Peking Union Medical College was formally dedicated in 1921, and is China's earliest medical institution to offer an 8-year medical education program and undergraduate nursing education. Due to cooperation with Tsinghua University for education, it was renamed Peking Union Medical College, Tsinghua University in 2006. Students and graduate students in both clinical and non-clinical medical programs will receive diplomas and degrees from both Tsinghua University and Peking Union Medical College upon graduation.[1][2][3][4]
The Rockefeller Foundation was established in 1913 and in 1913-1914 the newly formed Foundation created a Commission, including Dr. Franklin C. McLean, to examine medical education in China. Dr Wu Lien-teh strongly supported the establishment of a new medical college in Peking and made a number of recommendations, all of which were adopted.[6] One of its recommendations was that the Foundation - through a subsidiary organization - should assume financial responsibility for the college. On July 1, 1915, the recently established China Medical Board assumed full support of the Union Medical College, having previously acquired the property. The commission's members had included both William Welch, the first Dean of the Johns Hopkins Medical School, and Simon Flexner. The China Medical Board modeled the school after Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine following the recommendations of the Flexner Report, which set the foundation of modern Medical Education in the United States and Canada.
The PUMC was reorganized in 1917 and celebrated its 90th anniversary with a ceremony attended by the president of Johns Hopkins University, the chair of the China Medical Board and representatives of the Rockefeller family and Rockefeller Brothers Fund. John Black Grant, M.D., M.P.H. was a founding faculty member of PUMC and served from 1921 to 1938 as professor and chair of its Department of Public Health. Dr. Grant is the father of James P. Grant, the third executive director of UNICEF.
Red Guards occupy PUMC
In 1951, the government of the People's Republic of China nationalized Peking Union Medical College. Maoist populists, however attacked the school as “the greatest bulwark for the American cultural aggression,” and many of the faculty were forced out. [7] In 1956, the school came under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Health. During the Cultural Revolution, it was briefly renamed "Anti-imperialist Hospital."
Current status
Peking Union Medical College, Tsinghua University GateNorth campus
At present, Peking Union Medical College has developed into a national-level comprehensive medical research institution integrating medical education, teaching, scientific research and production, with 21 research institutes, 6 affiliated hospitals, 10 colleges and 105 off-campus research and development institutions.
Peking Union Medical College has provided generations of leaders for academic and clinical medicine and related areas all over the world.
As of 2025, Peking Union Medical College was listed as one of the top 200 universities in the World University Rankings.[8] It is consistently ranked among the top medical schools in China and has ranked in the top 1 or 2 best nationwide, together with Capital Medical University among Chinese Medical Universities in the recognized Best Chinese Universities Ranking.[9][10]
As of 2024, its "Biomedical Engineering" and "Pharmacy & Pharmaceutical Sciences" were ranked 34th and 2nd in the world respectively, while "Biological Sciences" and "Public Health" were placed in the top 100 in the world by the Academic Ranking of World Universities.[11] As of 2025, its "Pharmacology and Toxicology" also ranked 9th globally by the U.S. News & World Report.[12]
Academic Ranking of World Universities (ARWU)
Academic Ranking of World Universities (ARWU), also known as the Shanghai Ranking, is one of the annual publications of world university rankings. It's the first global university ranking with multifarious indicators.
This hospital is consistently ranked as the top hospital in China. It is a premier institution for general medicine and handling complex, rare diseases.
As the largest cardiovascular disease specialist hospital in the world, it leads in cardiac and vascular surgery, interventional therapies, and research.
This is the leading national institution for cancer prevention, diagnosis, treatment, and research. It is a comprehensive cancer center with the highest level of expertise.
It is the largest and most authoritative center for plastic and reconstructive surgery in China, famous for a wide range of procedures from complex reconstructive surgery to cosmetic surgery.
This hospital specializes in the diagnosis and treatment of blood diseases such as leukemia, lymphoma, aplastic anemia, and hematopoietic stem cell transplantation.
n April 2025, Peking Union Medical College in China was exposed by the media to have launched a clinical medicine doctoral training program in 2018 known as the "4+4" model, which consists of 4 years of non-medical undergraduate education followed by 4 years of medical professional education. The program uses the theory of liberal education as a justification, arguing that doctors should possess a broader knowledge base beyond medicine. This has sparked a debate between liberal education and specialized education. The public has expressed disapproval, claiming that it not only wastes the first four years of undergraduate study but also results in doctors trained under the liberal education theory lacking adequate medical skills. Furthermore, the program has been criticized as a shortcut for children of powerful and wealthy families to quickly obtain a doctoral degree.[18]
Cody, Jeffrey W. (2001). Building in China: Henry K. Murphy's "Adaptive Architecture," 1914-1935. Hong Kong; Seattle: Chinese University Press; University of Washington Press. ISBN0295980958.
McLean, Franklin C, Ph.D., Guide to the Franklin C. McLean Papers 1881-1969 (Special Collections Research Center, University of Chicago Library, 2006).
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