He was born in Kunming, China in 1940. He grew up in Taiwan and obtained a B.A. in Chinese Studies at Tunghai University (1961). He received his M.A. (1963) and Ph.D. (1968) both at Harvard. Having taught Chinese intellectual history, philosophies of China, and Confucian studies at Princeton University (1967-71) and University of California at Berkeley (1971-81), he has been on the Harvard faculty since 1981.
He also taught, as a visiting professor, at Peking University, Taiwan University, the Chinese University of Hong Kong, and L'Ecole Practique des Haute Etudes. Professor Tu holds honorary professorships from Zhejing, Renming, and Zhongshan Universities and the Shanghai Academy of Social Sciences and has been awarded honorary degrees by Lehigh, Michigan State (Grand Valley), and Shandong Universities. He is a vice-president of the International Association of Confucian Studies, an international advisor of Rahman University in Malaysia, a member of the "Group of Eminent Persons" appointed by Kofi Annan to facilitate the Dialogue among Civilizations, and a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.

Chinese History and Philosophy of Confucian

He has published several books in English and in Chinese, and dozens of articles primarily focusing on the modern transformation of Confucian humanism. A five-volume anthology of his works was published in Chinese in 2001.