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The history of Tsinghua University spans over a century since it was founded in 1911. The school is located on the site of Tsinghua Garden in Beijing, the former residence of Yinzhi, the third son of the Kangxi Emperor of the Qing dynasty.
In 1909, the indemnity payment to the United States from the Boxer Protocol was reduced by US$10.8 million by Theodore Roosevelt's administration. The Qing imperial court used the difference to create the Boxer Indemnity Scholarship Programme and established the China Institute along with a preparatory school. The school was later renamed Tsinghua School and expanded in 1925 with the addition of a college department. It was officially chartered as a national university by the Nationalist Government of the Republic of China in 1928. After the onset of Second Sino-Japanese War, Tsinghua was relocated to Changsha along with Peking University and Nankai University to form National Changsha Provisional University. The combined school was relocated to Kunming in 1938 and renamed as National Southwest Associated University.
In 1946, Tsinghua University was restored and resumed its operation after the school was relocated back to Tsinghua Garden. After a series of education policy reform beginning in 1952, Tsinghua transformed into the top institute dedicated to science and technology in National Key Universities. In the aftermath of the Cultural Revolution in 1976, the school was elevated again through the introduction of Project 211 and Project 985 that aimed to improve the research standard of higher education in China.
Background
The history of Tsinghua originated in the Boxer Protocol signed in 1901. The Qing dynasty had to pay war reparations amounting to US$333 million with four percent annual interest rate in taels of fine silver to the Eight-Nation Alliance, in which the United States had a share of US$24,440,778.81. With difficulties in settling the debt, the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs instructed the Chinese ambassador Liang Cheng to negotiate with United States. On 5 December, Liang had the first meeting with United States Secretary of State John Hay, in which Hay proposed that the reparations exceeded the original demand from the United States, and the reduction of payment was settled. With approval from the United States Congress, President Theodore Roosevelt authorised the further reduction of the reparation down to US$13,655,492.69. The remaining difference was to be returned to China, gradually starting in January 1909 for educational programmes, and to create scholarship programmes for Chinese students to study in the United States. To honour Theodore Roosevelt for his contributions to the founding of Tsinghua University, a gymnasium on the Tsinghua campus was named Roosevelt Memorial Gynasium.
On 11 July 1908, the document for reduction of reparation was delivered to the Qing imperial court by ambassador William Woodville Rockhill. Prince Qing responded to the United States government as follows:
We appreciate your President's sincerity in encouraging our students to enrol in American schools and seek higher education. In the light of the success that American-style education has brought to our country, the Government of the Great Qing Empire is faithfully committed to annually sending students to be educated in your schools.
Tang Shaoyi was dispatched to the United States to deliver the official letter from the Qing imperial court. The letter says:
We use the year of reduction in reparation as a point of reference. In the previous four years, the Qing Dynasty has sent 100 students (to the United States) annually. At the end of four years, there will be 400 students from our country in the United States. From the fifth year to the year when we finish paying reparations, we will send at least 50 students every year (to the United States).
The United States government begin to remit the difference in 1909. In May, Tenney Charles Daniel was assigned to represent the United States government in the study programme. The selection of students was finalised after a series of discussion in June, and the proposal received the imperial approval on 10 July. The office for the study programme was officially set up on 17 July. On 25 August, Zhou Ziqi and Tang Guo'an were appointed to the board of directors to run the office operations. Tsinghua Garden was transferred to the study programme office to establish the preparatory school.