home page of the BBU website together with his motto for the school which was ‘train for the dawn‘ of the New China.  The name Beijing Bailie University came from a proposal of Alley who was committed to promoting the educational idea of integrating study with practice, initiated by an old American educator Joseph Bailie in China. Alley and his close friend Dr. George Hatem were the first two honorary presidents of the university.  They hoped that the traditional spirit of the old Shandan Bailie School created in wartime would be passed on in China through the generations.

The university also adopted the old Shandan school motto of ‘Hands and mind, create and analyze’ as the university’s motto.  The university has played a significant role in practicing and exploring China’s structural reform of higher education: it is acknowledged as of one of the more influential non-governmental universities in Beijing and  throughout China.  Up until 2011, BBU’s had trained more than 20,000 qualified graduates.   ( Source: Beijing Bailie University website.)

Madam Yu Xiaohong is the International Co-operation Director, she can be reached via email [email protected] if you plan to visit the University.

Peili Park (named after BBU) is located near East Gate of the Beijing Bailie University

Website:        http://www.bjpldx.edu.cn/english/rabbu.php 

 The University moved to the current site in 2000 – previously an old factory was located here.  Earlier the University had several sites spread across Beijing and in 2000 they were consolidated onto one site.

In 2016, there were 3000 students, age 17-21, studying majors including English, Japanese, Computing, Law, Marketing, and Journalism.  The number of students has been decreasing, a reflection of the nation-wide shortage of young people compared to earlier decades.   These students come from all over China – Business English students were from Sichuan, Hubei, Liaoning, Shaanxi.

The University maintains international co-operation links, it organises exchanges, mainly to England, Spain, and Japan. 

On September 3, 2011, BBU signed an agreement with the New Zealand China Friendship Society (NZCFS) which included two-way academic exchange and reception of visitors and delegations, and promotion of New Zealand and BBU as centres of excellence for study.  The agreement was signed by BBU President Yu Lin and NZCFS Vice President Dave Bromwich. At the signing Bromwich acknowledged the significance of the legacy Rewi Alley has left for the relationship between the people of New Zealand and China, in the Gung Ho cooperative movement and in the Bailie Education system

In 2016, there were just 4 students studying in New Zealand – NZ is no longer a popular destination due to visa difficulties.

Rewi Alley’s China > Beijing > Shanghai > Hubei province > Shaanxi provinceGansu province >  Shandan > Lanzhou >

This article is based on a report by Jane Furkert of her work: ‘An Independent Travellers’ Guide to Rewi Alley Locations in China, 2016’, that was funded by the Rewi Alley Friendship and Exchange (RAFE) Fund.