The Department of Asian-African Languages and Literatures was established in 2009 on the basis of the former Department of Oriental Languages and Cultures. The department consists of three teaching and research units: The Unit of Mongolian Language and Culture, the Unit of Oriental Languages and Literatures and the Unit of African Languages and Cultures. There are six faculty members in the department: three full professors, one tenured associate professor, one associate professor and one lecturer.

Undergraduate Program: The department confers the degree in Modern Mongolian Language. It also offers public elective courses such as Eastern Literature, African Culture and Society, Introduction to Tagore and courses on some African languages.

Graduate Program: The department confers master's and doctoral degrees of Asian-African Languages and Literatures, which cover Eastern Literature, African Literatures and Cultures, Mongolian Language and Culture.

The language courses for graduate students include Manchu Language, Swahili Language, Hausa Language, Amharic Language, Yoruba Language, Igbo Language, etc.

The Teaching and Research Unit of Mongolian Language and Literature, founded in 1949, is the first institution in China offering courses and doing research on Khalkh dialect and Mongolian Cyrillic, which is the official language of Mongolia. For more than seventy years, numerous outstanding graduates have been working in various areas like diplomacy, foreign trade, culture, media, education as well as teaching and research, and have made significant contributions to the friendship between China and Mongolia.

Founded in 1978, the Teaching and Research Unit of Oriental Languages and Literatures is the first of its kind in China offering Master's program of Eastern Literature as well as doctoral program of Eastern Folk Literature and Studies of Eastern Writers. Professor Ji Xianlin was appointed as its first director. It offers a course entitled Oriental Literature to all students in Peking University and has compiled books such as History of Oriental Literature, Concise Dictionary of Oriental Literature, Selected Readings in Oriental Literature, etc.

The postgraduate programme of African literatures and cultures started from 2009. The department offers master's and doctoral degree programmes in African literatures and cultures, and it offers a series of courses on "African culture and society" for undergraduate students. The African literature and culture program collaborates closely with African study institutions at home and abroad, including institutions based on the African continent.

The Center of Mongolian Studies was established in 2004. Drawing on Peking University's rich research resources in humanities, social sciences and country studies as well as the support from other universities, the research center has built an interdisciplinary team aiming at promoting comprehensive studies on problems about Mongolia. The center has already yielded fruitful accomplishments and its characteristic research method has been widely recognized by the academic world.

The establishment of Cross-Border Language Studies and Comparative Studies of Man-Tungusian Languages is closely related to the Unit of Oriental Languages and Literatures founded in 1987. Aiming at attracting specialists and talents in this area, it contributes greatly to research on cross-border Altay languages.

The Department of Asian-African Languages and Literatures aims to enhance Asian-African academic research through furthering studies of Asian-African literature, promoting research in African languages and cultures and conducting linguistic research on cross-border languages.