Abstract　 　　  

    The "young star cluster group" at Peking University engages in a widevariety of research directions related to star cluster evolution. Tostudy the evolution of dense, massive clusters, we use a combinationof ground- and space-based observations, combined with numericalsimulations, of both resolved clusters in the Local Group andintegrated observations of predominantly starburst events in the moredistant (still local) Universe. Following an overview of my group'smain achievements, I will focus on exciting new results on the veryrapid evolution of very young (< 20 Myr-old) star cluster populations in circumnuclear rings in nearby starburst galaxies. Contrary toexpectations, we find that these populations are characterized by veryrapid evolution, which we suggest to have been induced bycluster-cluster and cluster-molecular cloud collisions in the denserings. Finally, I will highlight some of the latest results we haveobtained based on deep near-infrared observations of the Galacticglobular cluster 47 Tucanae, made with the 4m ESO/VISTA telescope inChile. We have uncovered clear evidence of a radially varyingcomposition of multiple stellar populations within the cluster, aswell as signatures in the stellar mass functions of both masssegregation and the effects of tidal stripping.