Since the launch of the double world-class (DWC) project in 2015, China has entered into a new stage of building world-class universities. What makes China give up the existing projects for a new one? Towards the end of its first five-year cycle, has the version 2.0 of building world-class universities in China achieved the desired results? This study tries to answer these questions by giving an explanation about the relevant policies and an overview of changes brought by the DWC project. Based on the data and documents released by the Chinese government, selected universities and some international organizations as well as an extensive literature review, we find that this new project has been functioning effectively and has achieved remarkable preliminary success. However, there still remain problems such as vicious competition among institutions and unhealthy academic utilitarianism due to the heavy competitive pressure. Meanwhile, the project takes a selective concentration approach that sacrifices the majority to benefit the minority, which may exacerbate the already imbalanced development of China's higher education system and hinder its overall development in the long run.