The Central Conservatory of Music, referred to as "Central Music", is located in the capital Beijing. Founded in 1949, the college is an institution of higher learning that trains senior specialized music talents.

The Central Conservatory of Music has 18 teaching units and 18 undergraduate majors, namely, piano department, music department, orchestra department, folk music department, composition department, conductor department, vocal opera department and music education department. The music performance major of the Central Conservatory of Music is the top three dominant majors in China. Committed to training senior professionals who can engage in performance, teaching and research in professional literary and art groups, art colleges and other relevant departments and institutions.

The Central Academy of Drama is the first higher drama education institution in New China, directly under the Ministry of Education, the highest institution of drama art education in China, the headquarters of the China Higher Drama Education Alliance and the Asian Drama Education Research Center, and the activity base of the International University Drama Festival of the World Federation of Drama Institutions. The Central Academy of Drama has two campuses, Dongcheng Campus is located at No.39 Dongmianhua Hutong, Dongcheng District, Beijing, and Changping Campus is located at No.4 Hongfu Middle Road, Changping District, Beijing.

The Central Academy of Drama is a national key discipline of "Drama and Opera Studies". The teaching and research institutions of the college include: performance department, director department, drama literature department, stage art department, TV art department, drama management department, public course teaching department, adult education college, film and television art vocational college, drama research institute, drama editorial department and international cultural exchange center.

Its school-running philosophy is to build the Central Academy of Drama into a world-class art college with distinctive characteristics and drama art education as the main body.

So the difference between the Central Conservatory of Music and the Central Academy of Drama is that the former focuses on music education and the latter focuses on drama education.