Shaolin Si

China’s most famous martial arts tradition was developed by Buddhist monks at Shaolin Si, 80km west of Zhenzhou.

Each year, thousands of Chinese enrol at Shaolin’s martial art schools. Enthusiastic trainees, many as young as five, can often be seen in the monastery ground ramming a javelin through their imaginary opponent’s body or gracefully kicking into a sparring dummy with enough force to wind an elephant.

Some students have found stardom from years of practicing the control of their minds and bodies; one teacher’s young son has struck it big and appeared in Hong Kong martial arts movies.

After graduation, many students become police officers, security guards or physical education teachers.

According to legend, Shaolin was founded in the 5th century AD by an Indian monk, Bodhidharma, who preached Chan (Zen) Buddhism. Apparently, for relief between long periods of meditation, Bodhidharma’s disciples imitated the natural motions of birds and animals, developing these exercises over the centuries into a form of unarmed combat.

The monks have supposedly intervened continually throughout China’s many wars and uprising-always on the side of right-eousness, naturally. Perhaps as a result, their monastery has suffered repeated sackings. The most recent episodes were in 1928, when a local warlord, Shi Yousan, torched almost all the temple’s buildings, and in the early 1970s, courtesy of the Red Guards.

In spite of fires and vandalism, many of the monastery buildings are still standing, although most have had any original charm restored out of them. One interesting sight is the Shaolin Talin (Forest of Dagobas) outside the walls past the temple; each of the 244 dagobas (dome-shaped shrines containing Buddhist relics), some dating back to the Tang dynasty, was built in memory of a monk.

Nowadays Shaolin is a tourist trap catering to tourists who are bussed in every day. The main area is thick with food stalls, street photographers and souvenir shops.