A Chinese Buddhist monk who died away in 2012 has been covered with gold leaf and is expected to be used as a shrine.

Fu Hou was a devout Buddhist monk, who began studying Buddhism at the age of 13, and remained practising until he died at the age of 94, the Telegraph reports.

(Rex Features)

Following his decision that he wanted to be preserved after his death, Fu Hou’s body was treated by two mummification experts and placed in a jar.

Mummification and preservation is a treatment reserved for devout men, and it is believed that only the bodies of truly virtuous Buddhists will remain intact.

(Rex Features)

Three years after mummification, Fu Hou’s body was found to still be well preserved, and to have remained in the upright sitting position in which it was mummified.