Beijing Guozijian

Beijing Guozijian, also called the Imperial College, generally known as the highest official institution of learning in imperial China, is located at Guozijian Street,  Andingmennei Street  of Dongcheng District. The street is the only existing street in Beijing with four beautifully painted ancient archways. Two archways stand on the east and west ends of the street and two stand on both sides of the gate of Guozijian.

Situated in the central street and adjoining the Confucius Temple, the structure of Guozijian accords with the Chinese building system tradition of  "Temple on the left, college on the right". To the east the building faces Yonghegong Temple, the biggest Lama Temple in Beijing. Guozijian is a famous cultural and historical site in Beijing.

Beijing Guozijian was the highest administrative organ supervising education and also the nation's highest academy during the Yuan, Ming and Qing Dynasties(1279-1911) of ancient China. In ancient times, Guozijian was called “Taixue” which means "the Highest Scholarship of the Imperial College". In 1905, the Imperial Examination system was abolished by the Qing Government and at the same time Guozijian finished its historical mission. After the founding of the People's republic of China in 1949, the Imperial College was completely renovated and then the Capital Library was incorporated inside.