Based on newly found materials, this paper examines four rounds of master plans of Tsinghua University, with emphases on the 1954 and 1960 schemes, including their planning objectives, principles, methods and implementation, as epitomized in the 1960 scheme. It explicates the relationships amongst the four schemes, contending for the far-reaching influence of the Soviet pattern in higher education and city planning on China. The planning history of Tsinghua University in the 1950s and 1960s underwent three historical and political phases, which reflflects the state building process of Maoist China at the time: a short period of transition, complete adjustment to the Soviet pattern, and search for a socialist Chinese path.