Peking Union Medical College (), founded in 1906, is a selective

public In public relations and communication science, publics are groups of individual people, and the public (a.k.a. the general public) is the totality of such groupings. This is a different concept to the sociological concept of the ''Öffentlichkei ...

medical college based in Dongcheng,

Beijing } Beijing ( ; ; ), alternatively romanized as Peking ( ), is the capital of the People's Republic of China. It is the center of power and development of the country. Beijing is the world's most populous national capital city, with over 21 ...

, China. It is a Chinese Ministry of Education

Double First Class University Plan The World First Class University and First Class Academic Discipline Construction (), together known as Double First Class (), is a tertiary education development initiative designed by the People's Republic of China central government in 2015 ...

university. The school is tied to the

Peking Union Medical College Hospital Peking Union Medical College Hospital (PUMCH), also known as Beijing Xiehe Hospital (), is a large of teaching hospital in Beijing, China. It was founded in 1921 by Rockefeller Foundation and is affiliated to both Peking Union Medical College (P ...

and has a joint 8-year clinical medicine science program with

Tsinghua University Tsinghua University (; abbreviation, abbr. THU) is a National university, national Public university, public research university in Beijing, China. The university is funded by the Ministry of Education of the People's Republic of China, Minis ...

. Peking Union Medical College students in the 8-year clinical medicine program could receive a Peking Union Medical College diploma and degree signed by both the Peking Union Medical College and Tsinghua presidents. It was merged with the Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences in 1957 and operates as one single institution with two names directly under the Ministry of Health, now the

National Health Commission The National Health Commission of the People's Republic of China is a cabinet-level executive department of the State Council which is responsible for formulating national health policies. It was formed on 19 March 2018. The ministry is headqu ...

. It is the first

medical school A medical school is a tertiary educational institution, or part of such an institution, that teaches medicine, and awards a professional degree for physicians. Such medical degrees include the Bachelor of Medicine, Bachelor of Surgery (MBBS, M ...

in China to introduce the 8-year

M.D. Doctor of Medicine (abbreviated M.D., from the Latin ''Medicinae Doctor'') is a medical degree, the meaning of which varies between different jurisdictions. In the United States, and some other countries, the M.D. denotes a professional degree. T ...

program.

History

Bundesarchiv Bild 137-023959, Rodfeller Institut in Peking

The

was founded in 1906. The

American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions The American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions (ABCFM) was among the first American Christian missionary organizations. It was created in 1810 by recent graduates of Williams College. In the 19th century it was the largest and most imp ...

, the Board of Foreign Missions of the Presbyterian Church in the U.S.A., the

London Missionary Society The London Missionary Society was an interdenominational evangelical missionary society formed in England in 1795 at the instigation of Welsh Congregationalist minister Edward Williams. It was largely Reformed in outlook, with Congregational miss ...

, and later, the Board of Foreign Missions of the

Methodist Episcopal Church The Methodist Episcopal Church (MEC) was the oldest and largest Methodist denomination in the United States from its founding in 1784 until 1939. It was also the first religious denomination in the US to organize itself on a national basis. In ...

, the

Society for the Propagation of the Gospel United Society Partners in the Gospel (USPG) is a United Kingdom-based charitable organization (registered charity no. 234518). It was first incorporated under Royal Charter in 1701 as the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Part ...

, and the Medical Missionary Association of London, together with the then-Chinese government cooperated in the foundation and development of the Medical College and maintained it until 1915. The

Rockefeller Foundation The Rockefeller Foundation is an American private foundation and philanthropic medical research and arts funding organization based at 420 Fifth Avenue, New York City. The second-oldest major philanthropic institution in America, after the Carneg ...

was established in 1913 and in 1913-1914 the newly formed Foundation created a Commission, including Dr.

Franklin C. McLean Franklin Chambers McLean (1888 - September 10, 1968) was a Professor and Chairman of the Department of Medicine and the first appointed Director of the University of Chicago, University of Chicago Medical Clinics, as well as the founder of the Nati ...

, to examine medical education in China. Dr

Wu Lien-teh Wu Lien-teh (; Goh Lean Tuck and Ng Leen Tuck in Minnan and Cantonese transliteration respectively; 10 March 1879 – 21 January 1960) was a Malayan physician renowned for his work in public health, particularly the Manchurian plague of 1910 ...

strongly supported the establishment of a new medical college in Peking and made a number of recommendations, all of which were adopted. 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 China Medical Board, Inc. (CMB; ) is a nonprofit organization that promotes health education and research in the medical universities of China and Southeast Asia. Its mission is "to advance health, equity, and the quality of care in China and Southe ...

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 Simon Flexner, M.D. (March 25, 1863 in Louisville, Kentucky – May 2, 1946) was a physician, scientist, administrator, and professor of experimental pathology at the University of Pennsylvania (1899–1903). He served as the first director of t ...

. The China Medical Board modeled the school after

Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine (JHUSOM) is the medical school of Johns Hopkins University, a private research university in Baltimore, Maryland. Founded in 1893, the School of Medicine shares a campus with the Johns Hopkins Hospi ...

following the recommendations of the

Flexner Report The ''Flexner Report'' is a book-length landmark report of medical education in the United States and Canada, written by Abraham Flexner and published in 1910 under the aegis of the Carnegie Foundation. Many aspects of the present-day American me ...

, 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 James Pineo Grant (May 12, 1922 – January 28, 1995) was an American diplomat and children's advocate. Grant served for 15 years (from January 1980 to January 1995) as the third executive director of the United Nations Children's Fund, United Nat ...

, the third executive director of

UNICEF UNICEF (), originally called the United Nations International Children's Emergency Fund in full, now officially United Nations Children's Fund, is an agency of the United Nations responsible for providing Humanitarianism, humanitarian and Devel ...

. In January 1951, the new government nationalized PUMC, and the institution was accused of being an agent of American

cultural imperialism Cultural imperialism (sometimes referred to as cultural colonialism) comprises the cultural dimensions of imperialism. The word "imperialism" often describes practices in which a social entity engages culture (including language, traditions, ...

. The Ministry of Health changed its name to China Union Medical College but did not radically alter the curriculum except to switch the language of instruction from English to Chinese. In 1952 the

People's Liberation Army The People's Liberation Army (PLA) is the principal military force of the People's Republic of China and the armed wing of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). The PLA consists of five service branches: the Ground Force, Navy, Air Force, ...

took charge of operations and remained in charge until 1956. The curriculum was militarized and shortened to one year in order to train army medical officers, and Soviet models were introduced. The basic orientation to Western medicine was maintained and the staff continued to do research and advanced surgeries. In 1956, autonomy was restored, but the college continued to be criticized for its elitism, cosmopolitanism, and failure to "serve the people" during periodic campaigns. During the

Cultural Revolution The Cultural Revolution, formally known as the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution, was a sociopolitical movement in the People's Republic of China (PRC) launched by Mao Zedong in 1966, and lasting until his death in 1976. Its stated goal ...

, the Peking Union Medical College was closed, and the hospital was renamed the Beijing Anti-Imperialism Hospital (北京反帝醫院). In 1979, it reopened as the "Capital University of Medical Sciences" then returned to Peking Union Medical College (协和医科大学) in 1985.

Current status

Peking Union Medical College students traditionally attend

Peking University Peking University (PKU; ) is a public research university in Beijing, China. The university is funded by the Ministry of Education. Peking University was established as the Imperial University of Peking in 1898 when it received its royal charter ...

biology department for their pre-meds portion of education. Since 2002,

has held a joint MD program in clinical medical science. Enrollment in the clinical medical science at PUMC is based on individual's performance in high school and National Exam score at graduation. The curriculum of clinical medical science is 8 years, accepts about 90 students each year and includes 2.5 years of pre-medical education in the School of

Life Sciences This list of life sciences comprises the branches of science that involve the scientific study of life – such as microorganisms, plants, and animals including human beings. This science is one of the two major branches of natural science, the ...

at Tsinghua University; the students have their pre-med studies at Tsinghua University and are considered as students of both PUMC and Tsinghua University. The college also has its independent Graduate School, which recruits from other medical schools around the country. The health care services at

are widely believed in mainland China to be among the most technically advanced. Many prominent political and social leaders in China have sought medical treatment at the PUMC Hospital. Peking Union Medical College has provided generations of leaders for academic and clinical medicine and related areas all over the world. Peking Union Medical College is part of the

Project 211 Project 211 () was an abolished project of developing comprehensive universities and colleges initiated in 1995 by the Ministry of Education of China, with the intent of raising the research standards of comprehensive universities and cultivat ...

list of universities receiving national funding.

Rankings and reputation

Peking Union Medical College is listed as one of the top 400 universities in the World University Rankings. 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 Capital Medical University (CMU) ) is a public research university in Beijing, China. Capital Medical University was founded in 1960, with the original name of Beijing Second Medical College. Rankings Capital Medical University is listed as o ...

among Chinese Medical Universities in the recognized

Best Chinese Universities Ranking The Best Chinese Universities Ranking (BCUR) is a ranking table of Chinese institutions of higher education. It is compiled by Shanghai Ruanke, the same agency that is behind the Academic Ranking of World Universities The ''Academic Ranking o ...

. As of 2022, its "Biomedical Engineering" and "Public Health" were ranked in the top 75 in the world, while "Pharmacy & Pharmaceutical Sciences" and "Nursing" were placed in the top 150 in the world by the

Academic Ranking of World Universities The ''Academic Ranking of World Universities'' (''ARWU''), also known as the Shanghai Ranking, is one of the annual publications of world university rankings. The league table was originally compiled and issued by Shanghai Jiao Tong University ...

. As of 2022, its "Clinical Medicine" also ranked #121 globally by the '' U.S. News & World Report''.

Research

The medical school is the home to 4 state key labs and 6

WHO Who or WHO may refer to: * Who (pronoun), an interrogative or relative pronoun * Who?, one of the Five Ws in journalism * World Health Organization Arts and entertainment Fictional characters * Who, a creature in the Dr. Seuss book ''Horton Hear ...

collaborating centers including the: *WHO Collaborating Center for Health and Biomedical Information *WHO Collaborating Center for the Family of International Classification (WHO-FIC) *WHO Collaborating Center for Nursing Policy-Making and Quality Management *WHO Collaborating Center for Traditional Medicine *WHO Collaborating Centre for the Community Control of Hereditary Diseases (Thalassemia) *WHO Collaborating Centre for the Prevention and Control of Sexually Transmitted Infections *The State Key Laboratory of Molecular Oncology *The State Key Laboratory of Medical Molecular Biology *The State Key Laboratory of Bio-active substances and the function of natural medicines *The State Key Laboratory of Experimental Hematology

Hospitals

, Beijing *Fuwai Hospital, Beijing *Cancer Hospital, Beijing *Plastic Surgery Hospital, Beijing *Hematology Hospital,

Tianjin Tianjin (; ; Mandarin: ), alternately romanized as Tientsin (), is a municipality and a coastal metropolis in Northern China on the shore of the Bohai Sea. It is one of the nine national central cities in Mainland China, with a total popul ...

*Skin Disease Hospital,

Nanjing Nanjing (; , Mandarin pronunciation: ), alternately romanized as Nanking, is the capital of Jiangsu province of the People's Republic of China. It is a sub-provincial city, a megacity, and the second largest city in the East China region. T ...

Notable alumni

Chen Jirui Dr. Chen Jirui (, also known as Chen Jirui; 1930–2004) was a Chinese research scientist, medical doctor and teacher. He played a key role in introducing Traditional Chinese medicine to English-language speaking medical professionals. His book ''A ...

(Jerry Chen) *

Xin Lu Xin Lu is a Professor of Cancer Biology and Director of the Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research at the University of Oxford. She is known for her discovery of and research on the ASPP family of proteins. Education Xin Lu completed her under ...

Tang Feifan Tang Feifan (; July 23, 1897 – September 30, 1958) was a Chinese medical microbiologist best known for culturing the ''Chlamydia trachomatis'' agent in the yolk sacs of eggs. Tang was persecuted during the "Pulling Out Bourgeois White Flag Mo ...

* Pei Hsien Tang *

Tsai-Fan Yu Tsai-Fan Yu (, 1911 – March 2, 2007) was a Chinese-American physician, researcher, and the first woman to be appointed as a full professor at Mount Sinai School of Medicine. She helped to develop an explanation for the cause of gout and experime ...

Wu Jieping Wu Jieping (; 22 January 1917 – 2 March 2011) was a Chinese medical scientist and politician. Wu was the Chairman of Central Committee of Jiusan Society from 1992 to 2002, and a Vice-chairman of the National People's Congress Standing Committee ...

Jin Xianzhai Hyen-taik Kimm (7 March 1904 – 4 September 1990) was a Korean-Chinese physician that specialized in oncology.; In China, he is remembered as the "Father of Chinese Oncology" for his many pioneering contributions to the field in the country a ...

Tian Gang Gary ''Tiān'' () is one of the oldest Chinese terms for heaven and a key concept in Chinese mythology, philosophy, and religion. During the Shang dynasty (17th―11th century BCE), the Chinese referred to their supreme god as '' Shàngdì'' (, "Lo ...

Wang Haiqiu Elaine Wang may refer to: Names * Wang (surname) (王), a common Chinese surname * Wāng (汪), a less common Chinese surname * Titles in Chinese nobility * A title in Korean nobility * A title in Mongolian nobility Places * Wang River in Thailand ...

* Liang, Ping Yee

Gallery

Image:Peking Union 4.jpg Image:Peking Union 2.jpg Image:Peking Union 3.jpg Image:Peking Union 5.jpg Image:PUMC 1.jpg Image:Bundesarchiv Bild 137-009048, Rodfeller Hospital in Peking.jpg Image:Bundesarchiv Bild 137-009049, Rodfeller Institut in Peking.jpg

References

Citations

Sources

* * Bullock, Mary Brown. ''An American Transplant: The Rockefeller Foundation and the Peking Union Medical College'' (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1980). * McLean, Franklin C, Ph.D., ''Guide to the Franklin C. McLean Papers 1881-1969'' (Special Collections Research Center, University of Chicago Library, 2006).

External links

Official Website

100 Years: The Rockefeller Foundation, China Medical Board
{{DEFAULTSORT:Peking Union Medical College Universities and colleges in Beijing Medical schools in China Educational institutions established in 1906 Major National Historical and Cultural Sites in Beijing Vice-ministerial universities in China Plan 111 Rockefeller Foundation 1906 establishments in China