Peking University, the former Jing Shi Da Xue Tang (the Metropolitan University ) of the Qing Dynasty, opened in December 1898. The Metropolitan University was not only the most prestigious institution of higher learning, but also the highest administrative organization of education in China. In May 1912, the Metropolitan University was renamed "Peking University". In 1917, its presidency was taken up by Mr. Cai Yuanpei, an outstanding scientist, educationist and democratic revolutionary, who played an active role in the reform and development of the university.

By 1919, the university developed into the country's largest institution of higher learning, with 14 departments and an enrollment of more than 2,000 students. Peking University has a glorious revolutionary tradition. In 1919, the anti-imperialist and anti-feudal May 4th Movement was initiated from the university, which had been the centre of the Chinese New-Culture Movement and the earliest base for the dissemination of Marxism in China . Chen Duxiu, Li Dazhao and Mao Zedong, founders of the Chinese communist Party, as well as Lu Xun, a great writer, thinker and chief leader of the Chinese New-Culture Movement, all either taught or held offices in the university. In order to carry on the revolutionary tradition of the May 4th Movement, the university decided, after the new China was founded, that the 4th of May be set as the date on which to celebrate the anniversary of the founding of the university.