Beijing Bayi School

Beijing Bayi School (Chinese: 北京市八一学校), also known as the August 1st School, is a public elementary through high school with three campuses in Haidian District, Beijing.^[1]

Beijing Bayi School
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Simplified Chinese	北京市八一学校
Traditional Chinese	北京市八一學校
Transcriptions Standard Mandarin Hanyu Pinyin Běijīng Shì Bā Yī Xuéxiào Wade–Giles Pei-ching Shih Pa I Hsüeh-hsiao

East gate

Tetsushi Takahashi of Nikkei Shimbun wrote that Beijing Bayi School is "prestigious".^[2] Evan Osnos of New Yorker wrote that the "exclusive" Beijing Bayi School was known as the "cradle of leaders" (领袖摇篮; lǐngxiù yáolán).^[3]

History

Nie Rongzhen established the school in 1947.^[4]

From 2013, Shattuck-Saint Mary's of Minnesota, USA operated an expansion campus in the Bayi School. The partnership ended in 2016 over disagreements regarding control and funding.^[5]

Campuses

North campus, formerly the Wanquanhe Middle School

Elementary campus, formerly the Caihefang Primary School

The school has three campuses: Main, North, and Elementary.^[1]

The original campus was in a building that previously functioned as a residence for a prince who lived in the Qing Dynasty.^[3] It is about 10 kilometers (6.2 mi) north of Zhongnanhai, the residential facility for the top leadership of China.^[2]

Student body and student culture

Takahashi stated that in the era prior to the Cultural Revolution, descendants of the leaders of the Chinese Communist Party, known as "second-generation reds", were enrolled at Beijing Bayi School.^[2]

Osnos wrote that in the pre-Cultural Revolution period the pupils "formed a small, close-knit élite; they lived in the same compounds, summered at the same retreats, and shared a sense of noblesse oblige."^[3]

Mi Hedu, author of The Red Guard Generation, wrote that pre-Cultural Revolution pupils "compared one another on the basis of whose father had a higher rank, whose father rode in a better car."^[3]

Notable alumni

• Xi Jinping, paramount leader of China^[2][3] - attended at the elementary and junior high school levels, graduated in 1968^[6][7][8]
• Khemmani Pholsena, daughter of former Lao Minister of Foreign Affairs Quinim Pholsena - attended school in Beijing between 1963 and 1969^{[9][failed verification]}
• Yu Zhengsheng, Chairman of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference - attended at the elementary level
• Deng Pufang, Vice Chairman of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference - attended at the elementary level