history
Mei Yiqi's 1931 inaugural address defined the modern Chinese university: 所谓大学者,非谓有大楼之谓也,有大师之谓也 - 'a great university is not one with great buildings, but one with great masters.' He led Tsinghua through the wartime evacuation to Kunming, where Tsinghua, Peking University, and Nankai merged into the legendary Southwestern Associated University (西南联合大学).
culture
Revered as 清华永远的校长 ('Tsinghua's eternal president'), Mei re-established National Tsing Hua University in Hsinchu, Taiwan, in 1956. Both the Beijing and Hsinchu Tsinghuas claim him, and both display his famous dictum on campus.