Beijing Luhe International Academy (BLIA)
BLIA opened in impressive new purpose-built accommodation in September 2005 and enrolled the first students on its English A level programme at the same time. This programme is aimed at Chinese students who wish to apply to study at university in the UK or other English-speaking countries. The academy’s ‘parent’ school, Beijing Luhe High School, is a very famous, prestigious and highly achieving school within the Chinese school system and has a number of longstanding international links. Luhe High School is very unusual, if not unique, in the Chinese school system. It was originally founded by the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions in 1867
as a missionary school when Tongzhou Boys’ Boarding School was opened. By 1889, it had developed into an advanced academy called North China College that included a primary school, a middle school, a high school, a college and a seminary. In 1918, the university part of the school was moved to west Beijing and later became the highly regarded Yenching University, while the secondary school that remained was named Luhe High School. It is situated 18km due east of Tian’anmen Square on a large, beautiful campus that features buildings from the beginning of the 20th century as well as extensive open green spaces with lawns, tree-lined avenues and a lake; it is particularly beautiful in spring when the trees are full of blossom. The building of modern teaching facilities, administration areas and accommodation has been done in a style that retains the school’s traditional ambience. The school has many alumni who are distinguished within China and the wider world, including the Chinese ambassador to the United Nations in the mid-1980s. Luhe High School and its new International academy are the kind of places that attract able young people with ambition and the drive to succeed.