Is it a Tsinghua tradition to attach importance to physical exercise?

Reports stated that this year, Tsinghua University issued a school rule stating that starting from the 2017 class, undergraduates must be able to swim in order to graduate. This immediately attracted attention from the outside world. Relevant people said that on the Tsinghua campus, "without sports, there is no Us." "Fifty years of healthy work for the motherland" and other slogans, as well as the figures of students exercising can be seen everywhere. It is Tsinghua's tradition to attach importance to physical exercise.

It was reported that after the introduction of the school regulations, the person in charge of Tsinghua University stated that, first of all, swimming is a necessary survival skill. When a person falls into the water, there is a big difference between being able to swim and being unable to swim, which directly determines whether he can save himself. Therefore, we want students to master swimming skills, which will also be helpful in future life.

Secondly, "You can't graduate if you don't know how to swim" is an old school rule of Tsinghua University. It can be traced back to the 1920s. At that time, the indoor swimming pool of Tsinghua West Gymnasium had just been built. Although it was only 20 meters long, it attracted a large number of students. The then director of the physical education department, John Ma, advocated that students should swim, and those who could not swim would not be able to graduate. However, later, due to various reasons, this school rule was suspended.

Netizens have said that such school rules are worth promoting, after all, the body is the capital of revolution!