The faction was formed at a meeting of KMT leaders opposed to communist influence held at Biyun Temple in the Western Hills district of Beijing in November 1925.

[6] The group included Lin Sen, Ju Zheng, Zou Lu, and Xie Chi.

Unlike the Christian Sun Yat-sen, the Western Hills group had a prominent Buddhist character.

The initial intention of the Western Hills Group was not political, but only to visit the Biyun Temple, where the coffin of Sun Yat-sen was situated, to recite Buddhist sutras and pray for Buddha's return.

Most of the main attendees of the Western Hills Group were Buddhist and Taoist priests with profound Buddhist education, including Lin Sen, Juzheng, Zou Lu, Ye Chucheng, Zhang Ji, Dai Jitao, Xie Zhi, Qin Zhen, Shen Dingyi, Mao Zuquan, Zhang Ziben, Fu Rulin, Shi Ying, and Shi Qingyang, among others, and there were 14 of them.

This agreement allowed the KMT to receive Soviet arms and establish a foothold in Guangzhou, a major city in southern China.

After the death of Sun in March 1925, the KMT swung to the left under Wang, who formed an alliance with the communists.

Wang responded to the Western Hills meeting by convening a Second National Party Conference in Guangzhou on 1 January 1926.

On April 19, a "National Government" was proclaimed in Nanjing with Hu as party chairman and Chiang as military commander.

With Hu chairman of a reunited KMT and Chiang absent, the Western Hills Group was for a brief interval the party's dominant faction.

In February, Chiang dismissed the Western Hills ministers and appointed the Chen brothers to prominent party organization and security positions.