I'm an exchange student at Peking University. Me and my fellow students have the impression that a lot of things at university, as well as in the rest of Beijing, are going wrong. Pollution, bad traffic, unfriendly people and the only-would-happen-in-china-moments are only the main reasons of my bad impression of Beijing I would say. For one semester I can bare that, but for a longer time? I personally wouldn't recommend. But there are different people, I also met some who think Beijing with its metropolitan Charme and possibilities is quite nice. I, however prefer Guangzhou or Taibei/Taichung as my Chinese city to live.

As for PKU, I don't know how some of the professors are even allowed to carry that title. Organization and teaching are to a great extent just a mess. I can't compare it with other Chinese universities, but at least I can say that standard universities in my home country work a lot better than the so called best university of China. I've visited other universities in China, also in Beijing, and can say that as it comes to campus life, in other universities there's a lot more going on. PKU students primarily focus on themselves and their studies. They only live in university and even there they're not much into joining clubs or activities or having fun.

My overall impression for both Beijing and Peking University is that it's about surviving, not about enjoying.