Former Site of Qiushi Academy

Former Site of Qiushi Academy

The Former Site of Qiushi Academy is a National Key Cultural Relics Protection Unit.

Qiushi Academy

Year: 1897

Qiushi Academy is located at No. 5, Lane 3, Daxue Road, Shangcheng District. It was founded in the 23rd year of the Guangxu reign of the Qing Dynasty (1897) by Lin Qi, the prefect of Hangzhou, and is one of the earliest modern higher education institutions in Zhejiang. Originally named Qiushi Academy, it went through several name changes and was renamed “National Chekiang University” in 1928. The former site includes the Puci Temple, where the main hall still stands. It faces south, has a width of five bays, with a total width of 22.15 meters and a depth of 18.14 meters. It features a single-eave hip-and-gable roof. The structure employs a seven-rafter lifted-beam system with front and rear three-step corridors. The exterior eaves have four bracket sets in the central bay, three in the side bays, and one in the corner bays.

Qiushi Academy is the predecessor of Zhejiang University. In the 23rd year of the Guangxu reign of the Qing Dynasty (1897), it was established by Lin Qi, the prefect of Hangzhou, using the Puci Temple, making it the first modern higher education institution in Zhejiang.

Qiushi Academy once gathered many talented youths of the late Qing Dynasty, who studied new knowledge here and had opportunities to study abroad.

Over the following decades, Qiushi Academy went through multiple name changes: Qiushi University Hall, Chekiang University Hall, Chekiang Advanced School, Chekiang Higher School... In April 1928, it was renamed “Zhejiang University.” In 1937, when the War of Resistance Against Japan broke out, Zhejiang University began relocating inland to the west in November that year. Three years later, it arrived at Meitan County, Zunyi City, Guizhou Province, where it operated for seven years. This period is known as the “Westward Migration of Zhejiang University.”

After the victory in the war, Zhejiang University returned to Hangzhou in the autumn of 1946 but relocated to a new campus, leaving the former site of Qiushi Academy unused.

In 1956, Zhejiang College of Traditional Chinese Medicine officially moved into No. 160, Daxue Road, and began offering correspondence courses. The former Western-style classrooms of Qiushi Academy were transformed into a traditional Chinese medicine school.

Source: Zhejiang Cultural Relics Network

Further Reading:

·Fourth Batch of Zhejiang Provincial Cultural Relics Protection Units

·Eighth Batch of National Key Cultural Relics Protection Units