Why is the famous Tsinghua University at home and abroad named after "Tsinghua"? That's because the location of the university was originally the "Tsinghua Garden", a royal garden in the Qing Dynasty. So the name of the garden was chosen as the name of the university.
The name "Tsinghua Garden" was given by Emperor Xianfeng of the Qing Dynasty. The original site of Qinghua Garden was part of the Xichun Garden built during the Kangxi period. During the Daoguang period, the original Xichun Garden was divided into east and west parts. The garden in the west was named "Yingchun Garden", and the garden in the east was still named "Xichun Garden". After Emperor Xianfeng ascended the throne, he changed the name of Xichun Garden in the east to Huayuan.
Nowadays, the plaque behind the Gongzi Hall of Tsinghua Garden has the four characters "Shui Mu Qinghua", with a couplet on both sides: The mountain light outside the threshold is extraordinary through the thousands of changes in spring, summer, autumn and winter; the clouds and shadows in the window are either east or west. Going back and forth from north to south is a fairyland. This four-digit dictionary of "water, wood, and Qinghua" comes from the poem "You Xichi" written by Shuyuan of the Jin Dynasty: Jing Zang's songbird collection, water, wood and Qinghua. "Zhan" means clarification. Therefore, there is a pool behind the hall, so the poem above was used to inscribe the plaque as "Shui Mu Qing Hua".
In 1910, the "Tsinghua Academy" was built in the Tsinghua Campus with the Boxer Indemnity money, and classes officially opened in 1911. This was the predecessor of Tsinghua University.