China's State Administration of Cultural Relics has included parts of both the Peking University and Tsinghua University campuses on its most recent list of State-level protected cultural relics.

Their inclusion in the list marks the first time any part of university campus has been included among China's key protected cultural treasures since the founding of New China in 1949.

Most of the structures that made it onto the list were examples of traditional architectures and living areas built during the 1920s and now enclosed in the campuses of Peking University and Tsinghua University.

Peking University was built on the site of eight royal gardens from the Ming and Qing dynasties. Only four of the eight garden sites survive after years' of foreign invasion and civil turmoil. These gardens, plus the area around Weiming (or Nameless) Lake, were placed on the list

On the Tsinghua University campus, which covers a total area of 810,000-square-meter, State-level protection was applied to a number of structures including the Grand Auditorium, the Hall of Science, the Hall of Tsinghua, the Grand Library, Tongfang Department and the gymnasium.

The Tsinghua University campus also boasts imperial gardens built in Qing Dynasty (1644-1911), parts of which now enjoy State protection.

(China Daily December 19, 2001)