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Haidian and Zhongguancun: studying inside Beijing's research district
The densest concentration of universities, national laboratories and technology companies in China sits in one Beijing district.
Beijing's Haidian district contains Tsinghua University, Peking University, Beihang University, Beijing Normal University, the main institutes of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and Zhongguancun, China's original technology hub. Around 40 higher education institutions and hundreds of research institutes operate within a few square kilometres.
The practical consequence for a research student is unusual: cross-institutional seminars, shared facilities and access to the Academy of Sciences institutes are all within cycling distance, and academic visitors to Beijing typically pass through the district.
Zhongguancun itself remains the anchor of Chinese technology policy, and many companies headquartered there maintain research relationships with the neighbouring universities.