On March 17, 2017, King Salman of Saudi Arabia visited Peking University during his state visit to China to attend the inauguration ceremony of the King Abdul Aziz Public Library PKU branch and to receive an honorary doctorate from Peking University. Zhu Zhiwen, Deputy Minister of the Ministry of Education; Hao Ping, Chair of the Peking University Council; Lin Jianhua, Peking University President, together with guests and representatives from both sides attended the ceremony.
King Salman has visited China twice before, and he puts great emphasis on China-Saudi Arabia relations and the continued development of the bilateral relationship. He is committed to strengthening cooperation with China in a variety of fields, and the establishment of the King Abdul Aziz Public Library PKU branch is a landmark in bilateral cultural communication.
During the inauguration ceremony, PKU’s Chair of the University Council Hao Ping delivered a speech and he noted that King Salman’s visit to PKU shows his deep friendship with China and PKU and the importance of cultural communication between China and Saudi Arabia. Director of the King Fahad National Library regards the PKU branch as a great success of King Salman’s visit, which demonstrates King Salman’s wish to promote worldwide peace and bilateral friendship with China. Afterwards, King Salman was conferred an honorary doctorate by PKU President Lin Jianhua, and King Salman expressed his best wishes to PKU on its approaching 120th anniversary as well as his hope for further collaboration with China.
At the end of the ceremony, students representatives from PKU and Saudi Arabia donated gifts to the PKU branch library. From the PKU side, Shangshu, one of Confucian classics covering ancient royal texts from 23rd century BC to 7th century BC, was gifted to the library. And from the Saudi Arabia side, a valuable book that introduces Arabian horses and their pedigrees, which has a history that dates back to the 19th century, was gifted to the library.
The King Abdul Aziz Public Library PKU branch is one of the five cooperative projects signed in 2009 when former President Hu Jintao visited Saudi Arabia. There are 300 thousand books donated to the Abdul Aziz Public Library PKU branch, and this project is very important for facilitating Arabic teaching and Middle East Studies at Peking University as well as at other schools in China. In fact, the donation also represents the close relationship between the two countries, and it demonstrates the great cooperation between China and Saudi Arabia.
