The body of a highly-respected Buddhist monk in China has been transformed into a beautiful golden statue four years after his death.

Fu Hou died in 2012 after spending most of his life at the Chongfu Temple on a hill in the city of Quanzhou, in southeastern China, according to the temple’s abbot, Li Ren.

The temple decided to mummify Fu Hou to commemorate his devotion to Buddhism and to serve as an inspiration for followers of the religion.

The practice reserved for holy men in some areas with strong Buddhist traditions.

The monk started practicing Buddhism at 13 and devoted his life to the religion before his death at the age of 94.

He was born in Jinjiang – also in Fujian Province – in 1919.

According to People’s Daily, he was considered to be a wonderful monk by his disciples while preaching and was a quiet man who would always painstakingly practiced his belief.

Fu Hou is said to have little contact with the outside world, a heart of compᴀssion and was widely respected by the younger monks and his peers.

Before he died, Fu Hou made the decision to have his body preserved.

Immediately following his death, the monk’s body was washed, treated by two mummification experts, and sealed inside a large pottery jar in a sitting position, the abbot said.

When the jar was opened in January this year, the monk’s body was found intact and sitting upright with little sign of deterioration apart from the skin having dried out, Li Ren said.

The body was then washed with alcohol and covered in layers of gauze, lacquer and finally gold leaf.

It was also robed, and a local media report said a glᴀss case had been ordered for the statue, which will be protected with an anti-theft device.

The local Buddhist belief is that only a truly virtuous monk’s body would remain intact after being mummified, local media reports said.

‘Monk Fu Hou is now being placed on the mountain for people to worship,’ Li Ren said.

Fu Hou’s golden statue will be placed in the ancestral hall of shrines at the Dongdan inner chamber.