Beijing No. 4 High School


Beijing No. 4 High School, commonly abbreviated as Sizhong, and sometimes referred to as Beijing High School Four, is a public beacon high school in Xicheng District, Beijing, China. It is one of the most prestigious high schools in China. It was established in 1907 as the Shuntian Secondary School, and was later renamed Capital Public No. 4 Secondary School. It took its current name in 1949. The school was among the first to be accredited as a "Municipal Model High School" by the Beijing Municipal Commission of Education. More than 96 percent of its graduates passed the enrollment line of key universities in National Higher Education Entrance Examination. 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. 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 was founded in 1906 by the Shuntian Government. 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

During the Republic of China period, the Capital Department of Education Affairs exercised jurisdiction over the school and renamed it Capital Public No. 4 Secondary School 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 being principal. At that time, the secret service of the Communist Party 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 to fight against the Communist Party in the Chinese 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 sent Li Fusheng 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.
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 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.
Chinese President Jiang Zemin paid a visit to the school on November 7, 1995. Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao visited the school on September 4, 2007, and expressed his wish for the school to become a world class one.
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.
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.

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

Historically, Shun Tian Secondary School was situated in Wanping Senior Primary School Capital Houku . 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

The school was refurbished in 1983 and it was shrunk to an area of 4.26 hectares. The new campus was designed by architect Huang Hui.

Main Building

This four story building contains mostly classrooms, which are shaped in hexagons instead of rectangles. The design considerations include making the students feel less crowded and allowing the students at the side to view the blackboard with a smaller angle.

Other buildings

The old principal's office is built in the style of ancient Chinese architectures. 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 2007, has offices for teachers and staff and conference or meeting rooms, as well as a cafeteria and an auditorium.
A build for music and art classes, a small clinic and dormitories can also be found on campus. The library holds roughly 170,000 books, 400 types of journals and magazines, 40 newspaper collections, 8000 optical discs and 2000 recording tapes.
The school has a standard 400-meter running track, with two volleyball courts, six basketball courts and various gymnastic and other track and field facilities. There's also an indoor gymnasium and a swimming pool. Rooms for martial arts, ballet dance, table tennis and other sports are also found 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

The Junior High Campus is located several blocks away from the Main Campus. It is adjacent to Beihai Park. It used to be the site of Beihai Middle School, which merged with Beijing No.4 High School in 2005.

International Campus

International Campus of Beijing No.4 High School 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 is a 3-year AP Program available at this campus.

Shunyi Campus

Shunyi Campus is a branch school of Beijing No.4 High School located in Shunyi, a district of Beijing. It has a huge campus 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 combines technology and education resources which connect teachers and students in No. 4 High School and 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.

Administration

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. In International Science Olympiad, students from this school have won 7 gold medals, 3 silver medals and 1 bronze medal. The school also has talent program called Daoyuan class.
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 including schools in the elite C9 League. Some students will be accepted by top institutes in Hong Kong as well as highly reputable and ranked universities or liberal art colleges in the United States, Canada and Europe.

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 and geography, while science-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 additional required 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, mineralogy, guitar performance, harmonica, French language, mass media, economics, modeling and dissection.

Physical Education and athletes

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 sports theories; 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 trainings to build up their perseverance, confidence, leadership and teamwork skills.
Beijing No.4 High School has several varsity teams including soccer, basketball, swimming and martial arts. The basketball program at this high school is a powerhouse and they have won the championship of national high school basketball tournaments 4 times since 1998.

Organizations

Up to 2013, there are 22 student organizations at Beijing No.4 High School with various focuses, including:

Facts

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:

Sister schools

Science and Technology