Tsinghua Garden (清华园）

Tsinghua Garden is architecturally unique. It preserves original architectural features over three centuries old. The garden retains a traditional Qing private garden design and style with painted corridors connecting every room. It has functioned as the university's head office for many years. Due to its distinctive characteristics, it has become a major attraction on campus.

The more popular name of the garden is Gong Zi Ting -- which in Chinese means H-Shaped House. Viewed from above, the central part of the house resembles the letter "H", with its two halls in the front and back connected by a short corridor in the middle.

The garden started out as the residence of a Qing emperor's brother's family. In the early days of Tsinghua School, founded in 1911, the garden was used as the school's first head office building. Student enrollment lists were posted on the wall at the front gate. For some years in its history, the east room in the front section was used as the Music Center, the west room as the teacher's reading room and the back section to accommodate distinguished foreign guests. The great Indian poet Rabindranath Tagore stayed there when he visited China in 1924.