Mount Jiuhua 九华山

About Mount Jiuhua

Around Jiuhua Street, Huacheng Temple faces a crescent-shaped release pond and open square, while the lanes connect religious buildings with lodging and shops. Roushen Hall and Baisui Palace extend the pilgrimage landscape above the settlement. Choose a temple cluster before adding a higher mountain route, allowing time for worshippers and the differing approaches to each building.

Mount Jiuhua was called Mount Lingyang (陵阳山) in the Han dynasty and Mount Jiuzi (九子山) during the Liang and Chen dynasties for its nine peaks; in the Tang dynasty the poet Li Bai renamed it Mount Jiuhua. In 719, during the Kaiyuan era, a Silla prince, Kim Qiaoque (金乔觉), crossed the sea to practice austerities on the mountain for 75 years and died at 99; monks came to venerate him as an incarnation of Dizang Bodhisattva, and the mountain became his recognized bodhimanda. Temples multiplied from the Tang dynasty onward, reaching their height in the Ming and Qing dynasties, and were severely damaged during the Cultural Revolution (1966-1976).

Mount Jiuhua is counted among China's four great Buddhist mountains and was among the first batch of 5A-level scenic spots designated in China. It holds more than 2,000 cultural relics and over 500 poems and other literary works left by past visitors, along with more than 20 sites of former academies. Five of the mountain's historic corporeal bodies of deceased monks remain on view; the Ming-dynasty monk Wuxia's (无瑕和尚) was granted the title 'Responsive Bodhisattva' (应身菩萨) by the Chongzhen Emperor.

What to look for

• Huacheng Temple’s pond and square within the mountain settlement.
• The temple-and-hillside landscape around Roushen Hall and Baisui Palace.

Location & getting there

Getting to Mount Jiuhua

Use the Kecun visitor and transfer centre at the northern foot of Jiuhua for the main scenic approach. Arrange onward scenic transport to Jiuhua Street, where the sightseeing-bus stop serves the temple settlement. Higher areas require separate route planning.