Peking University turned away swarms of frustrated visitors from its gate Thursday claiming a daily maximum of 5,000 visitors, the Beijing News reported.

Of the 5,000 allowed visitors, 3,000 places are reserved those group-tourists with agent pre-bookings, and the other 2,000 are for individual tourists. Individual visitors must also show an authorized Identification Card, which shows they are Chinese citizens.

Visitors are blocked outside Peking University gate because their tour agent failed to make a pre-booking with the school, as in accordance with its new policy, July 14,2011.[Photo/Beijing News]

The university says the restriction was made for the mutual benefit of both visitors and the university – on one hand, visitors can have comparatively ample space while exploring the campus, and on the other hand, students who study on campus during the summer time are not too disrupted.

"Massive visitors sometimes disturb the quiet learning environment of our campus," said Mr. Xing, the vice director of the Security Department of Peking University.

The visit restriction shall be lifted by the middle of August when the student tourist wave fades, according to Xing.

Although the explanation sounds justifiable, visitors who came travelled from other provinces to visit the university were annoyed and felt "hurt".

Ms. Zhang, a tourist guide, said she hadn’t known about the pre-booking policy and therefore had to make her clients wait outside in the queue for individual visitors.

"Peking University is a world-class university, and it should have an open mind regarding this matter," Zhang added.

Law expert Guo Zhaoli of the Beijing Hansheng Law Office suggested the university should at least have collected public opinion and consulted with related agencies before issuing the sudden ban.

Tsinghua University, another leading university, imposed a similar policy earlier this April.

Tsinghua authorities said the university is only open to the public from 8.30am to 4.30pm during normal weekends, public holidays and summer and winter vacations. No visits are allowed from Monday to Friday during school semesters.