The history of Tsinghua University really begins with the Qing Dyanasty (1644-1911). During this period China had closed it's shores to the rest of the World. This, however, was not to the liking of the Western 8 countries (Germany, Italy, Russia, France, Britain, the US, Japan and Austria-Hungry) that were finding resources, profits and political influence inside China.

Following the partitioning of Africa among European powers, they turned their sights to what they saw as a terminally weak Chinese government. European powers and America began to scramble for what was called "spheres of interest." These spheres of interest involved holding leases for all railway and commercial privileges in various regions. The Russians got Port Arthur, the British got the New Territories around Hong Kong, the Germans got a leasehold in Shantung, and the Americans got nothing. Concentrating largely on the Philippines and Guam, the Americans had missed the Chinese boat and so insisted on an "open door" policy in China in which commercial opportunities were equally available to all European powers and the political and territorial integrity of China remained untouched.

The Boxer Rebellion (義和團起義) was an uprising against Western commercial and political influence in China during the final years of the 19th Century. By August 1900, over 230 foreigners, thousands of Chinese Christians and unknown numbers of rebels, their sympathizers and other Chinese had been killed in the revolt and its suppression.  

After a mauling at the hands of loyal Imperial troops in October 1899, the Boxers dropped their anti-court slogans, turning their attention to foreign missionaries and their converts, whom they saw as agents of foreign colonialist influence. The court, now under Empress Dowager Cixi's firm control, issued edicts in defense of the insurgents, drawing heated complaints from Western diplomats (January 1900).

The conflict came to a head in June 1900, when the rebels, now joined by elements of the Imperial army, boldly attacked foreign compounds within the cities of Tianjin and Beijing. The killing of the German minister on June 20 brought open war, the court proclaiming hostilities against the powers, which in turn prepared military intervention to relieve the legations.

The quick and humiliating defeat of the insurgents fell to an international force eventually numbering 45,000 Japanese, US, Austro-Hungarian, British, French, German, Italian, Russian and anti-Boxer Chinese troops, which captured Tianjin on July 14th and Beijing on August 14th.

On September 7th, 1901, the Qing court was compelled to sign the "Boxer Protocol", agreeing to execute ten officials linked to the outbreak and to pay war reparations of $333 million to the eight foreign nations who put down the 'uprising'. So great was the sum that much of the money was later earmarked by Britain and the U.S. for overseas education of Chinese students, forming the basis of Tsinghua University.

In 1908, the U.S. Senate passed a resolution remitting to China much of the U.S. share of the Boxer indemnity, and established the China Foundation for the Promotion of Education and Culture.  On April 29, 1911, Tsinghua Xuetang, predecessor of Tsinghua University was founded with part of the returned indemnity money.  It was the first preparatory school for those students sent by the Chinese government to study in U.S.  The top 5 schools for the indemnity students were the University of Michigan, Yale, Harvard, Columbia, and Cornell.

So to sum up...Tsinghua University was built by the US with money extorted from the Chinese Qing government for putting down the Boxer revolt to expell the Imperialist nations from China.

In 1925, Tsinghua University was opened and started accepting undergraduates.

When the war broke between China and Japan in 1937, Tsinghua University with other two universities (Beijing and Nankai University) merged to form the Southwest Associated University in Kunming. After the war, Tsinghua moved back to Beijing and resumed its operation.

After the Chinese Civil War, Tsinghua University was divided into Tsinghua University in Beijing and the National Tsing Hua University located in Hsinchu, Taiwan. Both claim to be the successor of the original Tsinghua University, an issue that was significant in the awarding of the Boxer Rebellion indemity, which was ultimately given to the school in Taiwan.

Depending on who you ask, most Chinese people consider Tsinghua to be the top University in China (unless you ask someone from Bei Da, Peking University of course). Generally it depends on the subject. Tsinghua is strong in the sciences and engineering. Every morning when I come to school I pass through a gate that is crowded with proud parents taking pictures of their 8-year-old kid in front of the famous Tsinghua gates. There are constantly groups of high school kids with matching t-shirts following a tour guide with a red, yellow or blue flag waving in the air.

I teach in the Center for Overseas and Academic Cultural Exchanges (COACE). We have a partnership with around 10 UK, Australia, Canadian and US Universities. The students in our program take one year here, and then transfer to finish their Bachelors or Masters degrees in their selected University (as long as they keep the minimum requirements, of course). Kind of similar to what I was doing at the University of International Business and Economics for the past three years, just at a better school, in partnership with better Universities (not that there is anything wrong with Fort Hays State University, in Kansas ) But SOAS is ranked as high as #2 in the UK, Simon Fraser is ranked #3 in Canada, and the University of Adelaide is ranked #7 in Australia. I'm am not sure FHSU cracks the top ten IN Kansas. Our other partner schools are Oxford-Brookes, University of Ulster, UMAS-Boston, Univ. Illinois-Chicago and others.