Wang Zhen, chief eunuch during the Ming dynasty's Zhengtong reign, first built Zhihuasi (Zhihua Temple) in 1443 as his own private temple.   At its height, Zhihuasi encompassed 20,000 square meters.

Having failed the imperial examinations, Wang Zhen became a eunuch and was highly valued by the Yingzong emperor (r. 1436-1449 and 1457-1464), who was later captured by the Wala Mongolian tribe during the Tumu Incident.   Soldiers eventually killed Wang Zhen, who had served as field commander.   After regaining the throne, the emperor then added to the temple a "Commending Loyalty Hall" in Wang's honor.

Located in Beijing's Lumicang Hutong, just northwest of Jianguomen, this temple is well known for its collection of Buddhist music.   Monks today continue to perform music from Buddhist rituals dating back to the late Ming, using many instruments, including different gongs, sheng, a bamboo mouth organ, di, a kind of flute, and taigu, drums.

Temple music at Zhihuasi consisted of instrumental music, or capital music, jing yinyue, which included buddhist, folk and palace music; and Buddhist songs.   Music is recorded on gongchepu, a type of traditional Chinese musical notation that has not changed significantly over the past 500 years.

The crossbeams and corner pillars still visible in Zhihua Temple's main halls were erected in the 1400s although much of the temple includes renovations from the Ming and Qing periods. The scripture cabinets, Buddhist images and decorative carvings all follow Ming style, making the temple one of the best existing examples of Ming Buddhist architecture in Beijing.

Resplendent sunken panels and caisson ceilings ranked among the treasures at Zhihuasi but in the hard tumultous days during the 1930s, monks sold the panels in the Zhihua and Wanfoge Halls in order to survive; these are now in US museums.   However, the Six Character Commandments and caisson ceilings can still be viewed in the temple's Tathagata and Great Mercy Halls.

Rulai Hall, also called the Hall of Tathagata Buddha, is the largest building in Zhihua Temple.   A statue of Sakyamuni Buddha stands in the hall, opposite a guardian king and warrior.   A total of 9,999 tiny statues of Buddha stand in slots on the walls on two floors of Rulai Hall; exquisitely gilded and multicolored ceiling panels and lattice windows offer fine examples of Ming temple art.   The temple also contains a revolving, octagonal scripture cabinet of wood, known as zhuanlunzang, rests on a marble base.   Relief carvings of birds, deities, human figures, lions, and flowers decorate the temple.

Among the many Buddhist classics remaining at the temple are the Great Gold King Peacock Incantation Classics, da jinse kongquewang jing, the Classics Collected in North in China in Ming, ming bei cang.   Three additional volumes of rare Buddhist classics dating from the Yuan dynasty (1279-1368) were found as recently as 1984 hidden inside the stomach of a statue of Buddha in Tathagata Hall.