Shaolin Temple

The Shaolin Temple, crowned as “the First Temple in the World” with its long history and mysterious legends, is located in the Shaoshi Mountain, eight miles of Dengfeng City and about fifty miles southwest of Zhengzhou, the capital of Henan Province. The Shaolin Temple is the most famous temple in China, not only for its Sutra and Buddhism preaching for such a long time, but also for its first-class martial arts or Wushu Chan, which plays a great role in Chinese Martial Arts history. Its various legends and mysteries about great Buddhists and their kung fu are well- known in every household.

The Shaolin Temple was built in 495 AD during the Northern Wei Dynasty (386-534) when an Indian Buddhist called Batuo came to Luoyang, the capital of the country at that time, to preach Buddhism. Since the King of the Northern Wei was a sincere Buddhist, he ordered the Shaolin Temple to be built for Monk Batuo, where he translated the Buddhist Scripture into Chinese and preached Buddhism. Later, the legendary Indian Buddhist Damo (Bodhidharma) came to the Shaolin Temple in 517 AD, thereafter starting the practice of Chinese Zen there. What's more, you can visit the Damo Cave, where he meditated for nine years.

There is an old saying that all martial arts (Kung fu) are from Shaolin, which shows the important role of the Shaolin Temple in Chinese martial arts. This is because the temple is located in a strategic position and its monks needed to protect their temple by themselves. Besides, there were many soldier-monks in Shaolin Temple, more than 1,000 at peak, who were frequently called for wars and battles by the government. Nowadays, the martial arts in Shaolin Temple is still thriving, and many people go there to learn Chinese kung fu, including some foreigners.