Zhou Qifeng, one of China's top chemists, was inaugurated as the new president of Peking University on November 14.

An inauguration ceremony was held for him at the elite institution's Beijing campus.

Zhou became the university's 10th president since 1949, succeeding Xu Zhihong, 66, who will now retire.

Zhou Qifeng [file photo]

Prior to his appointment, Zhou, 61, had spent the past four years as president of Jilin University.

Born in 1947 in Hunan province, Zhou graduated from Peking University in 1970, with a bachelor's degree in chemistry.

He went on to obtain a PhD from the University of Massachusetts, United States, in 1983, and was elected as a member of the Chinese Academy of Sciences in 1999.

Source: China Daily