Tsinghua University

Beijing


Often described as the MIT to Peking University's Harvard, Tsinghua is China's second-most prestigious university. The gigantic campus is known for its first-rate science and engineering faculties (humanities were moved to Peking Uni after 1949).

Tsinghua University dates back to the very end of the Qing dynasty. It was founded using part of the indemnity payment from the Boxing Uprising. Reparations China owed to the US were written off on the condition that they be used for education. Tsinghua went on to send some of the first Chinese students to study in America. During the Cultural Revolution, Tsinghua was a key site of the Red Guard movement.


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2. Peking University

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