[13][14] The monastery was first established as the Qianqiu Temple under the Southern Han,[1] a 10th-century Tang successor state whose capital was at Xingwang (now Guangzhou).

During the reign of the Kangxi Emperor, it was expanded continuously by the monks Azi (阿字), Chee Yut,[10] and others,[1] sometimes prompting English sources to place its establishment in 1662.

The main hall's large buddhas were removed to other temples[23][20] so that Lord Amherst and his retinue could rest there for three weeks 1–20 January 1817[24] before returning home via Macao following their failed embassy to Beijing ("Pekin").

At the far end were three halls, the center of which held three 11-foot (3.4 m) idols of the Buddhas past, present, and yet-to-come—"Kwo-keu-fuh", "Heen-tsa-fuh", and "We-lae-fuh"—in a seated position.

[22] The side walls were covered with silk embroidered in gold and silver thread with passages of scripture, and the whole lit with several hundred lanterns suspended from the roof's crossbeams.

[30] The master Liang Kun (Leung Kwan) died while training in the 36-Point Copper Ring Pole technique under the monk Yuanguang in 1887.

[28] The monastery faded from importance in foreign guidebooks after the Opium Wars opened Guangzhou proper to visitors,[33] although the principal factories were removed to Henan during the years 1856–1859 after a devastating fire along the north bank and the number of monks grew as high as 175.

[1] As part of the educational reforms surrounding the end of the imperial examination system, the monastery was obliged to make room for the Nanwu Public School (南武公学).

[36] An official embassy of the city's Buddhists to the capital at Nanjing the next year was a failure, but the park was permitted to keep some of its statues "for public appreciation".

[1] Following China's opening up, the Guangzhou Municipal People's Government permitted the monastery to resume official operation in 1993, identifying it as a heritage conservation unit.

The grounds of the monastery were repaired and renovated but continue to only occupy the western half of the former site, the rest making up Guangzhou's Haichuang Park.