Beijing Language and Culture University, colloquially known in Chinese as Yuyan Xueyuan, has the main aim of teaching the Chinese language and culture to foreign students. However, it also takes Chinese students specializing in foreign languages and other relevant subjects of humanities and social sciences, and trains teachers of Chinese as a foreign language. It used to be the only institute of this kind in China. After the push for massification of higher education starting in the 90s, nowadays many other universities in almost every major city in China have a similar offer. Thus bachelor, master or post-doc degrees in "Teaching Chinese as a second language to Foreigners", as well as bachelor's and master's degrees in several foreign languages, are no longer only to be found at BLCU. Beijing Language and Culture University is often called "Little United Nations" in China because of its very large number of international students from various countries.
History
Early in the 1950s when the teaching of Chinese as a foreign language was still at the initial stage, the first generation of BLCU teachers took an active part in the pioneering work. As a result, the first school of higher education specially oriented to foreign students, "Higher Preparatory School for Foreign Students", was established in June 1962. In 1964, the school was officially named "Beijing Language Institute". In June 1996, it was renamed "Beijing Language and Culture University". Its Chinese name was shortened in July 2002 to "Beijing Language University" with the approval of the Ministry of Education, but the English name remained unchanged. September 6, 2002, witnessed the celebration of the 40th anniversary of BLCU, for which General-Secretary Jiang Zemin and Vice-Premier Li Lanqing wrote letters of congratulations, and the Chairman of the NPC Standing Committee Li Peng wrote words of encouragement. BLCU was granted the privilege to confer doctoral degrees in foreign languages and literature in 2011.
Campus
The campus of BLCU is located in the Haidian District of Beijing. It takes about 330,289 m2, and total building area is about 427,342 m2. Most teaching facilities, including the main building, library and gym are in the teaching area, while dormitories for Chinese students are there as well. The special dormitory for foreign students is Building 17, located in the living area with apartments for staff and families. Some grocery stores are can be found in both the teaching and living areas, and the only market zone is near the north exit of the living area.
Chinese language studies
The Global Times ranks the Chinese language school for foreigners very highly, citing a good campus life, lively location and an experienced faculty.
