Just like his father, who was a Manchurian scholar from Shenyang, Liaoning province, Tong excelled in his studies at Tsinghua College, the predecessor of today's Tsinghua University, before furthering his studies at the University of Pennsylvania in the United States in the 1920s. He graduated with a master's degree in architecture in 1928 and went on to work in architecture firms in Philadelphia and New York. In 1930, he embarked on a four-month tour of Europe, a fairly common practice then among Eastern youths looking to broaden their horizons and better understand the world. For Tong, the period was a chance to study architectural styles in Britain, France, Germany, the Netherlands and Switzerland, as well as learn about European civilizations, says Tong Ming, curator of the exhibition and a grandson of Tong Jun.