Tsinghua Purple "recently caught fire on the Internet, walking into the Tsinghua campus, purple signs can be seen everywhere, school buses, signs, dinner plates, etc. are all eye-catching purple. Coupled with the recent bloom of school flowers, the whole campus is wandering in the purple ocean.
How did purple become the representative color of Tsinghua?
There are different interpretations for this.
01
Distinctive logo – school emblem and school flower
The first is the school emblem school flower said.
The emblem of Tsinghua University is a purple pattern on a white background, and the purple color corresponds to the color of the bauhinia flower of Tsinghua University.
It is unknown when Tsinghua and Bauhinia came together, but according to Tsinghua historical records, in 1916, Wen Yiduo's secondary department performed Shakespeare's play "Much Ado about Nothing" (Chinese translated as "Bauhinia Soul"), praising the spirit of Bauhinia and causing great repercussions at the time.
Bauhinia flowers on the Tsinghua campus
The Land Ji of the Jin Dynasty has a poetic cloud: "Three thorns are happy with the same plant, and four birds are sad and different." "Emphasize the importance of family and beauty, flesh and blood. At the same time, the leaves of the bauhinia are closely connected with the branches, no matter how big the wind and rain, they will not fall, showing a stubborn character, which also echoes the motto of Tsinghua University, "Self-improvement, Virtue Carrier".
Logo of Tsinghua University
In addition, the last Sunday of April every year is tsinghua university's school day, which is the day when the bauhinia flowers bloom. In this way, bauhinia flowers and school celebrations are engraved in the memory of Tsinghua people, and it is reasonable to take purple as the representative color of the campus.
02
History - The Concept of Birth and Founding
Secondly, this is inseparable from the birth and founding concept of Tsinghua University.
In 1908, the Chinese and American governments agreed to use part of the "Gengzi indemnity" that the United States "returned" to promote learning and education, and decided to establish a youmei industry museum in the "clear and open area on the outskirts of Beijing".
At the beginning of the establishment of Tsinghua University, the concept of "combining East and West" was "the combination of East and West". Red represents China and symbolizes Chinese culture; blue, representing the ocean, symbolizes Western civilization on the other side of the sea, and blending red and blue together is purple. Therefore, for Tsinghua, purple represents the source and spirit of the East and west.
03
It has a long history - Tsinghua school flag
Finally, purple has been used as a school color for an unknown reason but has a long history.
In the autumn of 1916, in order to enhance the physical fitness and exercise of students, Tsinghua School set up a military exercise training camp, but at this time there was one less military flag. On December 28, 1916, the "Tsinghua Weekly" reported that:
The military flag has now been drawn. The flag is purple, with a white circle in the middle, and there are eight words inside : Self-improvement, thick moral carrier'. There are two painted guns under the circle, also white.
Here, there is no mention of the intention and designer of the flag.
In June of the following year, the flag was officially published in the Tsinghua Annals, and the military flag immediately became the flag of Tsinghua University. In ordinary occasions, a triangular school flag is usually hung in purple and white, printed with the name of the Chinese and the English school.
Triangular school flag
Although purple was not explicitly specified as the school color until 1949, Tsinghua has always used purple and white as its own colors.
There is a lyric in the English school song at the beginning of the school, "O Tsing Hua, fair Tsing Hua, our college bright, May we be loyal to the purple and the white. (Chinese: 噫 Qinghua, Xi Qinghua, Our School Flag, Mei Zhao Our School Flag, May The Glory of Ru Increasing Day)", indicating that the purple and white school flag has become a part of Tsinghua culture.
bibliography
Huang Yanfu: "The History of Tsinghua Garden", Tsinghua University Press, 2005;
Weekly Editor: School News, BingCao Military Flag Style, Tsinghua Weekly, December 28, 1916;
Meng Fanmao: "Tsinghua School Emblem - Where Does It Originate and When Is It Set?" , 2011;
Constitution of Tsinghua University, Beijing: Tsinghua Alumni Association, March 3, 2016;
Image credit: Xinhua News Agency; People's Daily; pixabay