Founded in 1898 and made illustrious by the scholars who taught there in its early years—Ts'ai Yuan-p'ei, Ch'en Tu-hsiu, Hu Shih, Lu Hsun— and as a result of the leading role of its students in the numerous patriotic and revolutionary movements that have shaken modern China, Peking University nevertheless by the time of its 50th anniversary had little to show for its past other than a glorious name. This name is something to conjure with in China today since Peking University was the cradle of the May 4 Movement and the place where Mao Tse-tung worked in his youth as a librarian and learned Marxism from professor Li Ta-chao.