Peking University has decided to stop allowing elementary school pupils and adults to visit the campus in tour groups.

The move is to maintain order on campus, according to university officials.

The top-ranked Chinese university posted a notice last week banning the entrance of agency-organized tour groups of elementary school students and adults, saying that too many visitors have affected the pace and order of university life and put too much pressure on campus security workers. The ban doesn't apply to individual tourists who arrive on their own.

However, the university campus is still open to middle school students. Such students can visit in tour groups between 8:30-11:30am and 12:00-17:00pm. Tour organizers should contact the security department of the university to submit a written application three days prior to their arrival.

Currently the daily number of visitors to Peking University is over 10,000.  This is a result of the country's students having free time for such visits during their ongoing summer vacation.

The new restriction on visits is a disappointment to many people who considered a visit to the university as nearly a spiritual pilgrimage. "The most important thing on our itinerary was to bring my daughter to visit Peking University.  I wouldn't have joined this tour group had I known this was no longer possible.  I just wanted to show my daughter what a good university should look like," said a tourist who came with a tour group from Central China's Hubei province. 

"I can't accept the fact that a university built with the money of taxpayers would keep its donators outside the gate!" a tourist from Southwest China's Sichuan province says. "Allowing our pupils to visit the best university in the country is a very important part of their education."

But there are also voices of support for the new restriction. Tang Jun, a researcher with the China Social Science Academy, says that "Peking University has the right to refuse the entrance of tour groups with a commercial purpose, as the campus should not be used as a money-making machine by travel agencies. Of course, Peking University should still permit the individual entrance of those who stop by just out of admiration."

The new measure will come into effect this week.

(CRIENGLISH.com July 24, 2006)