Tsinghua University's school motto is "strive for self-improvement, be virtuous and carry things". Since 19 14, countless Tsinghua students have been guided to pursue this kind of gentleman spirit. It comes from the first two hexagrams in the Book of Changes. The dry divination is: Tianjian, the gentleman strives for self-improvement; Kun gua: the terrain is Kun, and a gentleman carries things with virtue.

Why should the last four words in these two hexagrams be used as school motto? This stems from a lecture entitled "Gentleman" given to Tsinghua students by Liang Qichao during his visit to Tsinghua in 19 14.

In his speech, he first mentioned that the educational spirit of Britain and the United States is to cultivate national personality, which is a gentleman's personality when applied to China. He said that it is not easy to define the specific criteria of a gentleman, but he thought that 53 of the 64 hexagrams in Zhouyi were gentlemen, but what Gan Kun said in the two hexagrams was its outline. That is, the sky is healthy and the gentleman is constantly striving for self-improvement; The capacity of the earth is limited, so a gentleman must constantly cultivate his own virtue to undertake the world.

They all say that "the conditions of gentlemen are similar." Then it explains and extends the divinatory meaning of Ganxiang and Xiang Kun in detail. "Gangua" said: "A gentleman's ambition is endless, and there must be no disadvantages of one violence and ten cold." Scholars are determined, tenacious and resolute. "He feels that life is like sailing on the sea. Whether the wind is downwind or headwind varies from time to time. He can't decide for himself, so he can't wait until the wind is favorable, so he doesn't know when he can land.

Only by constantly striving for self-improvement and not avoiding difficulties and obstacles can we reach the other side of success. According to Kun Gua, he warned students to be kind to others and be rich in Judah like a gentleman. A gentleman should have high standards for himself and severe punishment, but low standards and tolerance for others. In this way, we can achieve "fame is more important than hands, charm is graceful, and it looks like it is warm." He asked Tsinghua students to have the mind of unity and cooperation, strict self-discipline and selfless dedication.

From then on, Tsinghua people wrote the words "self-improvement, kindness and morality" into the school rules of Tsinghua, and later gradually evolved into the school motto of Tsinghua.