Project 985 refers to a major decision made by the Communist Party of China and the State Council of the People's Republic of China at the turn of the century to build world-class universities with advanced international standards.

On May 4, 1998, at the celebration of the 100th anniversary of Peking University, then-President Jiang Zemin(江泽民), on behalf of the Communist Party of China and the Central People's Government of the People's Republic of China, declared to the whole society: "To achieve modernization, our country must have a number of world-class universities." The Ministry of Education of China decided to focus on supporting Peking University, Tsinghua University and other higher education institutions in the establishment of world-class universities and high-level universities in the implementation of the "Action Plan for the Revitalization of Education for the 21st Century ". The project was named "985 Project" after the time of Jiang Zemin's speech at the 100th anniversary of Peking University (May 1998). 

The first batch of “985 Project” construction universities includes nine ( the Nine Universities Alliance ), namely Peking University, Tsinghua University, University of Science and Technology of China, Nanjing University, Fudan University, Shanghai Jiaotong University, Xi’an Jiaotong University, Zhejiang University, and Harbin Institute of Technology. A total of 39 “985 Project” universities have been approved for construction. 

On June 7, 2016, the Ministry of Education’s official website released a “Notice on the Invalidation of a Number of Normative Documents,” announcing that a number of normative documents, including the “211 Project” Construction Implementation Management Measures ” and the “ Opinions on the Continuation of the Implementation of the 985 Project” Construction Project , had become invalid. Invalid normative documents are no longer used as the basis for administrative management.

On November 28, 2019, the Ministry of Education’s official website released a statement: key construction projects such as the “211 Project” and the “985 Project” have been coordinated into “ Double First-Class ” construction. 

List of Universities Under 985 Project.