Jiuhuashan Huacheng Temple

CHINA, Anhui, Chizhou

This was the first temple to be built on the mountain. According to the records, a small hut was constructed here in 401 during the Northern Jin dynasty by an Indian monk called Beidu. Between 780 and 783, the temple was turned into a place for veneration of Ksitigarbha Bodhisattva. In 1857, during the Qing dynasty, the temple was destroyed, with only the sutra repository left standing, but it was reconstructed in 1889. When the temple was again repaired in 1981, a Historical Relics Museum was constructed and most of the artifacts on the mountain were housed there. The temple was listed as a key Buddhist temple in the Han region of China in 1983.
This is the only temple on Jiuhuashan which faces south. It has a symmetrical layout with four courtyards built on the slope of the mountain. The buildings include the main temple gate, the Heavenly King Hall, the Great Hero Hall, and the sutra repository. The Free Life Pond in front of the temple is semicircular. The five-bay wide main temple is linked to the Heavenly King Hall by connecting roofs. The five-bay wide Great Hero Hall has three plafonds in varying sizes. The largest plafond is decorated with a wood-carving of nine dragons entwined around a pearl. The two-story sutra repository was built during the time of Emperor Wanli (reigned 1572–1620) of the Ming dynasty. It is five bays wide with eaves on the lower level that extend more than 3 m outward. Most of the buildings have flush gable roofs covered with small green tiles, as well as the stepped gable walls commonly seen in Anhui. The white walls and gray tiles blend harmoniously with the local buildings.
The temple houses artifacts such as a Buddhist Canon bestowed by Emperor Shenzong of the Ming dynasty, a copy of the Avatamsaka Sutra written in blood by Master Wuxia, and a 2 m high bronze bell weighing 1 t which was cast during the Qing dynasty.