Zhaohua Temple, building in Huai'an County, China

Zhaohua Temple is a walled Buddhist complex facing south on West Street in Huai'an Town, Huai'an County, covering 3,600 square metres. Its four successive courtyards hold a mountain gate, the Heavenly King Hall, a stele pavilion, the Mahavira Hall and the Three Great Beings Hall, flanked by east and west side halls. The five-bay Mahavira Hall has a single-eaved hip-and-gable roof and a green-glazed tile roof.

Zhaohua Temple began as Yongqing Chan Temple, built in 1397 during the Ming Hongwu era. Repeated Mongol raids, earthquakes and summer floods left only its foundations. In 1436 two eunuchs, Bai Yu and Wu Zhu, raised funds for an eight-year rebuilding; the temple was renamed Zhaohua after Emperor Yingzong granted a plaque in 1445. In 1509 donations replaced the Mahavira Hall roof with green glazed tiles made by the Qiao family of Shanxi.

The name Zhaohua was granted by Emperor Yingzong in 1447, when the temple received an imperial plaque. Before that it was called Yongqing Chan Temple. A stele inside the Mahavira Hall, 2.1 m long and 0.9 m thick, records the Huai'an Guard's defensive role and the temple's rebuilding. Before the Jiaqing era, a fur-coat fair (皮襖會) was held here each year in early the tenth lunar month, later moved to the City God Temple.

The temple holds regular prayer meetings and ceremonies that visitors can observe throughout the day. The complex with its quiet courtyards and decorated halls can be easily explored on foot, offering ample time for quiet reflection.

The temple's only surviving stele, a 2.1 m by 0.9 m white marble slab 0.3 m thick, stands inside the Mahavira Hall. Its 1,024 characters, in 23 lines of 58, record the military role of Huai'an Guard and the temple's 1436 rebuilding. It once stood in a stele pavilion between the gate and the Heavenly King Hall, destroyed when the temple became a school.