The Transforming Monastery (Huacheng Si), first built in 757 AD of the Tang Dynasty (618-907 AD), is the site of the first built temple in Jiuhuashan. Lying in mid Jiuhuashan, it's enclosed by the mountains, with Furong Peak to the south, Shenguang Ridge to the west, White Clouds Mountain to the north, and cliffs to the east. The Temple, consisting of four rows of houses, was built on the mountainside. Solemn and imposing, the buildings of the oldest and largest temple in the Jiuhua Mountain rise gradually with the sloping land.

The original buildings have now all be reconstructed in the style of the originals, so that of the main ones, both the existing archway and Sutras Holding Hall (Canjing lou) were built in the sixteenth century, while the Grand Hall (Daxiong baodian) and the Hall Behind (Hou dian) are of nineteenth century origin.

The architecture in the temple is of fairly common Chinese style, and apart from the walls and roofs, all other sections of the buildings are made of wood without a single nail. The temples, with fairly low ceilings, are all intricately carved and unique, so that every lintel, beam bracket and beam is decorated with various dragons and Buddhist entities. The door inlets, the window lattices the brackets as well as the beams were elaborately carved. And the sculptured work of "Nine Dragons Playing With A Ball" upon the ceiling of the main hall, is truly an art treasure among woodcarvings. Ancient horizontal boards throughout the temple display calligraphy from emperors of both Ming (1368-1644 AD) and Qing (1644-1911 AD) Dynasties, and there are also a selection of Sutras within, including the Nirvana Sutras, donated by imperial order.

The temple is also a commemoration of the founder of the temple Kim Kiao Kak (Jin Qiaojue), who, like Wu Xia after him, was allegedly discovered three years after his death. The Main Hall in the temple is now a museum dedicated to this pious Korean Buddhist. It still stores the precious cultural relics such as Buddhist edicts and scriptures of the Ming Dynasty.

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