School of History

The School of History of Beijing Normal University can trace its history more than a hundred years back to the Capital Metropolitan University’s Facutly of Education established in 1902. The Facutly of Education was transformed to be the independent Beijing Higher Normal College in 1912. In 1928, the Department of History and Geography of Beijing Higher Normal College was divided to be the Department of History and the Department of Geography respectively. In 1952 the Department of History of Furen University was integrated into the Department of History of Beijing Normal University.

In 2006, the former Department of History and the Institute of Historiography of Beijing Normal University were joined together to form the School of History. The School of History acknowledges the academic heritage of all those who have taught at the institutions that formed the foundation of the School as it is now known, among whom we proudly mention preeminent names as Li Dazhao, Qian Xuantong, Deng Zhicheng, Wang Tongling, Fang Guoyu, Zhu Xizu, Zhang Xinglang, Yang Xiufeng, Chu Tunan, Chen Yuan, Hou Wailu, Bai Shouyi, Zhao Guangxian, Chai Degeng, Liu Qige, Chen Zhengfei, Zhang Hongxiang. The School is now National Key Research Institute for two sub-disciplines of History and Beijing Key Research Institute for History in general. It hosts also a Ministry of Education Key Research Base for Humanities and Social Sciences. Professor Yang Gongle is the President of the School since 2006.

The School is entitled to offer the degree of Doctor of Philosophy for 7 sub-disciplines of History and the degree of Master of Arts for 8. The teaching staff at the School includes 37 full-time Professors, 32 of them entitled to supervise PhD students, 16 part-time Professors, and 14 full-time Associate Professors. The School takes pride in its staff of internationally acknowledged historians like Professors He Ziquan, Gong Shuduo, Liu Jiahe, Qu Lindong, Chen Qitai, Chao Fulin, Zheng Shiqu, and also of yong promising scholars.

The School was among the first institutions in China to qualify as National Training and Research Base for Humanities and Social Sciences designated for providing responsible, creative, dedicated elite professionals for the society, and in this category was evaluated Excellent in 2001. More than fifty percent of the undergraduates from the School, according to recent statistics, continue for higher education when the others take teaching, researching, and managing positions at schools, research institutes, the media, and the government across the country and beyond.

The School, with widely acknowledged reputation in history teaching and research, was one of the earliest institutions in China to be entitled to offer the degree of Doctor of Philosophy for History and one of the earliest to host a Post-Doctoral Research Station for History. The School is supported as a special unit by both the National “211” Project and the National “985” Project. The School offers courses on all levels for Historical Theory and Historiography, Ancient Chinese History, Modern Chinese History, World History, Historical Literature, and Archaeology and Museum Studies. The teaching of the School benefits from Professor Bai Shouyi’s pioneering reform of history teaching initiated at Beijing Normal University in the eighties of the last century, that won him a privileged National Award for Excellence in University Teaching and was highly influential beyond the University.

The staff of the School won many prizes, on the provincial level as well as the national level. The publication of the multivolume General History of China, Zhongguo Tongshi, with Professor Bai Shouyi as the editor in chief, was a major academic event. The work was considered as “the summate of China’s historical research of the twenties century.” President Jiang Zemin and leaders of the Party and the central government wrote to Professor Bai Shouyi to congratulate him on his great achievement. In addition to Professor Bai’s most impressive achievement, The History of Southern Ming, Nanming Shi, by Professor Gu Cheng also of the School of History of Beijing Normal University won a State Supreme Book Award, the highest award for academic publications. The Journal of Historiography hosted at the School for more than forty years is a National Core Academic Journal (History) and a source Journal of CSSCI, and is distributed to sixteen countries with an international reputation of academic quality.

The School encourages international exchange and cooperation. In recent years, the staff of the School have conducted research, teaching, conference, and other forms of academic activities in the United States, the United Kingdom, Russia, Germany, Japan, South Korea, and Singapore. The School invited also specialists from the United Kingdom, the United States, Japan, France for lectures and for teaching as visiting professors at the School.