Former site of Qiushi Academy

Puci Temple (Chinese: 普慈寺; pinyin: Pǔcí Sì) was a Buddhist temple built by the monk Sijing (Chinese: 思净) in the Shaoxing era (1131-1162) of the Southern Song dynasty, repaired in the Zhizheng era (1341-1370) of the Yuan dynasty by the monk Yuanzhong (Chinese: 元忠), destroyed in the early Ming and rebuilt by the monk Zhijue (Chinese: 智珏) in the Jiajing era (1522-1566) of the Ming dynasty. In 1889 and 1891, the temple was again rebuilt by the monk Shi Wenda (Chinese: 释闻达) as one of the largest temple in the east part of the city. However, the temple was destroyed before it was fully constructed in a disaster. Thus, the temple was handed over to the local government.[2]

Six years after the disaster, the scholar-officials of Hangzhou, led by Lin Qi, the then-Mayor of Hangzhou, re-utilised the site of the temple to establish Qiushi Academy and Military Academy. Qiushi Academy was renamed as Zhejiang Qiushi University in 1901, as Zhejiang University in 1902 and as Zhejiang Higher Institute in December 1903 and continued to operate until it was closed in 1914. It focused on the so-called "New Learnings" or "New Subjects" (新學 / 新学). It had a study duration of five years, and taught courses including Chinese, English, mathematics, history, geology/geography, physics and chemistry. It also held several foreign lecturers.[3]

In 1927, the site was returned to the alumni of Qiushi Academy and Zhejiang Higher Institute, where the government founded Zhejiang University by merging the Zhejiang Public Industrial School (Chinese: 浙江公立工业专门学校) in the neighbouring coinage (Chinese: 铜元局) and Zhejiang Public Agricultural School (Chinese: 浙江公立农业专门学校) in Jianqiao. Thereafter, the site became a major campus of Zhejiang University, which hosted its College of Humanities, College of Sciences, College of Engineering and College of Normal Education.[2]

After the 1952 reorganisation of Chinese higher education, Zhejiang University was reduced to an engineering specialised university, but remained at the site. After Zhejiang University moved to its Yuquan campus in 1956, the site became seized by Zhejiang Vocational School of Traditional Chinese Medicine, which was later upgraded to Zhejiang Chinese Medicine College. During the time, the westernised buildings of Qiushi Academy was demolished and the current historic site was the main hall of the temple, the only remaining part of Puci Temple.