Dear students:

We trust that you have gradually adapted to a life of online classes recently. In addition to your studies, Peking University has always been concerned about your health and safety. At present, China's domestic epidemic situation is controlled to a certain degree; however, we cannot relax our efforts at this most critical stage fighting against the COVID-19 virus. It so happens that, during this period, we have noticed that some international students did not fully realize the severity of current epidemic situation in Beijing, and returned to Beijing or school in advance, having ignored the school's requirement of “no early return to school during the semester postponement period”, and thereby bringing themselves and their families safety risks with possibly uncontrollable negative effects.

According to the relevant requirements of the Chinese Ministry of Education and the Beijing Municipal Government, the university’s prevention and control work during the epidemic period must adhere to five strict principles, one of which being the requirement that “students are not allowed to return to school without school approval, and students who disregard the requirement will be subject to serious consequences." For the common health and safety of everyone as well as our campus, all international students MUST cooperate by following the school's requirement to "stay where you are and await further instructions." The specific requirements are as follows:

1. According to the requirements of the Ministry of Education and Beijing's epidemic prevention and control work, Peking University, in accordance with its own situation, has clearly mandated that all students, including foreign students, NOT return to school or return to Beijing in advance during the semester postponement period. No student may return to the school campus, and in principle, students must not return to Beijing during this period.

2. In case of insurmountable difficulties and extremely special circumstances requiring the student to return to Beijing, the student must FIRST submit a written application to the International Students Division of PKU. After gathering opinions from the faculty, the application will be submitted to the university's prevention and control leading team, and will be investigated and examined on a case-by-case basis. Students are NOT allowed to return to Beijing or school in advance without an official positive response from the university.

Currently, the number of suspected and confirmed COVID-19 diagnoses in Beijing is still fluctuating. Given the current serious situation being faced by epidemic prevention and control in Beijing, all students must carefully evaluate the safety risks they may incur by their early return to school and Beijing. Even if a student returns to school or to Beijing with approval, the school and the community need to closely monitor the health of the student by requiring him/her to undergo 14 days of centralized observation or 14 days of supervised medical observation.

At present, Peking University Library resources are all available electronically and all online teaching resources and e-classrooms are now open to students. Students are requested to study at home and follow the teaching arrangements of the faculty, to avoid the safety risks of returning to school and Beijing. We will inform you as soon as the new start date of the semester is confirmed. We ask that you assume the attitude of being responsible for your own safety as well as that of your family by staying where you are and awaiting further announcement from us patiently.

We are forced to take unusual measures to meet the exigencies of this special time. However, there is no need to be anxious. Please wait patiently and trust that the campus gates will soon be open to you once again. We await you all! Thank you again for your understanding and cooperation.

Internationals Students Division,
Office of International Relations,
Peking University 

February 27th, 2020