Beijing No. 4 High School

Beijing No. 4 High School (BHSF)
北京四中

Diligence, Rigor, Democracy and Pioneering
Address
A2 West Huangchenggen North St., Xicheng District
Beijing
China
Coordinates 39°55′53″N 116°22′42″E / 39.931262°N 116.378257°E / 39.931262; 116.378257Coordinates: 39°55′53″N 116°22′42″E / 39.931262°N 116.378257°E / 39.931262; 116.378257
Information
Type Public
Established 1906 (as Shun-Tian Secondary School)
Principal Liu Changming (刘长铭)
Faculty 300 (Main Campus)
Number of students 1500 (Main Campus)
Campus size 14.53 acres (58788㎡）for Main Campus
About 289 acres（1169000㎡） for all campuses
Campus type Urban
Color(s)      Blue
     White
Branches Senior High Campus
Junior High Campus
International Campus
Fangshan Campus
Shunyi Campus
Hohhot Campus
Anthem Song of Hope and Ideal
Website www.bhsf.cn

Beijing No. 4 High School (Chinese: 北京市第四中学; pinyin: Běijīng shì dìsì zhōngxué), commonly abbreviated as (Beijing) Sizhong (Chinese: 北京四中), and sometimes referred to as Beijing High School Four (BHSF), is a highly prestigious public beacon high school in Xicheng District, Beijing, China. It is one of the most prestigious high schools in China.[1] It was established in 1907 by the Shuntian Government (Beijing Government) during the Qing dynasty, known as the Shuntian Secondary School. After the Xinhai Revolution, the school was renamed as Capital Public No. 4 Secondary School (京师公立第四中学), which was not changed into the current name until 1949, when the People's Republic of China was proclaimed. The school was among the first to be accredited as a "Municipal Model High School" by the Beijing Municipal Commission of Education. More than 300 students from the school have won medals in municipal, national and international competitions every year. More than 96 percent of its graduates passed the enrolment line of key universities (Tier 1 schools) in National Higher Education Entrance Examination.[2] In a 2016 ranking of Chinese high schools that send students to study in American universities, Beijing No. 4 High School ranked number one in mainland China in terms of the number of students entering top American universities, and number four internationally for high schools outside of the United States.[3][4] Many Chinese politicians and their children have attended Beijing No. 4.

History

Qing Dynasty period

Beijing No. 4 High School is one of the oldest schools in Beijing. Its predecessor Shuntian Secondary School (顺天中学堂) was founded in 1906 by the then Shuntian Government (Peking Government) of the Qing dynasty. Along with a few other primary and secondary schools established, the Qing government nullified the imperial examination system and commenced a more institutional system on academic studies and education as a result of the Hundred Days' Reform.

Republic of China period

Entrance to the Capital Public No. 4 Secondary School in 1915
Memorial for alumni killed in World War II and Civil War

During the Republic of China (ROC) period, the Capital Department of Education Affairs (京师学务局) exercised jurisdiction over the school and renamed it Capital Public No. 4 Secondary School (京师公立第四中学) on September 29, 1912, which is thus the anniversary commemorated until today.

The May Fourth Movement of 1919 involved representative students from the school to parade and assemble at Tiananmen. After the city was invaded in 1939 by Japan, the school was mandated to conduct education of enslavement by Japan. The surrender of Japan in 1945 ended enslaved education, and the ROC government took over, with Sun Lubin (孙鹿宾) being principal. At that time, the secret service of the Communist Party(CPC) had been developing secret CPC members within the school.

In 1945, alumni from Tsinghua University, Yenching University and Peiyang University who argued against the Chinese Civil War propagated their ideas to Senior Grade 3 students in an auditorium in the Beijing No.4 High School. When the local police arrived and besieged the auditorium, a conflict with the students broke out, with several students injured by bayonet. The police then bound the alumni. The Mayor of Peking, He Siyuan, dispatched personnel to unbind them and apologized to the students.

From late 1948 to early 1949, the school was forced to cease its teaching and suspend classes when the Kuomintang army occupied the school, turned its buildings and campus into barracks and battlefield to fight against Communist Party in the Civil War.

Post 1949 period

The Communist Party assumed control of the city on January 31, 1949. On March 15, the Beijing Military Management Commission (北京市军管会) sent Li Fusheng (李复生) to take over the school as principal. In April 1949, it set a Youth League branch and a Communist Party branch, and established a students union. It was at this time that the school was renamed to Beijing No.4 High School (北京市第四中学).

Teachers and students from Beijing No.4 High School attended the founding ceremony of the PRC

On November 7, 1995, the then CPC general secretary, Chinese President Jiang Zemin paid a visit to the school. He highly praised it, observing:

I’ve long heard of your great name, reverberating like thunder. I’m greatly honored to be here.[5]

The Department of International Students was established in 2002. Since then, international students from at least 25 countries including Korea, Japan, New Zealand, Australia and Canada started to enroll in Beijing No.4 High School.

The International Olympic Committee (IOC) sent an evaluating delegation to inspect Beijing in February 2001. The No.4 High School was the only educational organ that received the evaluating committee. It was believed to have contributed to the success of Beijing in the 2008 Summer Olympics bidding.

On August 6, 2007, IOC President Jacques Rogge visited the school and delivered a speech there.[6][7]

Incumbent Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao visited the No.4 High School on September 4, 2007. There, he remarked:

Beijing No.4 High School is supposed to be developed into a world-class one and China should have more schools of this kind. This is our hope.[8]

On August 7, 2008, the day before the opening ceremony of the Olympic Games, the school was visited by the wife of IOC President Jacques Rogge, Anne Rogge and other foreign guests.[9]

On May 5, 2011, NBA player Roy Hibbert of Indiana Pacers visited the school as a part of the NBA Cares program. Roy Hibbert taught students some basketball tactics and skills.[10]

Main Campus

The Main Campus of BHSF is located within the area of Imperial City of old Beijing. It serves as the home of the BHSF's senior high school programs.

Old campus

Beijing No.4 High School Library

Historically, Shun Tian Secondary School (顺天中学堂) was situated in Wanping Senior Primary School (宛平高等小学堂) Capital Houku (京师后库) (Houku, Xicheng District, Beijing). The very old campus had been renovated and rebuilt many times, while the site was not changed. It occupied 65,733 m², of which the playground occupied 27,067 m², including basketball courts, tennis courts, football pitch, and volleyball courts. On the campus, there were around 1,500 trees and flowers in approximately 100 kinds. It also had a botanical garden where crops grown and a well pavilion.

Current campus

A pavilion on campus
Observatory of Beijing No.4 High School
Principal's office of Beijing No.4 High School

Main Building

Each floor of this four-storey structure has eight classrooms shaped in hexagons instead of traditional rectangles. This design facilitates large capacity, small sight range and small visual angle that are really conducive to teaching and learning in the classrooms. The corridors shaped by the hexagonal classrooms are also convenient for emergency evacuation and break-time amusement.

Other buildings

The People's Municipal Government of Beijing rebuilt the school in 1983 and it was shrunk to an area of 46372 m². The school was designed by architect Huang Hui.[11]

The principal's office is the only structure in archaic style, which is conserved from the old campus period. The office has a balcony popularly known as Wang Yue Tai (望月台, literally the Terrance of Moon View). The 6-floor Technology Building has laboratories for chemistry, physics, biology, and computer sciences. On the sixth floor, there is an observatory for astronomy clubs.The Administration Building, built in 2003, has offices for teachers and staff and conference or meeting rooms.

The school offers a stadium with plastic field surrounded by 400-meter running tracks. In the stadium, there are two volleyball courts, one large soccer pitch, six basketball playgrounds, several gymnastic facilities, and other track and field facilities. A multi-purpose gymnasium is also inside of the school, where there are rooms for table tennis, a gym and a 200-meter swimming pool. Rooms for martial arts, ballet dance and other sports are also found on campus.

There are also cafeterias, auditoria, a library, a health center, an art building, students' dormitories, and many other buildings on campus.

The corridor from Main Building to Technology Building is one of the more notable characteristics in Beijing No.4 High School.

Branch Campuses

Junior High Campus

Junior High Campus (or Beihai Park Campus) is located several blocks away from the Main Campus. It is within the Green Belt of Beihai Park, a famous historical site with lake views. It used to be the home of Beihai Middle School, which merged with Beijing No.4 High School in 2005. Now, this campus is served as the home of BHSF's junior high school programs.

International Campus

International Campus (or Business Street Campus) of Beijing No.4 High School (commonly abbreviated as BHSFIC) has been the home of BHSF's oversea classes since 2012. It is a small campus located on the Business Street of Xicheng District, Beijing. Students of this campus are registered as a part of the student body of Main Campus. There are a 2-year Global Scholar Program and a 3-year Global Scholar Program available at this campus.

Shunyi Campus

Shunyi Campus is a branch school of Beijing No.4 High School located in Shunyi, a satellite city of Beijing. It has a huge campus (230 acres) and runs both junior and senior high school programs. Usually, however, this school is only considered as an affiliated school to BHSF administrated by the same school officials. Students there are not usually considered as a part of the student body of Main Campus, for their admission requirements and scores are different from those in Main Campus.

Fangshan Campus

Opened in 2014, the Fangshan Campus is the newest campus of Beijing No.4 High School. It is located in Fangshan, a satellite town outside of central Beijing. Buildings and facilities in this campus are totally environmental friendly. Similar to the Shunyi Campus, Fangshan Campus is usually considered as an affiliated school to BHSF.

Hohhot Campus

The Hohhot Campus of Beijing No.4 High School is the only BHSF branch campus that is not in Beijing Municipality. Instead, it is in the city of Hohhot, the capital of Inner Mongolia. It is a high school ran by the local government of Hohhot but working on a very deep integration with Beijing No.4 High School. This campus opened in 2012, and it became one of the best and most reputable high schools in Inner Mongolia only after two years.

Beijing No.4 Online School

Beijing No.4 Online School is a distance education platform of Beijing No.4 High School. It is a perfect combination of high technology and good education resources, which connects teachers and students in No.4 High School and the others elsewhere. Beijing No.4 Online School offers countrywide online courses to students in elementary schools and high schools. It is an open platform with rich resources.[12]

Administration

The Main Building
The Technology Building
A covered corridor connecting Main Building and Technology Building
Old Gate of Beijing No.4 High School

Academic and student lives

Swimming Pool in Beijing No.4 High School
The Campus of Beijing No.4 High School
Beijing No.4 High School's playground
Administration Building

Academic

Beijing No.4 High School is one of the top Chinese high schools with stellar reputation on academics. It is one of the first schools in China that offers different mathematics and English classes to different students according to their academic performances. Each year, around 300 students win awards in national-level competitions in subjects including mathematics, physics, chemistry, biology and computer sciences. In International Science Olympiad, students from this school have won 7 gold medals, 3 silver medals and 1 bronze medal.

Beijing No.4 High School is known for its high average score in National Higher Education Entrance Examinations. Its average score is higher than most other high schools in Beijing. Every year, about forty percent of students from this high school could be admitted by Peking University and Tsinghua University, the two best universities in China. A larger portion of students will attend other highly ranked institutes, such as Nanjing University, Zhejiang University, Fudan University, Shanghai Jiaotong University, Renmin University, University of Science and Technology of China, Wuhan University and Sichuan University, which are often regarded as Ivies of China. Some students will be accepted by top institutes in Hong Kong, like Hong Kong University, Chinese University of Hong Kong and Hong Kong University of Science and Technology.

Every year, about 60 students from this high school will choose to study abroad after graduation. Top American private schools including Harvard, Yale, MIT, Cornell, Stanford, Penn, Chicago and Duke frequently admit students from Beijing No.4 High School. Some other students are enrolled in liberal arts colleges such as Amherst and Wellesley. The rest half of those students, however, will receive offers from top public giants like California, UCLA, Michigan, North Carolina, Wisconsin, Texas and Virginia.

Required and elective courses

All students are required to take all core courses of 14 subjects, including Chinese Literature, Mathematics, Chemistry, Physics, Biology, English, History, Political Sciences, Geography, Musicology, Fine Arts, Basic Engineering Skills, Computer Science and Physical Education. In the second year of senior high school, students will be divided into two groups based on their interests and career plans. Liberal-Arts oriented students need to complete more courses in History, Politics (including Philosophy, Economics and Political Sciences) and Human Geography, while Sciences-and-Engineering oriented students need to take more credits in Mathematics, Biology, Chemistry and Physics. Besides, one research project is required for each academic year, and internships or volunteer activities should be completed. Specifically, all students have to pass the swimming-skill test before graduation. Training and exercises in military, agriculture and business are usually required.

In addition to those required courses, students need to take one elective course every semester. Topics of those elective courses vary widely, including but not limited to film study, classical music, history of World War II, poetry, fashion design, photographing, industrial engineering, programming, 3D cartoon design, interior design, cooking, ancient Chinese, quantum physics, psychology, historical geography, GIS, guitar, harmonica, French, mass media, economics, modelling and dissection.

Physical Education

Beijing No.4 High School regards Physical Education as one of the most important part of high school curriculum. From the first day of class till the day before graduation, it requires all students to take at least one hour PE class every day. The winter-day long-distance race is a tradition of this school. The PE classes are also divided into required ones and elective ones. The required classes are gymnastic, track and field, martial arts, basketball, swimming and theory lectures; elective courses include upper levels of previous ones and soccer, volleyball, table tennis, baseball, fitness and Bridge Card. Noticeably, as mentioned above, all students must pass swimming test before graduation. During the three-year period, most students are also required to take part in a 2-week military training and several field trips and field training to build up their perseverance, confidence, leadership and teamwork skills.

Beijing No.4 High School has several varsity teams, and its soccer team, basketball team and martial arts team are powerhouses in high school tournaments.

Organizations

There are dozens of student organizations in Beijing No.4 High School, with themes varying from natural sciences to liberal arts. Some most popular organizations are Societies, Associations or Clubs of Archaeology, Hip-Pop, Ballet, Debate, Sciences and Technology, Literature, Drama, Choir, Philanthropy, Astronomy, Chinese Civilization and Model United Nations.

Culture

Facts

Wang Daoyuan's admonishment

Wang Daoyuan was the first principal of Beijing No.4 High School. His admonishment to first students is curved on a glacial gravel and placed on campus:

You need to know that you are born to stand on your own feet, and to advocate and follow moral behaviors. If you act charitably to others, you can harvest respect and support. However, if you greedily affiliate with power and authority, eventually you will be in trouble, so never do that. It is your knowledge base rather than others' power that will help you the most. You are not able to obtain knowledge without real-life practice. Nowadays, many scholars and students are always afraid that no one will discover their talent and promote them, but few really think of contributing their skills to their communities. I think they are on a wrong way. Learning will be endless, so will the community service be, and that is why one should never stop exploring new things. People without moral excellence cannot get this idea, neither can those vulgar playboys. Now you are in your best ages, and you are dreaming big. Will you choose to be people who will make great contribution to the community and society? Or just to be some of those vulgar ones? You have to think twice. Go and find it!
A stone inscribed with Wang Daoyuan's admonishment

Sister schools

Notable alumni

See also

References

  1. ↑ Wong, Edward. "In China, Breathing Becomes a Childhood Risk" (Archive). The New York Times. April 23, 2013. Retrieved on October 19, 2015.
  2. ↑ "Beijing No.4 High School". Retrieved July 15, 2011.
  3. ↑ Sohu Education "http://learning.sohu.com/20160128/n436133150.shtml" Jan 28, 2016.
  4. ↑ CollegeNode Ranking "http://www.collegenode.com/list.php"
  5. ↑ "全国百所重点中学网站：北京四中". Archived from the original on July 22, 2011. Retrieved July 15, 2011.
  6. ↑ "Rogge visits Olympic Education Model School". Retrieved July 15, 2011.
  7. ↑ "国际奥委会主席罗格考察北京四中". Retrieved July 15, 2011.
  8. ↑ "温家宝考察北京四中纪实：学校代表着国家的未来". Retrieved July 15, 2011.
  9. ↑ "罗格夫人参观北京四中[组图]". Retrieved July 15, 2011.
  10. ↑ "罗伊-希伯特现身北京四中 亲自传授禁区内进攻技巧". Retrieved July 16, 2011.
  11. ↑ "Women in Architecture". China. ARVHA. Retrieved February 5, 2012.
  12. ↑ http://baike.baidu.com/view/5022.htm?fromtitle=%E5%8C%97%E4%BA%AC%E7%AC%AC%E5%9B%9B%E4%B8%AD%E5%AD%A6&fromid=6756862&type=syn#10
  13. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 "友好学校". Retrieved July 16, 2011.
  14. ↑ Pan, Chengtong; Wang, Yuan (1996). "Chen Jingrun: A Brief Outline of His Life and Works". Acta Mathematica Sinica. 12 (3): 225–233. Retrieved December 22, 2012.
  15. ↑ Fisher, Arthur (August 1996). "Man Without a Country". Popular Science. New York, NY: Times Mirror Magazines/Bonnier Corp. 249 (2): 62. ISSN 0161-7370. Retrieved July 16, 2011. By the time Fang entered High School No. 4, the best in Beijing, he had become even more interested in what lay behind how things work.
  16. ↑ "这就是李敖". Retrieved July 16, 2011.
  17. 1 2 3 4 5 "北京四中 皇城根里"第一牛中学"". 《看天下》. Retrieved July 16, 2011.
  18. ↑ "北岛：北京四中". Retrieved July 16, 2011.

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