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Beijing University is to celebrate its 100th anniversary in grand style in May.

University president Chen Jia'er said party and state leaders will join more than 10,000 alumni from home and abroad at celebrations in the Great Hall of the People in Beijing.

There will be a campus forum of presidents from 50 of the world's top universities, including Oxford, Cambridge, Harvard, Stanford, Munich and Tokyo, along with 20 or so of their Chinese counterparts and a number of leading higher education scholars and politicians.

Established as the Capital Grand School in 1898 under an imperial edict from Emperor Guangxu, Beijing University has become one of China's most celebrated universities.

A set of stamps commemorating the centennial will be issued during the celebrations and a newly discovered minor planet will be named after the university. A new library section with three million books and a floor space of ,000 square metres will be opened.

After its completion, Beijing University will have Asia's biggest university library, with more than seven million books.