Mount Jiuhua was called Mount Lingyang during the time of the
Han dynasty. It was called Mount Jiuzi (九子山) during the Liang and Chen dynasties of the South Dynasties period. A legend says that the great poet
Li Bai of the
Tang dynasty travelled here and wrote "Magic is divided to two branches, sacred mountain generates nine glories." (), giving rise to its name Mount Jiuhua. Mount Jiuhua is located in the southeastern part of
Chizhou City, in
Quingyang County of
Anhui Province. The gross area reaches 120 square kilometers, while the protection area reaches 114 square kilometers. Shiwang Peak is the highest one with an elevation of 1342 meters above sea level. Together with
Wutai Mountain in
Shanxi,
Emei Mountain in
Sichuan and
Putuo Mountain in
Zhejiang. Jiuhua Mountain is called one of the four great Buddhist mountains in China. In 719 AD,
Kim Qiaoque, a
Silla prince (today's Qingzhou city in South Korea) who was ordained as a
bhikkhu came to Jiuhua Mountain and cultivated himself for 75 years. He died at 99 years of age, his corporeal body stayed intact as sacred relic. Because he was very similar in appearance to Dizang Bodhisattva, the monastic community there believed he is one of the incarnations of Dizang Bodhisattva, as a result, Jiuhua Mountain became the sacred site dedicated to Dizang Bodhisattva. During the golden periods of the Ming and Qing dynasties, there were as many as 360 temples and 4,000 to 5,000
monks and nuns. The mountain is not only famous for its Buddhist culture but also noted for its natural landscapes featuring old pines, green bamboo forests, strange rocks, waterfalls, streams and caves. Mount Jiuhua was originally known as Jiuzi (Nine-Peak) Mountain. But ever since Li Bai, the Tang dynasty poet, wrote of the mountain, Sailing down the Jiujiang River the other day, I saw the Jiuhua Peaks in the distance. Looking like a heavenly river hanging in heaven, Its green water embroidering cotton rose
hibiscuses. the mountain was renamed Jiuhua Mountain. As a popular pilgrimage destination, it was very famous in the southeastern part of China and became one of the four holy mountains of Buddhism. Since its opening in 1979, Jiuhua Mountain, with its abundant
Buddhist culture and uniquely attractive scenery, has enjoyed a high reputation in southeast Asia, South Korea and Japan. It is known as the mountain and
bodhimaṇḍa of
Dizang Bodhisattva and for having a large number of sacred Buddhist
relics, including a tall
statue of Dizang. There are 99 peaks in the area, among them Shiwang Peak, Lotus Peak, and others. Subsequently certified as a national
geopark, and then as a regional geopark (
Asia Pacific Geopark Network), it was admitted as a
UNESCO Global Geopark in 2019. ==Climate==