The campus of Tsinghua University is situated in northwest Beijing on the site of the former imperial gardens of the Qing Dynasty, and surrounded by a number of historical sites.

Tsinghua University was established in 1911, originally under the name “Tsing Hua Imperial College”. The school was renamed "Tsing Hua College" in 1912. The university section was founded in 1925. The name “National Tsing Hua University” was adopted in 1928.

The faculty greatly valued the interaction between Chinese and Western cultures, the sciences and humanities, the ancient and modern. Tsinghua scholars Wang Guowei, Liang Qichao, Chen Yinque and Zhao Yuanren, renowned as the "Four Tutors" in the Institute of Chinese Classics, advocated this belief and had a profound impact on Tsinghua's later development.

Following the outbreak of the War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression in 1937, National Tsing Hua University, National Peking University and Nankai University merged to form Lin-shih-ta-hsueh, which was renamed the National South-West Associated University in 1938 after moving to Kunming. In 1946 The University was moved back to its original location in Beijing after the war.