President Jiang Zemin's 'Theory of the Three Representatives' speaks to the hearts of the elite in China's top higher education institutions. As the vanguards of advanced production and culture, they serve the masses by providing quality education and tickets to upward mobility.
Min Weifang, Vice-Chancellor of Peking University and head of its Communist Party committee, yesterday gave high marks to President Jiang Zemin for achieving spectacular economic growth over the past 13 years.
He said much soul-searching had followed the student movement in 1989 and the lessons learned by both the party and the students had led to a long period of stability and solidarity.
Peking University has been a hotbed for student activism dating back to the early 20th century. Mao Zedong was once a librarian there. It has an unusually high number of Communist Party members, amounting to 13,000 students, faculty members and staff.
Professor Min joined the Communist Party in 1970 while working in a coal mine.
After the Cultural Revolution he went to the United States and studied at Stanford University, where he obtained two master's degrees and a doctorate, specialising in the economics of education policy. This is his first time as a delegate to the party congress.