Shaolin commercialism

[GeneChing]

a unit of the temple?


China's famed Shaolin temple kick starts online store (http://uk.reuters.com/article/technologyNewsMolt/idUKPER52137620080625?pageNumber=1&virtualBrandChannel=10171)
Wed Jun 25, 2008 1:20pm BST
By Sophie Taylor

SHANGHAI (Reuters) - China's Shaolin Temple, the birthplace of kung fu and the star of many martial arts films, has set up an online store to flog its wares.

Named "Shaolin The Stage of Joy," a Web page has been set up by a unit of the temple on popular Chinese e-commerce site www.taobao.com, offering a range of goods including shoes, tea, T-shirts and slippers.

Enthusiasts can snap up a kung fu instruction manual for 9,999 yuan ($1,456), or pick up a pair of "environmentally friendly" chopsticks for 29 yuan.

This is not the first time that the monastery -- known in the West as the training ground for Kwai Chang "Grasshopper" Caine in the 1970s hit television series "Kung Fu" -- has made a commercial foray.

Shaolin Temple's business ventures include kung fu shows, film production and a reality TV search for the next kung fu star. Its monks also go on world tours to perform feats of agility and balance.

The temple, in central Henan province, was also the driving force behind a local government plan to float shares in tourism assets, a Hong Kong newspaper reported late last year.

But the temple came under fire in 2006 after a senior Chinese monk was awarded a luxury car for services to the local tourism industry, which forms a bulk of the city's revenues.

Some Chinese Web surfers also appeared equally unimpressed by the Shaolin Temple's latest commercial venture.

"Shaolin temple is getting less and less likeable," one Internet user wrote in an essay posted on news site ifeng.com on Wednesday. "There's a giant laughing buddha in Shaolin temple. If it saw what the temple is doing these days, I'm not so sure it would still be laughing."

($1=6.866 Yuan)

(Editing by Miral Fahmy)

[TaichiMantis]

yeah...just saw that on msnbc...oh gee, the secret's out now :p

[GeneChing]

I haven't quite been able to figure out taobao yet. We did a search there (http://search1.taobao.com/browse/0/t-95-----------------g,zhm4dvwlyi----------------40--commend-0-all-0.htm?at_topsearch=1). My favorite discovery so far is this (http://auction1.taobao.com/auction/item_detail-0db2-da50fd1a1b3bd7cf6ad79f0fbef1922b.jhtml). I can't resist babelfishing this:

Commodity name: Shaolin Temple element cake/peanut shortbread Ingredient: The vegetarian diet butter, the walnut are broken, hard sugar, peanut oil, special-purpose powder, coconut tree powder, table salt Specification: 320 grams Guarantees the nature time:　12 months Edible method: Breaks a seal is the food Depositing: Cool dry place " Shaolin Temple element cake " The formula is fastidious, it originates from the Shaolin Temple inherited meals secret recipe, releases by Shaolin Temple extends teaches master the supervised manufacture. Uses raw material butter is the pure element butter which Taiwan produces. The element cake low sugar, does not contain the fat, after the food, has effect of the rapid supplement physical ability. The Mt. Songshan Shaolin Temple is the world famous imperial sacrifices ancestors courtyard, is also Shaolin sends the skill at martial arts the place of origin, has emphatically the important place position in the Chinese Buddhism history. The vegetarian diet true development is also spreads to China after Buddhism starts, the temple and the vegetarian diet have had the very complicated relation. According to the record, Shaolin Temple once used the Shaolin vegetarian diet to entertain Emperor Taitsung of Tang, Yuanshizhu Emperor, the clear too ancestor successively in the temple and so on more than 20 kings. Because A.D. 629 year in September, Emperor Taitsung of Tang read and the same year 13 stick monks rescues graciousness, led personally Wei Zheng et al. to visit Shaolin Temple, Hao Zong buddhist priest entertains Emperor Taitsung of Tang by 60 many patterns vegetarian diet ornaments coiled dragon feast. In the temple vegetarian diet, has contained the idea which Buddhism universals restoration, leniency. The world first session martial arts festival holds in Henan, the world will appreciate the area south of Yellow River martial arts charm and Shaolin Temple culture broad and profound. The head store series Shaolin Temple vegetarian diet is your throughout the year nutrition companion, is also your home travel, presents high quality goods of the relatives and friends.

[wuseng33]

As much respect i have for shaolin and the real monks within it, when will they take a look at what they are doing to themselfs and realise that this is not what they are supposed to be about or is it? have they forgotten they are monks? or were they never monks to start with? ( at least some of them) interesting ?

[GeneChing]

taobao means something like 'dig out treasure'. It's and e-commerce site akin to Craig's list or eBay, but you have to be a member to play. Private individuals or companies can post items they have for sale. Unlike eBay, this is driven more by companies selling wholesale inventories than individuals auctioning personal items. This site seems to be based in Zhejiang. We've signed in and are trying to locate the site. 53,187 matches come up when we search Shaolin on taobao. There are 7 Shaolin subsections that come up. There are even more subsections under each of these. None of them seem to be official. They all seem to be The stores are selling various Shaolin items, mostly VCDs, but also weapons, movies, and of course, Shaolin Temple element cake/peanut shortbread.

[GeneChing]

Do not join taobao. We are getting peppered by taobao spam. Should have seen that one coming.

We doubled checked on the official Shaolin Temple site (http://www.shaolin.org.cn/html/index.html) and couldn't find any mention of Shaolin The Stage of Joy. The official Shaolin site does not have a store at this time. There's a book listing for Shaolin publications, but there's not even a basket or means to purchase. That's always been a funky site, especially the English section. I asked Abbot Yongxin about that years ago and he just laughed at me.

[GeneChing]

Shaolin Temple Should Curb Commercial Endeavors (http://english.cri.cn/4026/2008/06/30/1901s374870.htm)
2008-06-30 10:00:14

The Shaolin Temple in central China's Henan Province has come under fire for selling "Shaolin Kung Fu and Medicine Secret", a series of kung fu instruction manuals.

Priced at about 10,000 yuan each, or nearly 1,500 U.S. dollars, the book is the most expensive item in the temple's online shop.

An article in the China Youth Daily says the Shaolin Temple has focused too much on making money, harming its prestige as a Buddhist pilgrimage site.

In traditional culture, kung fu masters only pass down their skills to their apprentices based on their virtues rather than on economic conditions. But the article points out that the high price of the book prevents most martial art lovers from buying it.

The article also questions the manual's authenticity and originality and points out that it has no real contents. It is believed to have been written by Shi Yongxin, the temple's celebrity abbot, the article says.

The article emphasizes that the Shaolin Temple should restrict its commercial endeavors and return to its role as a symbol of Buddhist culture.
This one is more of a fair cop. Shaolin does offer some very expensive books.

[NJM]

Now I want to know where to get a powdered coconut tree to make Element Cakes.

[GeneChing]

Yijinjing has been officially recognized as one of four qigong forms that China is actively promoting, so there's a ton of new materials on it, most notable the stuff from FLP. Our non-profit arm, the Tiger Claw Foundation (http://tigerclawfoundation.org/), is involved with a workshop this October on this. See Qigong Symposium - Total Health & Wellness Center: Grandmasters from China - Qigong Symposium (http://www.ohlone.edu/instr/wellnesscenter/20081000qigongsymposium.html) The articles below make it sound like no one has ever released yijinjing.

Here's a yijinjing secret DVD (http://www.martialartsmart.net/dvd-bj005.html). Shhh. If the abbot knew I was releasing these, he'd have my bald head. ;)


Once-secretive Shaolin wants to teach kung fu to everybody (http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5g4_6b3GEcyAaePIoZlbA657k_sMg)

SHANGHAI (AFP) — China's Shaolin Temple, famous as the birthplace of kung fu, is planning to roll out classes across the country to teach martial arts once reserved for just a few, state media said Friday.

Wang Shifa, director of Shaolin Huanxidi Company, told the Shanghai Daily that Shaolin Temple, located in central China's Henan province, is in talks with gyms in major cities to start training classes by the end of this year.

The classes will help popularise the temple's previously exclusive practice of "Yijinjing", a form of kung fu often known as Chinese yoga, which has been widely portrayed in martial arts novels and films, the report said.

Wang's company is a subsidiary of the temple's commercial arm, which also operates an eBay-style store selling Shaolin branded merchandise on China's Taobao auction site.

Cheng Tao, director of the temple's Yijinjing Research Center, told AFP that Yijinjing was a series of movements that help strengthen muscles and bones, and coordinate breathing.

"Actually it is not as mysterious as people think. It's just like yoga, good for everyday fitness. Even though the moves and respiratory control methods are very unique, ordinary people can still master it after practice," Cheng said.

Cheng said he believed in making the secret martial art form better known. The research centre he heads has already started to offer distance learning, relevant books and DVDs on Yijinjing.



Shaolin Temple to start commercial drive amid controversy (http://www.china.org.cn/travel/news/2008-09/05/content_16391706.htm)

A conical bamboo hat, Chinese kung fu slippers and even secret martial arts instruction manuals -- all these you can already find in the Shaolin Temple's online shop with its own registered trademark.

But to realize your dream of becoming a Dragon Warrior like Poe the panda, you'd better sign up for the kung fu training courses that the legendary temple is offering.

After a series of commercial drives, the monastery in the central Henan Province, will publicize its secret practice "Yijinjing", or literally "Muscle/tendon Change Classic", a once-exclusive kung fu, by publishing books and providing training courses, according to the Shanghai-based Oriental Morning Post.

"We have made Yijinjing CDs and textbooks and are planning to launch training courses in the country's biggest cities first and then go to the smaller ones," Cheng Tao, a senior official with a martial arts research center affiliated to the temple, was quoted by the newspaper.

But he did not reveal the specific timetable and course price.

Sources said that Shaolin would cooperate with local fitness centers and Yoga gyms to provide Yijinjing courses but Cheng said he was not clear about that.

Yijinjing, dubbed "Chinese yoga", is expected to turn flaccid and frail sinews and tendons into strong and sturdy ones by a set of body movements and respiration controlling methods.

"We believe the practice of Yijinjing can enhance the practitioners' martial art power and build a strong body even if they are beginners," Cheng added.

He said the movements were very easy to follow.

Traditionally, kung fu masters only passed down skills to selected apprentices based on their virtues rather than on their economic conditions.

The latest commercial move has exposed Shaolin into harsh criticism, which the 1,500-year kung fu shrine is no stranger to.

Almost 90 percent of the 500 netizens who commented on Sina forum on the piece six hours after its release voiced their dissatisfaction with the over-commercialized temple.

"The temple has been degrading to a company," an anonymous netizen from central Hubei said.

Shaolin abbot Shi Yongxin declined to comment on the issue. "I am not yet clear about it," he told Xinhua.

Shi has earned the nickname of the "CEO monk", since many people have accused him of running Shaolin like a business.

Over the past years, under his leadership, Shaolin has developed business ventures include kungfu shows, film production and online selling.

But Shi's supporters said it is a good way to develop Shaolin in such a brand-oriented society because commercialized operation helps to protect and spread Chinese kung fu further.

(Xinhua News Agency September 5, 2008)

[NJM]

Yijinjing has been officially recognized as one of four qigong forms that China is actively promoting

What are the other 3?

[Shaolinlueb]

sweet its in english!

[GeneChing]

From the Qigong Symposium site above:


These four forms, Five Animal Frolics (五禽戲 wuxingxi), Bone Marrow Washing (易筋經 yijinjing), Six Healing Sounds (六字訣 liuzijue), and Eight Section Brocade (八段錦 baduanjin) are based on traditional healthcare methods and refined by the Chinese Health Qigong Association (established in 2002 to enhance today’s busy lifestyle) the only nationally sanctioned health Qigong organization.

FLP has put out a nice instructional book series, complete with DVD, for each form. They are exorbitantly expensive here so far. We're hoping to start importing them at a more reasonable price.

[GeneChing]

It started out as "Shaolin Temple's online store" but I'm changing it to "Shaolin commercialism".

Zen and the martial art of Buddhist temple maintenance (http://scotlandonsunday.scotsman.com/comment/Zen-and-the-martial-art.4863834.jp)
Published Date: 11 January 2009
By Andrew Jacobs in Guandu
THE cluster of temples at the heart of this dusty, traffic-clogged town are picturesque reminders of China's faded Buddhist past. Dogs warm themselves in the winter sun as a few toothless devotees bow before smiling Buddhas.
While soothing to some, the tranquility is galling to Guandu's city fathers, who recently spent $3m to rebuild the four temples.

"The temples have been money losers," grumbled Dou Weibao, the commissioner of ethnic and religious affairs in Guandu, which has long since been subsumed by the sprawl of Kunming, the capital of Yunnan province.

Dou found a saviour 1,200 miles away, in the Song Mountains of central China, where the warrior monks of Shaolin have long since mastered the art of monastery marketing.

Since the early 1990s, the chief abbot, Shi Yongxin, has turned Shaolin into a lucrative draw for kung fu aficionados and has transformed his lithe disciples into global emissaries for the temple's crowd-pleasing mix of Zen Buddhism and fly-kick combat.

In November, the two parties struck a straightforward deal. In exchange for managing the Guandu temples for 30 years, the monks will keep all proceeds from the donation boxes and gift shops. Shaolin said its primary goals were to carry out charitable activities, maintain the temples and "spread the faith".

Dou, an atheist, sees things somewhat differently. "We're going to use their fame to attract more business," he said as he and some newly arrived monks exchanged pleasantries.

Guandu officials say they will get no money from the deal but they hope the Shaolin mystique will pull in the kind of crowds that have turned the monastery's Henan province flagship into one of China's most popular tourist destinations.

Dou said the government would save the £57,000 a year previously spent on temple maintenance.

They are also counting on the tax revenue from a vast new mall that is nearing completion next to the temple complex.

The management deal has provoked howls among some Chinese, with many critics decrying the commercialisation wrought by Yongxin, who drives a Land Rover and has established Shaolin branches in Italy, Germany and Australia.

"Shaolin Chain Store", read the headline of one recent posting on Sina.com, a popular website. "There's nothing wrong with chasing profits and fame, but they can't use the name of Buddha."

But after reading about the Shaolin deal in his local newspaper, Ying Daojin made the eight-hour journey by bus just to catch a glimpse of the monks. A 30-year-old corn farmer from northeast Yunnan, Ying described himself as a non-believer but seemed willing to give religion a try. "I've heard Buddhism can open your mind," he said wide-eyed as a monk glided by. "Kung fu is also good for your health."

According to his secretary, Yongxin, the head monk based in Henan province, does not give telephone interviews but he encouraged a reporter to seek out Master Yanjiang, the abbot assigned to run the Guandu complex.

Yanjiang, however, proved just as elusive and refused to discuss his plans for the temples. His monks were decidedly unapproachable.

The young men waved away inquiries. When one bespectacled monk found himself the subject of a photographer's interest, he grabbed the camera and then offered a menacing martial arts pose when his demand to have the pictures erased went unmet. Negotiations proved fruitless and the pictures were deleted. The monk bowed, smiled and walked away.

A few days after their arrival, the monks taped a handwritten poster at the temple entrance advertising kung fu lessons. The cost: £30 for a month of instruction, nearly a full month's wage for some Chinese workers. The security guard at the front gate said the classes were selling well, with more than 100 people already signed up. He showed off the student roster, most of them children and teenagers. "Everyone loves the Shaolin monks," he said with a smile.

[uki]

shaolin in china is strictly for tourism purposes... a grand hoodwink to the ignorant masses... this explains it's commercial endeavours... product marketting strategy at it's finest. :)

[David Jamieson]

shaolin in china is strictly for tourism purposes... a grand hoodwink to the ignorant masses... this explains it's commercial endeavours... product marketting strategy at it's finest. :)

so you've been, you have a first hand account and tacit knowledge of this then?
I had no idea you were so well travelled and had so much knowledge on this subject that you would take such an assertive stance with your position.

tell us f your travels and experiences please!

[uki]

tell us f your travels and experiences please!the lifetimes tend to blur together. :)

[MasterKiller]

the drugs tend to blur everything together. :)

I fixed that for you.

[DeHui702]

I've been to temples all over the world and they all have associated stores of some sort. Some sell strictly temple related items such as incense and statues, while others will actually contain groceries and cigarettes. It's normal practice. Foreigners should beware buying from a 'temple store' that they don't know because the store may not be officially connected to the temple.

If you find out it is a temple store, then you can be assured the money will go to ventures within the temple. I don't recommend overseas online purchasing at any rate..definitely call the place.

[uki]

I fixed that for you.suprisingly i do not use any drugs aside from the occasional puff of abuterol... marijuana and mushrooms are not drugs, just food for the mind and spirit... otherwise i would be able to buy them at the drugstore. :D

[LFJ]

I've been to temples all over the world and they all have associated stores of some sort.

renshou monastery in foshan has a nice restaurant in the back, but the little shop has mostly free things- books, posters, cds, etc.. :)

[UK MONK]

now there is a shop/restaurant in the temple. i have to say they have done it nice. but i feel like shaolin is selling out big time :(

two years ago you could go up to fawang temple for free and when you got inside they gave you free books on budhism and confusionism (i think i might have spelt that wrong :p). now you have to pay to use the road leading to the temple then then you have to pay to get in :mad:

even if you want to walk up song mountain you have to pay aswell. its really getting out of control. :(

[GeneChing]

...that's not at all uncommon in Chinese temples. It's traditional to offer incense, souvenirs and other blessed tchothkes at religious sites. That's not exclusive to China or Buddhism.

There was a restaurant inside Shaolin Temple by '96. I'm not sure that it has been open continuously since then. That too, believe it or not, has some tradition to it. Many Taoist and Buddhist temples offered vegetarian fare, often in the form of fake meats, in order to convince new initiates that vegetarianism was a viable option.

[Cat Nap]

Getting back to commercialism, in the States, what's everyone's opinion of Dr. Yang Jwing-Ming? He has a couple of schools of here in Andover and Boston, Massachusetts and it's contract and quite expensive. I don't know if Wah Lum in Boston and Malden, Massachusetts is Shaolin but the school in Malden charges at least $200 a month to study. Who can afford such things in this economy - or any economy for that matter.....:confused:

[DeHui702]

now there is a shop/restaurant in the temple. i have to say they have done it nice. but i feel like shaolin is selling out big time :(

two years ago you could go up to fawang temple for free and when you got inside they gave you free books on budhism and confusionism (i think i might have spelt that wrong :p). now you have to pay to use the road leading to the temple then then you have to pay to get in :mad:

even if you want to walk up song mountain you have to pay aswell. its really getting out of control. :(

I'm not sure what it is that makes people think just because there is spirituality involved the place should provide things free of charge or at the least dirt cheap.

There is no such thing as free books. Those books cost money to print and that money comes from donations to the temple. There is still money involved at every turn. The money collected for the road travel is used for the road (or do you think spiritual people don't have to pay to repair a road someday?). The money collected for temple entry is used for the temple. And so forth.

Unfortunately money is a requirement everywhere in the world. We can't do anything about it. I can relate to this personally. I'd love to teach Buddhism for free here in the states, but I don't have big donators paying for the plane tickets or the flyers or anything. The 'donations' are the fees for the classes collected prior to entry and it all goes back into travel and teaching expense.

[ktkungfu]

Getting back to commercialism, in the States, what's everyone's opinion of Dr. Yang Jwing-Ming? He has a couple of schools of here in Andover and Boston, Massachusetts and it's contract and quite expensive. I don't know if Wah Lum in Boston and Malden, Massachusetts is Shaolin but the school in Malden charges at least $200 a month to study. Who can afford such things in this economy - or any economy for that matter.....:confused:

Funny ussd www.ussd.com charges $250 a month for their fake shaolin kempo. I doubt they are doing well ethier.

[Cat Nap]

Okay, it's Praying Mantis - this is what their website shows for the price list. I could probably take three months of Wing Chun WITH private lessons cheaper than what these people charge for group in Maldan - and I assume true of Boston too....:eek:




Wah Lum Kung Fu & Tai Chi Academy
“A Center for Healthy Development for All”
Kung Fu:
First Month: Additional Month: Quarterly____________
Adult Traditional Kung Fu Group Class $200 with uniform $115 $410 (new members-QTR)
(Scheduled Classes) (shirt, pants, shoes, $330 (add. 3 months)
Sash & School Handbook)
Youth/Junior Kung Fu Group Class $190 with uniform $105 $380 (new members-QTR)
(Ages 7 to 17) (shirt, pants, shoes, $300 (add. 3 months)
Two to four classes per week. Sash & School Handbook)
Youth/Junior Kung Fu Group Class $155 with uniform $70 $280 (new members-QTR)
(Ages 7 to 17) (shirt, pants, shoes, $200 (add. 3 months)
(Saturday or Sunday Only) Sash & School Handbook)
Little Mantis Group Class $165 with uniform $85 $315 (new members-QTR)
(Ages 3 to 6) (shirt, pants, shoes, $240 (add. 3 months)
(Thursday & Saturday) Sash & School Handbook)
College Student Plan $360 (new members-QTR)
$270 (add. 3 months)
Private Instruction with Sifu $280 with uniform $200
(4 weekly private 30 min. lesson per month. Includes option to attend one group class per week.) Individual Private Lessons: $40 per half hour
Tai Chi:
Group Class (Ages 10+) $200 with uniform $115 $410 (new members-QTR)
(shirt, pants, shoes, Handbook) $330 (add. 3 months)
Private Instruction with Sifu $270 with uniform $200
(4 weekly private 30 min. lesson per month. Includes option to attend one group class per week.) Individual Private Lessons: $40 per half hour
***All Extracurricular Classes on Special Training, Meditation, Lion Dancing, and Gymnastics are free and opened to all students.

[David Jamieson]

Okay, it's Praying Mantis - this is what their website shows for the price list. I could probably take three months of Wing Chun WITH private lessons cheaper than what these people charge for group in Maldan - and I assume true of Boston too....:eek:




Wah Lum Kung Fu & Tai Chi Academy
“A Center for Healthy Development for All”
Kung Fu:
First Month: Additional Month: Quarterly____________
Adult Traditional Kung Fu Group Class $200 with uniform $115 $410 (new members-QTR)
(Scheduled Classes) (shirt, pants, shoes, $330 (add. 3 months)
Sash & School Handbook)
Youth/Junior Kung Fu Group Class $190 with uniform $105 $380 (new members-QTR)
(Ages 7 to 17) (shirt, pants, shoes, $300 (add. 3 months)
Two to four classes per week. Sash & School Handbook)
Youth/Junior Kung Fu Group Class $155 with uniform $70 $280 (new members-QTR)
(Ages 7 to 17) (shirt, pants, shoes, $200 (add. 3 months)
(Saturday or Sunday Only) Sash & School Handbook)
Little Mantis Group Class $165 with uniform $85 $315 (new members-QTR)
(Ages 3 to 6) (shirt, pants, shoes, $240 (add. 3 months)
(Thursday & Saturday) Sash & School Handbook)
College Student Plan $360 (new members-QTR)
$270 (add. 3 months)
Private Instruction with Sifu $280 with uniform $200
(4 weekly private 30 min. lesson per month. Includes option to attend one group class per week.) Individual Private Lessons: $40 per half hour
Tai Chi:
Group Class (Ages 10+) $200 with uniform $115 $410 (new members-QTR)
(shirt, pants, shoes, Handbook) $330 (add. 3 months)
Private Instruction with Sifu $270 with uniform $200
(4 weekly private 30 min. lesson per month. Includes option to attend one group class per week.) Individual Private Lessons: $40 per half hour
***All Extracurricular Classes on Special Training, Meditation, Lion Dancing, and Gymnastics are free and opened to all students.

Is it about price?

[Cat Nap]

Is it about price?

I would say clearly - yes. A good teacher is a good teacher. If I can't afford my classes for JKD, it's free. My Wing Chun teacher came down for me just so I could afford to go back. When a school charges this much - it's not a school, it's a business. Frankly speaking, why does the student need to get a manual with the class? Haven't you paid enough to learn about the style that you have to pay extra to have it in writing?

[UK MONK]

I'm not sure what it is that makes people think just because there is spirituality involved the place should provide things free of charge or at the least dirt cheap.

There is no such thing as free books. Those books cost money to print and that money comes from donations to the temple. There is still money involved at every turn. The money collected for the road travel is used for the road (or do you think spiritual people don't have to pay to repair a road someday?). The money collected for temple entry is used for the temple. And so forth.

Unfortunately money is a requirement everywhere in the world. We can't do anything about it. I can relate to this personally. I'd love to teach Buddhism for free here in the states, but I don't have big donators paying for the plane tickets or the flyers or anything. The 'donations' are the fees for the classes collected prior to entry and it all goes back into travel and teaching expense.

im not saying the temples dont need money. the point i was trying to make is, before the temple were run by real monks/abbots that only used what the temple and the monks/nuns needed. now you have people elected to run the temples. and there not there to spread the word of budhism their there to make as much money for the goverment as possible.

now at fawang temple there are goverment tickect collectors at the gates NOT MONKS. the goverment have seen how much money can be made and are spreading it the the temple and mountains in the area. when i asked one of the old monks that i kind of know whats going on? he just said "its the goverment" he didnt say much more about it and i wasnt comfortable about asking cos he didnt look happy.

when i tried to walk up song mountain (the right hand side of fawang temple). you get 3 quarters of the way up and there is a ticket both when i ask them if they owen the mountain the man said to me "no but the goverment do"

temples have been living of donations and self sufficiency for hundreds if not thousands of years. open your eyes and realise that goverments are corrupt and just want to make money anyway they can.:(

[David Jamieson]

I would say clearly - yes. A good teacher is a good teacher. If I can't afford my classes for JKD, it's free. My Wing Chun teacher came down for me just so I could afford to go back. When a school charges this much - it's not a school, it's a business. Frankly speaking, why does the student need to get a manual with the class? Haven't you paid enough to learn about the style that you have to pay extra to have it in writing?


school is business.

how much is university tuition?
how much does tax cover for public school?
how much for a course in mma?

a person who has goods or services to offer is free to charge what they like.
If you can't afford that school, go to another one.

You go to the grocery store and you don't negotiate there and yet bread is cheaper in one place than another and really high quality bread will cost you much more than typical bread.

I've probably listed to much, but you get my point right?

[Cat Nap]

Martial art establishments are supposed to care more about getting all your money. They're not giving you a degree that will give you an edge in the workplace. People don't go to college because it enriches the soul and they want to learn how to defend themselves; they want a better job. Martial art schools are supposed to care about students first and the money second - that's way most have jobs in addition to the school. I agree though, if you're in a martial art school that you find out is just a business fronting as a martial art school, then walk out and find a real teacher.

[Songshan]

I can understand what you are saying. However, MA teachers do have to support themselves too. Yes they are spreading and teaching martial arts but it is also a business if you rely on the income. Many do. Both can be managed well.

As for the prices, well the average monthly tuition rate for most schools around Houston is $100 (depending on how many days you train, etc.). Some places or more some are less....it just depends. Olympic gold medalist Steven Lopez and his family have a TKD school in the southwest Houston area. Their monthly rates are far more than I ever paid at a shaolin school. If you want to train hard and get a shot at the olympic trials that's the place to go. The Lopez family are wonderful people and have a great staff. I really consider it an investment in yourself rather than paying too much money for lessons. It just depends how you look at it.

[Songshan]

im not saying the temples dont need money. the point i was trying to make is, before the temple were run by real monks/abbots that only used what the temple and the monks/nuns needed. now you have people elected to run the temples. and there not there to spread the word of budhism their there to make as much money for the goverment as possible.

now at fawang temple there are goverment tickect collectors at the gates NOT MONKS. the goverment have seen how much money can be made and are spreading it the the temple and mountains in the area. when i asked one of the old monks that i kind of know whats going on? he just said "its the goverment" he didnt say much more about it and i wasnt comfortable about asking cos he didnt look happy.

when i tried to walk up song mountain (the right hand side of fawang temple). you get 3 quarters of the way up and there is a ticket both when i ask them if they owen the mountain the man said to me "no but the goverment do"

temples have been living of donations and self sufficiency for hundreds if not thousands of years. open your eyes and realise that goverments are corrupt and just want to make money anyway they can.:(

What consequences can the temple's face if they do not listen to the government? Really, there s not much of a choice.

[Cat Nap]

I can understand what you are saying. However, MA teachers do have to support themselves too. Yes they are spreading and teaching martial arts but it is also a business if you rely on the income. Many do. Both can be managed well.

As for the prices, well the average monthly tuition rate for most schools around Houston is $100 (depending on how many days you train, etc.). Some places or more some are less....it just depends. Olympic gold medalist Steven Lopez and his family have a TKD school in the southwest Houston area. Their monthly rates are far more than I ever paid at a shaolin school. If you want to train hard and get a shot at the olympic trials that's the place to go. The Lopez family are wonderful people and have a great staff. I really consider it an investment in yourself rather than paying too much money for lessons. It just depends how you look at it.

I agree with that if your intent is to compete and yes, it certainly costs money. However, if you're teaching children and regular working stiffs (I make only $36,000 a year), it's offensive to act like you're doing them a favor and charge that price. While I understand the need to profit, anything higher than 60 a month for just one or two nights a week - most working people can't train everyday - I find it excessive. But then I have wonderful teachers that are more interested in what absorb in class than making their next house payment off me.

[GeneChing]

I still regret not saving a Shaolin sausage label. Given the copyright laws in China, it was a major victory. I never thought they'd get rid of that stuff.

Going global with modesty (http://www.thestar.com/news/world/article/708890--going-global-with-modesty)
Offering the world meditation and martial arts, ancient Shaolin order wrestles with commercial success
By Bill Schiller Asia Bureau
Published On Mon Oct 12 2009

DENGFENG, CHINA–Like shadows in saffron robes, they start assembling in the darkness before dawn – their shuffling sandals filing into chapel.

Soon the shuffling subsides into silence – then a deeper silence.

A single candle burns on the altar.

Gilded Buddhas look down from above. Outside, an autumn moon shines through cedars.

Then a bell sounds – and so begins the ritual of morning prayers for China's Shaolin monks, a ritual carried out here, with rare exception, for more than 1,500 years.

Many people know of Shaolin's famed monks for their prowess at kung fu – the disciplined art of self-defence and exercise at once muscular and mystic, long a focus of fascination for the West.

Others have heard of the Shaolin Temple, the monks' home in the Songshan Mountains of Henan province, and one of China's top tourist destinations that attracts more than a million visitors a year.

Beneath this tide of tourism and fame, burrowed deep inside the Shaolin enclave, resides a community of 200 monks ranging in age from younger than 10 to older than 80, who lead a life of meditation and prayer.

For them this is a holy place.

But can it last?

In recent years, under the leadership of Abbot Shi Yongxin, Shaolin Temple and its monks have become a commercial success, branching out with Shaolin Centres around the world offering meditation, martial arts training and vegetarian foods in Europe, the U.S., and soon – they hope – in Canada.

Adherents have approached the Shaolin monks to start a centre in Canada, officials here say. Discussions are still in the early stages.

But some wonder whether such international commercialization is compatible with the ascetic life?

"It's not a problem," affirms the abbot, also known as Master Yongxin, seated in Abbot House at Shaolin Temple. "Nor is it in conflict with the goals of our community."

The core values of charity, wisdom and mercy, he says, have not changed. "And sharing the fruit of human experience is a good thing.

"Of course fame has naturally brought commercial opportunities," explains the Master, his left hand clutching a string of prayer beads. "But it is up to us to ensure that such opportunities are directed in a positive way. We want to prevent evil-minded business people who might seize such opportunities to malign our good name."

The Master has a point.

During the 1980s and '90s – unbeknownst to the monks – the Shaolin brand was being used to market everything from cars and furniture, to cigarettes and even liquor.

Alcohol consumption is not allowed in Shaolin monastic life.

But it wasn't until 1993 when a purveyor of ham launched a nationally televised ad campaign using the Shaolin name, that the problem of copyright infringement was finally brought to the monks' attention.

The monks were appalled: they're vegetarians. They sued and went on to set up Shaolin Intangible Assets Management Co. – a team of lay believers comprising lawyers and business managers – to protect their intellectual property rights.

Hundreds of companies across China, and even some abroad, were infringing on the Shaolin name. They were swiftly reined in.

Today times have changed, and so – in some ways – have the monks.

Though Master Yongxin is now a thoroughly modern monk, he arrived at the monastery at 16 from impoverished Anhui province carrying little more than a cotton quilt and the clothes on his back.

The temple and monastery were in ruins, he recalls.

It was 1981, the early years of China's new "opening and reform" policy which had just begun allowing Chinese people greater personal and economic freedoms.

"Shaolin seemed poised to be reborn," he says. The temple, which dates from 495 AD, had survived plundering bandits, wars, government land reforms and the reckless years of Mao Zedong's Cultural Revolution when almost everything "old" came under attack.

But in the mid-1980s, with the support of a government that recognized Shaolin's historic value, Shaolin was slowly rebuilt.

Today, Master Yongxin – his name means "Faith" – shows the signs of Shaolin's success and modernity: he carries a laptop, relies on cellphones and has an immaculately kept SUV to whisk him to meetings across the region.

He has also travelled to South America, the U.S., Taiwan and Africa – where he met with Nelson Mandela. This year NBA star Shaquille O'Neal dropped in for a visit.

"We cannot avoid or ignore the modern world," the Master says calmly. "If we do, we'll have no chance at survival."

But Master Yongxin has also managed to retain his humble demeanour and his piety.

Each day at 5 a.m. he leads the monks at morning prayers. Afterward, he repairs to the dining hall and eats as they do: boiled vegetables, a piece of rustic bread, and a bowl of soy-based porridge.

Thereafter, meditation follows. For adult monks, that amounts to 10 hours daily. Shaolin is, after all, the birthplace of Zen Buddhism – a unique strain of Buddhism with heavy emphasis on meditation.

For younger monks, like Yan Qun, 14, who arrived at age 7, the routine includes hours of kung fu training.

"Here everything is calm; everything peaceful," Yan says. He won't have to commit to a lifelong monastic life until he is 18.

"But I look forward to that day."

[GeneChing]

Now that it's all over and done, I'm wondering if anyone paid that much of a donation.

Shaolin Temple defends prices (http://www.shanghaidaily.com/sp/article/2009/200904/20090423/article_398567.htm)
By Jane Chen | 2009-4-23

THE Shaolin Temple, the home of China's kung fu monks, has defended a price list it has issued for an upcoming religious service.

According to a notice on the temple's Website, anyone who gives 180,000 yuan (US$26,351) will be the chief sponsor for a major religious event that will run from this Saturday to May 2.

Those who donate 90,000 yuan will become "deputy chiefs," the local Orient Daily reported yesterday.

The service will be held at the Chaohua Temple in Chaohua Town of Henan Province's Xinmi County. One chief and nine deputies are needed. Chaohua Temple is affiliated to Shaolin Temple.

Also on the price list are sponsorship for Buddhist meals ranging from 100 yuan to 5,000 yuan. Abbot Shi Yansong, who is in charge of the service, defended the prices, saying they were worked out after careful calculations.

"Many people will donate to the service," Shi said. "But the chief position at the service should be taken by the person who donates the most."

As for the meals, Shi said the prices were fair. Citing one meal as an example, he said the price included a lecture by the Shaolin Temple's Abbot Shi Yongxin.

This year's annual assembly would be a major activity with 50 eminent monks attending, he said.

[GeneChing]

There used to be restaurants in San Francisco and Santa Cruz named Shaolin. There was no connection to the temple at all. Shaolin isn't a common name, but it's not singular by any means. I know the S.F. one closed but I don't know about the one in the Cruz...I suspect that closed too.

Shaolin Temple fails in bid to revoke pharmacy's name (http://china.globaltimes.cn/society/2010-01/496195.html)
* Source: Global Times
* [03:34 January 05 2010]
By An Baijie

A government agency rejected a request by the legendary Shaolin Temple to rescind the registered name of a Chongqing pharmacy in Southwest China that has a similar sounding name.

The State Administration for Industry and Commerce (SAIC) decided that the 2007 application by the temple accusing the Liu Shaolin Pharmacy in Chongqing of trademark infringement was unwarranted.

According to the Shaolin Temple's application, the Shaolin brand was registered before the owners of the Liu Shaolin Pharmacy registered their shop. They claimed the pharmacy was misleading consumers by registering and using a similar name, the Chongqing Morning Post said.

Liu Guangrui, the manager of the pharmacy, told the paper in Sunday's edition that his shop has been a family business for decades and that the name has nothing to do with the temple in Henan Province.

"I don't know what's wrong with naming our pharmacy after my father," Liu said.

Liu said his father, Liu Shaolin, was the fourth generation in his clan that practiced traditional Chinese medicine, and the brand Liu Shaolin Pharmacy opened about 50 years ago, Shanghai-based Xinmin Evening News reported in 2008.

Liu registered the Liu Shaolin Pharmacy as a trademark in 2003.

The Bylaws for the Implementation of the Regulations on Medical Structures issued by the Ministry of Health in 1994 stipulated that private pharmacies must be named after its owner.

"Shaolin doesn't necessarily mean the Shaolin Temple," Liu said. "More than 1.2 million people are named Shaolin, and if the name can only be used by the Shaolin Temple, should all those people change their name?"

The administration made the decision about a month ago in Liu's favor, saying that both the images and the reputation of the Shaolin Temple and the Liu Shaolin Pharmacy are quite different, and the trademark of the pharmacy did not harm the reputation of the temple, said the Chongqing paper.

Efforts by the Global Times to reach the Shaolin Temple were not successful Monday. The Shaolin Temple has not yet filed an appeal.

The Shaolin Temple in Dengfeng, known as the birthplace of Zen Buddhism, is about 1,500 years old. It established the Henan Shaolin Temple Development Company in 1998, and started to seek registration of trademark of Shaolin and Shaolin Temple brand.

It's also considered the birthplace of kung fu.

SAIC approved the temple's application in 2004 to register the trademark of Shaolin Medicine Bureau to produce medicine and bath appliances, but denied its application to apply the trademark to food products, saying it might make consumers believe that the food have special healing effects.

[GeneChing]

We had some info on the Zen Music Shaolin Grand Ceremony show in What's New in Dengfeng 2008 By Scott Jeffery in our 2009 Shaolin Special (http://ezine.kungfumagazine.com/magazine/article.php?article=797) - Shaolin Yinyue Dadian.


China's cultural tourism revolution sparks debate
English.news.cn 2010-05-02 18:49:01 FeedbackPrintRSS

JINAN, May 2 (Xinhua) -- Tourists to a sacred mountain in east China's Shandong Province have a new attraction to see -- a lights and drama extravaganza featuring China's largest LED screen.

The outdoor performance, which producers claim is based on the area's history and culture, is part of a growing, but controversial, movement to imbue China's tourist destinations with a "cultural" content.

The Worship of Heaven and Earth on Mount Taishan, which opened Saturday, depicts ancient emperors paying homage to the Heaven and Earth, praying for peace and prosperity for the nation.

The show is staged on a 27-meter-high, 53-meter-wide altar with 146 steps, the sides of which are covered with LED lights to form China's largest screen of 567 square meters.

The performance brought the ancient culture of Mount Taishan to life and helped visitors to better understand the rituals and feel involved in historical events, said Li Liuyi, director of the performance.

The show would be performed daily from March to July every year, said a statement from the Taishan administrative committee.

"The performance is a magnificent combination of modern technology and ancient culture. It presents history, legends and folklore in a very artistic way," said Beijing visitor Zhang Hongfa.

Producer Mei Shuaiyuan said he was confident the performance, which cost 120 million yuan (17.58 million U.S. dollars), would recoup the investment within two years.

He cited Impression Liu Sanjie, another outdoor performance in south China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, which recouped its 70-million-yuan investment in just one year, and earned more than 80 million yuan annually.

Mei also produced an outdoor show in a valley 7 km from the Shaolin Temple, known as a birthplace of Chinese martial arts. The Zen Music Shaolin Grand Ceremony show received 230,000 viewers in 2009, bringing 25 million yuan in revenue, up 10 percent during the global economic downturn.

After the success of Impression Liu Sanjie and Zen Music Shaolin Grand Ceremony, out-door performances mushroomed across China.

A team led by Beijing Olympics opening ceremony director Zhang Yimou has created five "impression series" shows in scenic spots in Yunnan, Zhejiang, Hainan and Jiangxi provinces. Two more shows in Chongqing Municipality and Taiwan are on their agenda.

Other outdoor shows have emerged in tourist destinations in Inner Mongolia, Sichuan, Hunan and other parts of China.

However, not all the shows have succeeded in boosting tourism. The semi-enclosed, 1,500-seat beach theater that hosts the 200-million-yuan Impression Hainan Island show, in south China, is usually less than one third full.

"Only 10 percent of tourists want to see the performance," said a travel agency manager surnamed Wang.

Critics claim tourists are becoming jaded by formulaic entertainments.

"The shows are not boosting tourism, they are poisoning it," wrote Jiang Zongfu, vice mayor of Hunan's Linxiang City, in a posting in March on Rednet.cn, a local news website in Hunan.

More than 70 percent of 40,000 respondents to an Internet survey just after the posting agreed with Jiang.

"Most of the outdoor shows across China are just copies of the same formula. Directors and producers rake in money form these projects but local governments are often burdened with the investment and deficits," wrote Jiang.

The problem with the unsuccessful outdoor shows was the lack of unique cultural characteristics, said Fan Xiaojun, head of Hainan's culture and sports department.

"The performances must reflect the true unique culture of the tourist spot instead of repeating a mode that the visitors are getting tired of," Fan said.

However, local governments are championing the trend as essential to the development of sustainable tourism and as a way to meet a growing demand for cultural products.

Chinese tourists were becoming increasingly culture-oriented and the outdoor performances promoted Chinese culture, said Lu Ren, a scholar with Shandong Academy of Social Sciences.
Editor: Zhang Xiang

[r.(shaolin)]

FYI: China court rejects Shaolin temple trademark bid (http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/news-by-industry/et-cetera/China-court-rejects-Shaolin-temple-trademark-bid-report/articleshow/5862947.cms)
and (http://english.people.com.cn/6966412.html) . . .

r.

[GeneChing]

Business | 29.12.2010
Managers turn to Kung Fu to boost their business skills (http://www.dw-world.de/dw/article/0,,14742744,00.html)

http://www.dw-world.de/image/0,,6372324_1,00.jpg
Großansicht des Bildes mit der Bildunterschrift: Shi Yan Bao takes the managers through martial arts

For business managers, the idea of going to seminars to learn new skills for your job is nothing new. But some are now looking East for inspiration, and taking tips from a Shaolin monk who now lives in Berlin.

The wisdom and strength of the Shaolin monks has been made famous worldwide through numerous martial arts movies and books. Now this wisdom is being harnessed by German business managers.

In two half-day seminars at a converted cloister (now a hotel) near Bonn, those attending can learn how to use the philosophies of the Shaolin monks in their stressful daily lives.

The course is run by Shi Yan Bao, a Chinese monk who has lived in Berlin since 2001. In between his work as a martial arts teacher, he runs coaching sessions teaching people the basic philosophy of Shaolin.

http://www.dw-world.de/image/0,,6372327_1,00.jpg
The hotel where the course takes placeBildunterschrift: Großansicht des Bildes mit der Bildunterschrift: A former cloisters is the quiet setting for the course

Using martial arts

In a quiet room in the hotel, a group of managers are dressed in jogging bottoms and sports shoes, and taking part in a series of Qigong exercises. Qigong is a type of Chinese physical and mental training, combined with a little martial arts.

The eight men and women are led through the exercises by Shi Yan Bao who teaches them how to stay calm and focused. In the background, Chinese music is playing.

One of those taking part is 26-year-old Tanja, who works in a management consultancy. She says she is taking the course as she is at a crossroads in her career.

"I've been abroad lots, lived a lot and now I'm at a point where I don't know if my job still has meaning for me," she tells Deutsche Welle. "So it's a good opportunity for me to look back and reflect a little."

Mixing the physical and the mental

http://www.dw-world.de/image/0,,6372317_1,00.jpg
Psychologist Ralph Willms Bildunterschrift: Großansicht des Bildes mit der Bildunterschrift: Psychologist Ralph Willms takes the managers through the theoryAfter an hour of martial arts, the theory session begins with psychologist Ralph Willms.

Casually dressed, Willms articulates the philosophy behind the course, and takes the managers through a whistle-stop tour of philosophy. He touches on Jung, Freud, Aristotle and of course, Buddha.

"When we talk about coaching or spiritual development, it is always good to have a map," Willms tells the audience. "So we know where we are, where we've come from and where we're going."

With a soft voice, he takes the five men and three women on the course through steps to help them concentrate and meditate at work. As he speaks to each of them, it is clear they all have stressful jobs, an unfulfilled private life and many fear burning out.

Group dynamics

In the afternoon of the second day, Willms asks the group to split into pairs and they take it in turns to hit each other on the back.

http://www.dw-world.de/image/0,,6372321_1,00.jpg
Shi Yan BaoBildunterschrift: Großansicht des Bildes mit der Bildunterschrift: Shi Yan Bao has been teaching in Germany for nine years

"This is how it's done traditionally in China," he says. He tells them the importance of trust as in China they would do this for a couple of years without knowing why.

"For us Europeans, we always need to know why we are doing something," he says, and his audience laughs and nods in agreement.

The mixture of theory and practice seems to work, combined with the energy of Willms and Shi Yan Bao.

At the end of the course, the participants are exhausted, but on the whole enthusiastic. One Austrian manager says the course was "a lot less esoteric than I feared!"

And as for their Shaolin leader Shi Yan Bao, he praises those who took part in the seminar.

"When I'm running these seminars I feel as if I'm on holiday – a real sense of calm. A good group, good managers… I'm happy."

Author: Susanne Luerweg (cb)
Editor: Andreas IllmerAmusing spin on Shaolin, eh? ;)

[wenshu]

I'm paraphrasing:


using meditation for the purpose of centering oneself in order to be better at selling stuff is like using the Hope Diamond to scratch your grocery list on the bathroom mirror.
-Tom Robbins

Many argue that is exactly what Songshan is about these days.

[GeneChing]

Guilty as charged. I write it off to 'right livelihood'. :o

Songshan Shaolin has been the subject of debate for centuries. If it wasn't argued over now, it would no longer be authentic Shaolin.

[wenshu]

I know exactly what you mean.

When I 打坐 regularly it catches me off guard how organized I become without even really trying to be.

My desk is a little neater, paperwork gets done a little faster, I remember things which once would have escaped me. Like I said, it all happens without any real conscious effort on my part.

Soteriologically I may have know idea where I stand, but I sure do get a lot of **** done.


Songshan Shaolin has been the subject of debate for centuries. If it wasn't argued over now, it would no longer be authentic Shaolin.
I agree, all the arguments about the wealth Shaolin generates and maintains are strikingly similar to the centuries old criticisms Shahar documented in his work.

[GeneChing]

I had to look that one up. Nice. I love new words. They're like new daggers (http://www.martialartsmart.com/dvdk-zq001.html) in the arsenal.

Being a writer by trade has affected my meditation significantly. It's hard not to write internally when meditating. And then, if I do have a writing epiphany, it's hard to retain it without disrupting my meditation. What makes matters worse is I'm always working on a few articles at a time, so there's this constant internal chatter.

Shaolin is going through another period of wealth during our lifetimes, and to me, that's glorious.

[wenshu]

I'm certain you are more experienced than I so this may not help you.

I find that keeping a log of thoughts during meditation helps. More precisely, a log of distractions. Post sit make notes on the type and content of the distractions experienced. I think this is partly the role of interviews during retreats.

Classified by type: recollection, sensation, projection, thoughts about the method, etc.
And to the best of one's ability the content.

My practice is relatively rudimentary; trying to still the mind through recollection of the breath. This won't have as much usefulness for more advanced practitioners of Hua Tuo or Gong An.

Obviously in the case of that effortless unbroken concentration; where its just the Dan Tien and the sensation: rising, falling, stillness, rising, falling, stillness, without even the need to mark the rising and falling, there won't be much to document. If you are an old hand already adept at breathing through the soles of your feet than you'll most likely have an empty book.

In my case, more often than not, the carnival kicks into gear. All that random noise; a movie I saw three months ago is replaying in my head, Faith No More is in there playing a Lady Gaga cover: "Poker Face, p-p-p-poker face", random snippets of conversation overheard throughout the day I didn't even know I was paying attention to.

The 小物 are usually easily ignored until they dissipate, but I find it it is still helpful to document it. To see ones neurotic thought patterns diagrammed.

Even worse when your session is dominated by discursive thinking. Boss was an extra ******* today. Start thinking up comebacks to forum flame wars. The impatient impetus to move. Can't even hold the count for more than a few cycles.

Not only does it help to see one's own neurotic thought patterns, how one gives rise to another, when inspiration strikes it can be useful to be able to record it without having to worry about breaking the session.

However, sometimes you just gotta run with it.

Now of course, this brings a whole other type of distraction into play. The thought of documenting your thoughts!

Better remember to right that down, don't forget, son of a. . .! 一，二，三。 。 。

[GeneChing]

Is this a good place for me to plug my book?

Yes, I think so.

Shaolin Trips (http://www.amazon.com/Shaolin-Trips-Gene-Ching/dp/1424308976/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1276188031&sr=1-1)

[GeneChing]

There's nothing in this article that avid readers of our forum don't already know, but it's a decent overview of recent events.

Kung fu under attack (http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/may/24/kung-fu-under-attack)
China's Shaolin temple is the home of kung fu. But are tourism and Hollywood ruining the warrior dream?
Tania Branigan
The Guardian, Tuesday 24 May 2011
http://static.guim.co.uk/sys-images/Guardian/About/General/2011/5/23/1306170173777/martial-arts-training-at--007.jpg
Martial arts pupils practising at the Shaolin temple. Photograph: Sipa/Press Rex

The moon is the finest sliver of pale gold in the blackness lying over the Songshan mountains. The wind is rushing down into the valley, shaking the nests of azure-winged magpies, rustling the bamboo and catalpa blossoms and jangling temple bells . . .

"HUNNGGHHH!" Foot thwacks against thigh.

"HAAARRRGGH!" Flesh smacks on to flesh.

It is 8pm on a Saturday evening, but – though you can barely discern them through the mist and shadows – diligent grey-suited teenagers are still pivoting, kicking and punching on the otherwise peaceful slopes above the legendary Shaolin temple.

Welcome to the home of kung fu: a Buddhist monastery, renowned for its warrior monks and inspiration to martial arts enthusiasts around the world, on the dusty outskirts of Dengfeng in the impoverished and otherwise unloved province of Henan.

Here, 60,000 students aged from five to 40 come to hone their fighting skills, plan their careers and dream of their calling.

With next month's release of the children's animated film Kung Fu Panda II, interest in the leopard, tiger, snake, dragon and crane styles of combat practised here looks set to boom. Many of the pupils arrive with about as much talent as Po before his dumpling-fuelled epiphany. Each one shares his dream – to become an all-action hero.

And although only a handful may ever make it, that aspiration is enough to keep them leaping and sparring long into the night.

The legend of the Shaolin monks began around 1,500 years ago. The emperor Xiaowen is said to have ordered the construction of a temple, deep in a mountain forest, in honour of a wandering Indian monk. By the 13th century, it was home to around 2,000 monks, famed for their virtue and skill in martial arts – usually referred to in China as wushu rather than gongfu (kung fu).

"In history, [Shaolin] represented justice, uprightness, sympathy and love," says Wang Yumin, the temple's foreign liaison officer, incongruously clad in a Las Vegas, Nevada T-shirt.

By 1928, when a warlord set fire to the complex, its glory days were long gone. In the 60s, Chairman Mao's Cultural Revolution would ravage what remained. When religion re-emerged from the shadows, with the country's reform and opening up three decades ago, there were just 11 "mostly quite elderly" monks in the crumbling buildings.

Shaolin's renaissance is largely the work of a kung fu movie and a very modern monk. In 1982, wushu champion Jet Li appeared in the film Shaolin Temple. It made him an instant star – and Shaolin an instantly recognisable name.

Meanwhile, another young man was making his mark. Shi Yongxin, the son of a farmer and a factory worker from next-door Anhui province, had just joined the monastery and would become its abbot in 1999. Under his watch, its fame has spread as warrior monks tour the world demonstrating their martial prowess.

But for Shi this is just the beginning. "We are trying to spread the temple's values of Shaolin and Buddhism more widely," he says. "Even though it is really famous now, it is still some way from its [historical] skill and reputation."

In early morning, the grey courtyards of Shaolin appear much as they would have done centuries ago. There is nothing to break the tranquillity until a young monk walks through the sleeping quarters at 4am, beating a wooden board to wake his 300 peers.

Morning prayers are followed by a breakfast of rice porridge with vegetables and – for the 100 warrior monks – two eggs apiece. The extra protein fuels their morning training – itself a form of Chan (better known as Zen) Buddhist practice – while others meditate.

But at 8am the gates open and the outside world crowds in. Tourist buggies shuttle through the grounds and the monks disperse to sell incense to pilgrims and begin their half-hourly kung fu performances. At weekends there are so many visitors that the monks dispense with afternoon prayers, says Wang.

Amid the bustle, Liao Chao pauses for a moment, carefully holding up his cameraphone and clicking to capture his first visit to the monastery. For the past 10 years – since leaving school at 14 – he has laboured in a factory in southern Guangdong province, working his way up to become manager. Now he has another ambition: to train here as a wushu coach.

"I've loved martial arts since I was little, but my family were poor and I have four brothers and sisters," he says. "Now I have enough savings, I can come and study here. I've admired [the monastery] for a long time. I've been waiting so long and today I finally get to see it. This is why I kept working so hard: this has always been my dream."

For admirers such as Liao, the temple stands for the moral and physical strength of kung fu. But for others the magic of Shaolin is wearing thin. Many of the tourists seem slightly bored as they watch the warrior monks' performance, consisting mostly of striking poses, though they perk up when one breaks a wooden stave over the other's back.

"To tell you the truth, I thought the show wasn't that good," says Belgian tourist Raphael Doumont. "This place is really nice but the problem is the business part. It's a little bit fake. You see these kiosks . . . I know it is 2011, but there's something I don't like."

Though Doumont is a foreigner, such criticisms are common even in Dengfeng, where people value the income Shaolin has brought but lament relocations (buildings were knocked down to earn the site Unesco World Heritage status); high ticket prices (100 yuan, or £10, in a very poor province); and general commercialisation.

Chinese media have dubbed Shi "the country's most controversial monk" and "the abbot with the MBA". Certainly, his business acumen extends far beyond the monastery giftshop, with its wushu shoes and tasteful ceramic incense holders.

He has backed the Chinese TV show Kung Fu Star, a sort of Pop Idol for the martial arts world. Shaolin has "franchised" four temples in Kunming, taking over their management at their request, and opened 40 branches overseas. It is a measure of the temple's money-minded reputation – fast rivalling its kung fu fame – that rumours recently spread it was planning to float on the stock exchange. The more prosaic truth, it says, is that it is supporting a new state-backed tourism firm.

Thanks to the headlines such ventures attract, walking through Shaolin with the abbot – a portly figure swathed in saffron robes – is a bit like escorting Donald Trump through Times Square in New York. There are audible gasps from tourists, who rush over with their cameras and phones. One man tries to lean in for a shot alongside Shi, only to be bundled aside by a uniformed guard.

But for every fan there is a detractor, critical not just of the monastery's approach but Shi's own lifestyle. Complaints include his acceptance of a luxury car for services to local tourism and an elaborate embroidered robe from a brocade firm, the gold thread alone costing a reported £5,000.

Shortly after we visit, the state news agency Xinhua announces that the monastery has asked police to investigate who might be spreading libellous internet rumours that Shi was caught with prostitutes. "The people who made this rumour up will be punished either by law or by karma. It's just a question of time," says Wang, who blames cynics wanting to mock religion and attack famous figures.

Shi says he welcomes scrutiny and acknowledges that the temple's development has been "a really hot topic", but sees commerce and spirituality as complementary. "Through the tourists we solve the problem of making a living and passing on our culture and traditions," he says, while the overseas performances are "a contribution to humans around the world".

But he grows increasingly animated as he discusses rival "Shaolin" tours and others who seek to associate themselves with the monastery.

The temple takes its brand so seriously that it fought a six-year battle with the Chinese trademark office for refusing to register "Shaolin medicine" for use on products including coffee, takeaway foods and instant noodles. Shi says it wants to stop others from issuing substandard products that could damage people's health and the monastery's good name.

"It is quite bitter for us, spending money and time fighting for trademarks and Shaolin's reputation . . . [They] use it to make money; we are fighting to protect our belief and faith. It's a totally different issue," he says.

[GeneChing]

The monastery insists that kung fu, however lucrative, is secondary to religion for its members. "First they are monks," says Wang. "It doesn't matter if they are warrior monks; they must still meditate and study the scriptures."

But most of the fighting monks are recruited from the students at Dengfeng's 50-plus martial arts schools, where kung fu is not only a way of life but a way of making a living. Henan is one of China's poorest provinces and martial arts offer many kids their best opportunity of building a career; a shot at becoming a bodyguard, soldier or performer rather than an unskilled labourer.

Grandmaster Liang Yiqun, the 82-year-old founder of the Shaolin Epo Wushu college, draws on six generations of kung fu expertise to give his charges an all-round education.

"If a martial artist lacks culture, he is a savage. A scholar without any martial arts skills will find it hard to survive," he declares. They are the words of his grandfather, an imperial bodyguard.

The next are his own: "Speaking honestly, a lot of the students we get are really naughty kids that are not accepted by so-called normal schools," he adds prosaically.

Others come because their parents are migrant workers and they need a boarding school; or so they can fight their way into a sporting university, giving them a chance of higher education. And an increasing number of girls are enjoying the chance to challenge preconceptions.

"People in my home town all think girls should be gentle and soft, while practising martial arts is tough and exhausting. They don't think girls are up to it," says Liang's 18-year-old student Zhang Hongxi, grinning mischievously. "Every time I leave the contest stage, my first thought is whether I have won face for my parents. The second is that it's good to prove that girls can also practise martial arts and be much tougher than guys." Like most of the pupils here, she combines steely will and a practical streak with starry-eyed idealism about her vocation, lauding the dignity and virtue of its champions.

There is only a "really tiny chance" of even the best students becoming kung fu stars, her classmate Chang Xiufeng says pragmatically. But there's a faraway look in his eyes as he recalls the discipline and sheer physical grace that inspires them to train for day after day, night after night.

"When Jackie Chan leaps," the teenager says, "it feels like he's flying . . ."

Additional research by Han Cheng

• Kung Fu Panda II opens on June 10.
It's all about KFP2 (http://ezine.kungfumagazine.com/forum/showthread.php?t=56148) right now, isn't it?

[GeneChing]

Thailand should talk. I've been to Wat Po in Bangkok. It's beautiful, but very touristy. :rolleyes:

Of monks and money (http://www.nationmultimedia.com/travel/Of-monks-and-money-30200327.html)
Phoowadon Duangmee
The Nation
Henan, China February 20, 2013 1:00 am

Zen has evolved into sheer commercialism at Henan's Shaolin Temple. DVD anyone?

Anyone who's seen such Shaolin Kung Fu classics as "The Shaolin Temple", "The 36th Chamber of Shaolin" and even "Shaolin Soccer" but never visited the Buddhist monastery in question will probably be disappointed to find that there aren't Kung Fu monks on every corner. Nor is there a bald and bare-chested Jet Li in a grey robe, bouncing off the cobblestone floor before flying 50 feet up into the air to best a crooked warlord.

Shaolin Monastery, nestled on the barren slopes of Song Mountain in central China's Henan province, might well have been the centre of wushu. In the Tang Dynasty, the monastery even saved the Imperial Throne as, according to history at least, 13 Shaolin monks helped Emperor Li Shimin in defeating the contender.

But time flies and people die. Imperialism has surrendered to communism. Shaolin monks no longer fight for an emperor nor for justice. They only fight for the tourists (at Bt600 a pop and from 8am to 6.30pm) and all thanks to the film-makers, who introduced them to popular culture and commercialism.

In short, if you want to see communism walking hand in hand commercialism, Shaolin Monastery is the place to go.

We arrive at the monastery around 7am, as our Chinese guide - Noi Naa- drags us from our hotel beds in Luoyang at 5am. She wants to ensure we're ahead of the crowds and in time for the first show of the day.

The legendary monastery greets visitors with a huge statue of the fighting monk.

"Hello tourist, welcome to Shaolin Temple," gestures the statue, pressing fist against palm.

Passing through the main entrance, we approach groups of "small soldiers" running and singing like privates in a military boot camp. Noi Naa tells us they are Kung Fu students. I look around for panda, tiger, snake, dragon and other characters in the animation hit "Kung Fu Panda", but apparently it's too early for a combat call. Thousands of the students, clad in gym outfits, busy themselves jumping, rolling, punching and kicking. Everyone shares the same dream of becoming the new Jet Li.

Then, the tourist buggies arrive. We jump in and a few minutes are dropped off the Kung Fu performance.

The real wushu story actually began around 1,500 years ago in 477 AD, when the Chinese emperor ordered the construction of Shaolin Monastery for Indian monk, Batuo, who came to teach Chan or Zen Buddhism. By the 13th century, it was home to around 2,000 monks, famed for their virtue and skill in martial arts. The monastery then fell on hard times. It was burned down three times, most recently in 1928 during a struggle between rival warlords. The temple was also vandalised and ransacked by the Red Guards during the Cultural Revolution in the 1960s.

Apparently, it was the film director Hsin-yan Chang who invented Shaolin's new chapter through his 1982 hit - "Shaolin Temple". Led by Jet Li, then a kung fu champion, the film follows the formula of revenge and mayhem that has been a staple of the Hong Kong film industry and was shot on location. Ever since Shaolin Monastery has been kicking ass, spinning-off from Buddhism to the new "religion" - commercialism.

Shaolin's renaissance is much less than a Zen Buddhist Temple.

Every day busloads of tourists arrive at the temple, which is largely covered by kiosks, vendors and a multitude of hawkers. Unlike the Christian church and its charitable shops or Japanese monasteries and Zen beads, Shaolin's business extends far beyond the monastery gift shop.

The monks, in competition with the hawkers, disperse to sell incense holders and wushu shoes before beginning their 30-minute Kung Fu performances. In the middle of the wushu show, just as the young monk is pressing his neck against the spear, the hawkers, their hands full of DVD sets, jump in from the darkest corners. Commercial time! Oh and did I mention that the show is often interrupted by tourists who enter in the middle of the performance?

After the wushu show, visitors are herded through an elevated "mountain gate", reached by a flight of 16 broad stone stairs. Under the curved tile roof hangs an elegant gold leaf inscription with the three Chinese characters for Shaolin Temple, written in the 18th century by the Qing Dynasty's Kangxi emperor.

"The temple was burned down for 40 days in 1928," says our guide. "Some buildings such as Heavenly King Hall and a library of Buddhist scriptures were razed to ashes."

The last row of buildings inside the monastery survived but has since been besieged by marauding tour groups.

Martial arts enthusiasts may be thrilled by the Pilu Pavilion. It contains the famous depressions in the decor, the result of generations of monks practising their stance work, and huge colour frescos. Nearby, a rack of weapons displays a vicious-looking collection of spears, halberds and tridents.

Like the Great Wall, Forbidden City and other China's tourist attractions, Shaolin is a victim of tourism industry. It's the place you want to visit. But, once you've been there, you tell your friends back home not to go. If they insist on going, tell them to get there ahead of the crowds.

If you go

AirAsia flies daily flight from Bangkok to Xian, the gateway to Luoyang. China's two former capitals are bridged by high-speed train. Shaolin Monastery is about an hour's drive from Luoyang.

[GeneChing]

China
http://www.dw.de/image/0,,15778233_303,00.jpg
The dark side of China's Kung Fu schools (http://www.dw.de/the-dark-side-of-chinas-kung-fu-schools/a-16635298)

Kung Fu, or Wu Shu, as it is properly called in Chinese, is one of the most popular sports in China. And yet the golden era of martial arts and the Shaolin is long gone.

Ten years ago, there were some 100 schools with an enrollment of nearly 100,000 students. Today, that number has shrunk by half.

In the old days, it was mostly the poor who sent their children to the schools in the hope of a better life, today it is different.

"Today, people have more opportunities," says Gua Jun, a Kung Fu master, who once trained at the Shaolin monastery. "Kung Fu used to be a way to change your life, but not anymore, which is why the schools have lost their attraction," he says.

http://www.dw.de/image/0,,1839371_4,00.jpg
A young Chinese monk from the shaolin monastery Shongsan in the Chinese province of Henan Shaolin monks are masters of the martial art of wushu

Fleeting dream of fame

The daily routine in the schools is extremely difficult. Training begins at 5 in the morning. Up to 12 children share a room and discipline is a must. But all the pupils have big dreams.

"I want to be an actress, but you have to do a lot for that, says 13-year-old Lui Yenfei, who trains in the Yong Tai monastery, a Kung Fu school just for girls. "I've always liked Kung Fu, especially the movies of Jackie Chan."

Actors, like Jackie Chan, are the ultimate role models for all of them, but the reality is different. Only a few will ever be rich and famous; instead, most of them work as security personnel, body guards, or if they're lucky, as physical education teachers.

Abuse has undermined prestige

http://www.dw.de/image/0,,2288421_4,00.jpg
A young Shaolin monk is lifted by another monk EPA/KOCA SULEJMANOVIC +++(c) dpa - Bildfunk+++ Shaolin demonstrate their martial arts prowess

And there is another - dark - side of the Kung Fu schools, which few people are willing to talk about: the abuse Kung Fu pupils often suffer at the hands of their instructors.

Martial arts schools have lost a lot of their luster because of Internet videos showing teachers beating pupils in front of the other students.

The schools have defended themselves against the accusations, arguing that there are always instructors who may be bad apples and who have been improperly trained. But, they say, this happens less and less, and besides absolute discipline is a must for Kung Fu students.

Discipline is a key part of the philosophy, the martial arts schools point out. Many parents would agree with that, but nowadays, for their only child, more and more of them are looking at other alternatives.
I was hoping for a little more, given the title. For the record, it was more than a decade ago when the big drop in the number of schools happened. That was during the forced relocation, soon after the Abbot took charge, which profoundly affected the numbers, more so than reports of abuse.

[GeneChing]

I thought there was a separate thread devoted to the Zen Shaolin show, but this (http://www.kungfumagazine.com/forum/showthread.php?51326-Shaolin-commercialism&p=1010854#post1010854) was all I could find on a cursory search.


Malaysia Airline Tragedy Puts Zhang Yimou Project on Back Burner (http://sinosphere.blogs.nytimes.com/2014/12/17/malaysia-airline-tragedy-puts-zhang-yimou-project-on-back-burner/?src=twr&_r=0)
By EDWARD WONG DECEMBER 17, 2014 6:35 AM December 17, 2014 6:35 am Comment

http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2014/12/17/world/17sino-melaka01/17sino-melaka01-tmagArticle.jpg
Performers in "Impression Lijiang," one of nine "Impression" shows at popular Chinese tourist sites. “Impression Melaka” in Malaysia was expected to debut in October. Credit European Pressphoto Agency

After Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 vanished in March, many ordinary Chinese and officials became incensed at Malaysia’s handling of the disaster and vowed never to travel to the country. Most of the 227 passengers on board had been Chinese flying to Beijing from the Malaysian capital, Kuala Lumpur.

Now it turns out that one of the casualties of the fallout from the missing flight is an outdoor theatrical spectacle that was to have been co-directed by China’s most famous filmmaker and set in the former Portuguese colonial town of Melaka, on the Straits of Malacca along Malaysia’s west coast.

The show, “Impression Melaka,” was expected to debut in October in Melaka, commonly known in English as Malacca, but has now been postponed. It would have been the first of the “Impression” series, co-directed by Zhang Yimou, the prominent filmmaker, to take place outside China. Since 2003, Mr. Zhang and two other directors have staged “Impression” shows as nightly events during peak season at nine well-known Chinese tourist sites, including the karst landscape around Guilin, the rebuilt ancient town of Lijiang and West Lake in the city of Hangzhou.


Melaka is a tourist draw in Malaysia because of its preserved shophouses and colonial buildings. It is also well known among Chinese as a base that the Ming dynasty admiral Zheng He used on his voyages to Africa and the Arabian Peninsula.

http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2014/12/17/world/17sino-melaka03/17sino-melaka03-blog480.jpg
The filmmaker Zhang Yimou is a co-director on the "Impression" series. Local governments, companies and individuals invest huge sums of money to stage the shows. Credit Ruth Fremson/The New York Times

A Malaysian company, PTS Properties, had been working on “Impression Melaka” with the Chinese company founded by Mr. Zhang and his two co-directors, Wang Chaoge and Fan Yue. The three of them created the opening ceremony of the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing.

“One of the reasons we postponed the Impression launch date is due to the commercial decision after the MAS airline event,” Pang Bak Chua, a senior project manager at PTS Properties, said in an email, referring to Malaysia Airlines by its industry code. He declined to discuss the matter in more detail.

Local Chinese governments, companies and individuals have invested huge sums of money to stage the “Impression” shows, which involve acrobats, hundreds of dancers and other performers, and percussive music. Investors put $15 million, for example, into a show that opened in Henan Province in 2007, “Zen Shaolin (http://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/30/arts/dance/30tan.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0).” It is not clear whether the sites have made back the money they invested, and some Chinese officials and art critics have criticized the “Impression” series as wasteful.

In 2010, Jiang Zongfu, vice mayor of Linxiang in Hunan Province, said in an online post that he had researched the investments made by tourist sites and concluded that the “Impression” series was a losing business venture. “Under peer pressure, tourism sites all want to have an entry of the Impression series episode, without thinking about whether it’s really worth it,” wrote Mr. Jiang, who was in charge of tourism in Linxiang.

The “Impression” creators and their representatives declined to respond to Mr. Jiang when his post first appeared.

This week, no one has answered the phone at the Beijing offices of China Impression Wonders Art Development, the company founded by Mr. Zhang and his associates that puts on the “Impression” shows.

The website of PTS Properties says 150 cities around the world were in “stiff competition” to have the first “Impression” show outside China. The directors chose Melaka after visiting it in 2012. The show would be the “first world-class international mega performance out of China, in Southeast Asia,” the site says, and it would “integrate Melaka’s glorious history and modern day culture with characteristic music, presenting a feast of light, shadows, dance, fine arts and melody with strong visual and acoustic impact.”

The description says the show would be performed on an “iconic theater built with a 360-revolving seat area for over 2,000 people. The only one in the region, the 70-minute show is expected to include a cast of 500 employees, inclusive of 200 performers, and is expected to attract 1.2 million new tourists.”

The man who lobbied hardest to bring “Impression” to Melaka was Boo Kuang Loon, the founder of PTS Properties. In a 2013 interview with StarBizWeek, a Malaysian magazine, Mr. Boo said that he had wanted to set up a musical fountain by the water in Melaka to increase tourism but that his consultants told him that would be difficult.

“My architect reminded me about ‘Impression,’ and I thought that Malaysia was ready for this,” he said. “I’ve watched a couple of the ‘Impression’ shows in China before, but I didn’t think I could be able to bring such a big-scale attraction to Malaysia then.”

Mr. Boo met with the directors in July 2012, and the plans subsequently unfolded. He said that perhaps the directors were attracted to Melaka because of its historical ties with Zheng He, the mariner, and with dynastic China. The stage would be in the shape of a junk from Zheng He’s fleet, and there would be “Islamic elements as part of the backdrop, depicting Zheng He’s voyages and the Malacca sultanate,” Mr. Boo said.

The total investment in the production would be 250 million to 300 million Malaysian ringgit, or $75 million to $86 million, and it might take five to six years for the show to break even, Mr. Boo said.

Another Malaysian newspaper, The Sun, said in 2013 that the “Impression” show “is set to become one of the iconic tourist attractions for Visit Malaysia 2014.”

Mia Li and Bree Feng contributed research.

[GeneChing]

This author is a little late to the boat as Henan has clearly already attracted tourism. Nevertheless, it's a nice little overview he has put together on the topic.



Destination & Tourism | James Ruggia | December 17, 2014
Can Henan Attract Tourists with Kung Fu? (http://www.travelpulse.com/news/destinations/can-henan-attract-tourists-with-kung-fu.html)

http://cdn.travelpulse.com/images/99999999-9999-9999-9999-999999999999/d52e9f75-2686-e411-be9b-0050568e420d/630x355.jpg
PHOTO: Kung Fu practice at the Shaolin Temple is bringing special interest travelers to Henan. (Courtesy of Henan Tourism)

Kung Fu, which did so much to expose Asia in American pop culture, may be the key to lifting the martial art’s home province out of the shadows. Since the 1930s, China has been urging the Olympic Committee to add Kung Fu as an official Olympic sport, but with little luck. Kung Fu is just a branch of the broader field of Chinese martial arts known as Wushu. Kung Fu originated in Henan Province at Shaolin Temple. Henan’s capital city, Zhengzhou, is trying to leverage its recent economic success in order to lift its cultural and touristic profile internationally.

The economic ascent of Zhengzhou has created yet another power nexus that is not located on China’s more traditionally powerful corridor on the East Coast. Chengdu (Sichuan Province) and Zhengzhou are mounting a challenge to Shanghai, Beijing and Guangzhou. Wealth in the once backwater province has risen with the electronics manufacturing.

The city’s economic prowess has brought in a strong transit infrastructure and now the hotel inventory is also coming on, but what will bring the tourists in? Perhaps Kung Fu.

High speed rail, roads and aviation now connect the rest of China to Zhengzhou. According to the CAPA - Centre for Aviation and the Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC) through August, Zhengzhou ranked as the eighth largest cargo airport in China and 17th largest for passenger traffic. Right now, Zhengzhou's passenger capacity is larger than such airports as Auckland, Cairo, Helsinki and Manchester. Even so, cargo dominates in Zhengzhou.

Zhengzhou officials had a great learning opportunity come to them this past Nov. 15-17 when the International Mayor’s Forum on Tourism was held in the city. The forum addressed three primary topics: tourism development, tourism industry interconnectivity, and tourism promotion. In Henan they’re taking their promotion to great lengths, as far in fact, as Los Angeles International Airport, where a recently concluded long-term agreement will allow Henan Tourism to run promotional videos in the newly renovated Tom Bradley International Terminal at boarding gates.

Zhengzhou was a capital in China’s ancient Shang Dynasty, one of the original Chinese dynasties, existing between 1600 and 1050 BCE. In Zhengzhou, tourists can visit one of the oldest Confucius Temples in China. The Shaolin Temple, the home of Kung Fu, is among the oldest of China’s Buddhist temples. It’s also become a beach head for tourism to Henan. Many devotees of Kung Fu, a martial art made popular internationally by Kung Fu films, come to the temple’s home on Shaoshi Mountain just outside of Luoyang to watch Kung Fu shows and take lessons.

It’s possible to stay overnight in the temple. Though the accommodations are spartan, they give guests the chance to watch sunrise practices involving hundreds of students. The China Guide can arrange the overnight.?? The Zen International Hotel Henan sits about 700 yards from the temple and clearly exists to serve as the temple’s commercial bedroom.

The temple is comprised of Changzhu Yard, where monks practice their Kung Fu exercises. The grounds contain many antiques and historic sites, including: the Progenitor Hut, the Forest of Steles, Daxiong Hall, the Hall of One Thousand Buddhas, the Pagoda Forest, Yugong pagoda and Dharma Cave.

The temple was built during the 5th century to help monks overcome the weariness of spending hours upon hours in the sitting meditation poses of Zen. Thus Kung Fu began as a kind of calisthenics for monks. The Shaolin Temple Wushu Training Center offers a program for students worldwide to study and immerse themselves in the martial arts culture.

Every October the temple hosts the Wushu Festival, which attracts more than 100 teams from dozens of countries for the Wushu (martial arts) festival. This past October, the Wushu Festival attracted more than 1,800 Kung Fu practitioners for the three-day festival.

Zhengzhou itself is also beginning to build the hotels it will need. Earlier this year, Hilton Worldwide opened the 448-room Hilton Zhengzhou in the city center and the 300-room Radisson Blu Zhengzhou Huiji is scheduled to open any day. In June the Innside by Meliá will open to be followed by the Meliá Zhengzhou opening in January 2016. Other hotels are also on the way including a Grand Hyatt that’s also under development.

[GeneChing]

This reminds me of old Shaolin village, when there was a roller coaster simulator and Mao's private plane as tourist traps. Those were the days...


Aerodium opens indoor skydiving center near Shaolin in China (http://www.baltic-course.com/eng/good_for_business/?doc=121426)
BC, Riga, 31.05.2016.

Latvian vertical wind tunnel operator Aerodium in cooperation with Chinese investors has opened an indoor skydiving center, Flying Dream, in Dengfeng, China, near the famous Shaolin Monastery, the company announced LETA.

http://www.baltic-course.com/eng/good_for_business/files/multi/2016-05/160531_aerodium_shaolin.jpg

It is the first indoor skydiving center in the world that has been built in the form of an amphitheater. The facility will offer visitors not only indoor skydiving experience but also shows featuring kung-fu and skydiving demonstrations.

"As this vertical wind tunnel is situated not far from the Shaolin Monasery where monks had been studying levitation for centuries, the show is about progress of flying from the early days of Zen Buddhism to modern times,” said Liga Gablika, a representative of Aerodium, adding that over 200 kung-fu experts, singers, dancers and skydiving acrobats participated in the show.

Aerodium vertical wind tunnels had been installed in 37 world countries, including the United States, Argentina, Canada, Thailand, Finland, South Korea, Indonesia, Italy, the United Kingdom, Saudi Arabia etc. Since 2015 the company has been focusing on building a franchise network. First Aerodium franchises were opened last year in Slovenia and Bahrain. Franchises in China and Egypt will be opened this year, and the company continues working on projects in other countries. Flying Dream in Dengfeng also is one of Aerodium's franchises.

Aerodium vertical wind tunnel operator closed 2015 with a profit of EUR 280,000 on a turnover of EUR 778,000, up 4% from 2014. Aerodium Technologies, the company producing vertical wind tunnels, posted a profit of EUR 237,600 on a turnover of EUR 4.881 million for 2015.

[GeneChing]

Well, two photos. The third is standard. Actually, this could be a parking lot anywhere. Looks like someone brought their drone to Shaolin.


Throngs of vehicles in Shaolin Temple look like circuit board (http://www.globaltimes.cn/content/1009674.shtml)
Source:China News Serv Published: 2016/10/5 15:57:15

http://www.globaltimes.cn/Portals/0//attachment/2016/2016-10-05/c8146d0f-9bae-4d77-a1e6-c2e0f0ae12bd.jpeg

Throngs of vehicles park at the Shaolin Temple in Henan province, as thousands of tourists visit the cradle of Chinese Kungfu, Oct. 4, 2016. (Photo/China News Service)

http://www.globaltimes.cn/Portals/0//attachment/2016/2016-10-05/24ab1bc8-24e1-4d3d-aa5c-0a659e83385c.jpeg

Throngs of vehicles park at the Shaolin Temple in Henan province, as thousands of tourists visit the cradle of Chinese Kungfu, Oct. 4, 2016. (Photo/China News Service)

http://www.globaltimes.cn/Portals/0//attachment/2016/2016-10-05/aef49292-5080-4cb1-9200-19f8bc088fce.jpeg

Thousands of tourists visit the Shaolin Temple in Henan province, Oct. 4, 2016. (Photo/China News Service)

[wiz cool c]

there is two things to consider here, the tourist and the students. the tourist are annoy as all hell but the Shaolin students are good people training hard and living simple. my teacher's school is about 10 minutes from the entrance to the Shaolin Temple by car. in the mountains of Songshan. I only go inside the Temple area when I have some reason otherwise I am happy living amongst the locals[sometimes fighting them, but hey **** happens] and not having to see the tourist. But people don't blame the full time students training 6 days a week 6 hours a day for all the tourist and tourist business surrounding Shaolin.

[GeneChing]

Shaolin has been criticized for pandering to tourists for centuries already. CENTURIES. :rolleyes: I don't worry about that anymore. It's a nooB thing. ;)

Worthy of note (for those that might have missed it) the photos above were taken over the National Day holiday, so tourism was up.


National Day holiday spending hits 68-bln-USD in six days (http://english.cri.cn/12394/2016/10/06/2021s941976.htm)
2016-10-06 20:39:51 CRIENGLISH.com Web Editor: Zhang Xu

http://english.cri.cn/mmsource/images/2016/10/06/e486eeab4d0f40e48bfe86ebb49f699c.jpg
Tourists visit Shaolin Temple at the foot of the Songshan Mountain in Dengfeng City, central China's Henan Province, on Oct. 4, 2016, during the National Day holiday. [Photo: Chinanews.com]

Domestic Chinese tourists have spent 454 billion yuan (68 billion US dollars) in the first six days of the week long National Day holiday, according to China National Tourism Administration (CNTA).

The CNTA said on Thursday that 560 million tourists traveled in China between October 1-6 and spent around 454 billion yuan.

China braced for the returning tourists to peak on Thursday, the second last day of National Day holiday. Traffic authorities estimate that about 1.16 million train trips would be made on Thursday.

[GeneChing]

Commercializing Religion in China (https://www.theepochtimes.com/commercializing-religion-in-china_2385613.html)
Communist Party policies encourage the development of temples, monasteries into profitable tourist attractions
By Annie Wu, Epoch Times
December 12, 2017 4:39 pm Last Updated: December 12, 2017 4:39 pm

https://www.theepochtimes.com/assets/uploads/2017/12/12/GettyImages-632972804-700x420.jpg
Chinese monks attend a ceremony at a Shaolin Temple to celebrate the Lunar New Year in Dengfeng County, Henan Province, on January 28, 2017. (STR/AFP/Getty Images)

The kung-fu-fighting monks of Shaolin Temple are world-famous ascetics, depicted in countless movies and television shows.

But under the Chinese Communist Party’s rule, the historic temple has become a shell of its former self. It is no longer a place for spiritual meditation but a business empire, with multiple companies established: a film and television company, painting academy, publishing house, and performing troupe among them.

Shaolin rents out its grounds as a venue for holding events, including a “bikini fashion” beauty pageant in the summer of 2009. That year, the temple also attempted to get listed on the stock exchange. If there was ever something to epitomize the idea of “selling out,” this would be it.

This blatant commercialization of religion has been endorsed by the Chinese regime for decades. In the era of the Cultural Revolution, Chinese Communist Party leader Mao Zedong denounced “old ideas, culture, customs, and habits,” commanding the destruction of countless historic sites, temples, monasteries, and places of cultural significance across the country. But with the opening up of the Chinese economy, local authorities have cashed in on the lucrative potential of people’s growing interest in Buddhist temples and Daoist monasteries. To boost local economies, destroyed structures were reconstructed and developed into tourist sites.

But they’re no longer places of worship. Like with many phenomena in an increasingly materialistic Chinese society, the sole motivation has become making money, from building scenic parks to attract tourists, to selling god statues for people seeking to secure blessings.

Recently, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has even recognized this flagrant commercialization is bad optics, and have called on religious organizations to tamp it down. On Nov. 23, 12 departments within the Party’s central authorities—including the Propaganda Department, United Front, Cyberspace Administration, and National Tourism Administration—published rules forbidding Buddhist and Daoist organizations to be operated as corporations. It prohibited business capital, personal investments, or contracts, as well as the sale of expensive tickets for admission into temple grounds, or services such as selling the first stick of incense to be placed in the censer, believed to bring good luck.

Monks Colluding with the Party

Decades of the warping of religion has already left its mark. The Party allowed the existence of Buddhist and Daoist organizations in order to keep up the facade of religious freedom, when in reality, it has appointed abbots as puppets of the Party.

Shi Yongxin, abbot of Shaolin Temple, is the most well-known example. He held several administrative posts, including deputy president of the Buddhist Association of China, the CCP-led body that supervises Buddhism activities, and president of the Henan Province division of the association. Shaolin is located in Dengfeng County, Henan Province. Former CCP leader Jiang Zemin also appointed him as a representative to the Party’s rubber-stamp legislature, the National People’s Congress.

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Shi Yongxin (center) attends the Chinese Kungfu Star TV Contest held at Shaolin Temple on September 9, 2006. (China Photos/Getty Images)

According to an expose published in the Chinese business publication Caixin in August 2015, Shi had a close relationship with Jiang, the Henan party boss Li Changchun, and the Buddhist Association president Zhao Puchu. It was under Zhao’s instructions that Shi turned Shaolin Temple into a business empire, the report said.

Since the CCP took over Tibet, the Tibetan Buddhist lamas all need to be recognized and approved by the central authorities. To get approval, some Tibetan monasteries have resorted to bribing and currying favor with CCP officials. Chief among them is Zhu Weiqun, who was the deputy head of the United Front Work Department and tasked with handling Tibet affairs.

Tourism Above All

Meanwhile, notable temples have been forcibly seized by local officials to be aggressively developed and promoted as sightseeing destinations. The four sacred mountains of Buddhism, Mt. Wutai, Emei, Jiuhua, and Putuo, have all been developed into tourist-friendly attractions by local authorities or state-owned firms.

Xingjiao Temple in Xi’an City, Shaanxi Province is known for housing the remains of the Tang Dynasty monk Xuanzang, whose journey to India to seek Buddhist scriptures inspired the famous novel “Journey to the West.” When local authorities sought for the temple to be recognized as a UNESCO heritage site, they proposed for large parts of the complex to be demolished and replaced with a newer building, according to a report by the South China Morning Post.

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An aerial view of the Xingjiao Temple in Shaanxi Province on April 13, 2013. (STR/AFP/Getty Images)

In some instances, tourism plans have backfired. At the 1,700-year-old Famen Temple, also in Shaanxi, local authorities built a scenic park nearby. However, the huge debt they incurred forced them to hire fake monks to roam the grounds and collect donations from visitors.

At the Panlong Temple in Yunnan, monks were so fed up with the flocks of tourists that they shut the doors, posting this message for visitors: “Due to the fact that the Jinning County and Jincheng Township governments wish to commercialize and corporatize the Panlong Temple, disrupting the temple’s order, the temple has decided today to temporarily shut the gates for a quiet meditation environment.”

Some temples have become completely occupied by local authorities, from the Administration of Cultural Heritage seizing precious artifacts, to the forestry and tourism department taking charge of the surrounding lands.

Current affairs commentator Li Linyi noted that many local officials are motivated by wanting to score political points and gain promotions by contributing to the GDP (Gross Domestic Product) target. Tourism is an easy way for them to do so.

Prayers for Blessings

Why have places of worship become so popular? Li noted that many Chinese have turned to a higher being in hopes of gaining fortune and blessings. At the Nainai Temple in Hebei Province, patrons can sign contracts with the temple to construct a statue and altar depicting whatever god they’d like, whether it’s a “car god,” “study god,” or “government official god.”

Hong Kong newspaper Apple Daily noted in a Nov. 24 article that former CCP leader Jiang Zemin and his underlings often visited Mt. Jiuhua and Shaolin Temple to alleviate their guilt about their corruption.

Zhang Ting, Xue Fei, and Luo Ya contributed to this report.



Before anyone gets too worked up on this Shaolin commercialism (http://www.kungfumagazine.com/forum/showthread.php?51326-Shaolin-commercialism) post, keep in mind that the source is Epoch Times.

I'm also copying this to the Monkey King (http://www.kungfumagazine.com/forum/showthread.php?50181-Monkey-King) thread for the Xingjiao Temple reference.

[GeneChing]

Trending in China
China embarrassed by badly behaving tourists at Xian and Buddhist Shaolin Temple during May Day holiday period (https://www.scmp.com/news/people-culture/trending-china/article/3132493/china-embarrassed-badly-behaving-tourists-xian)
Tourists engage in embarrassing behaviour including damaging ancient walls and writing graffiti on historic steles
In some instances parents were seen encouraging children to damage ancient and sacred sites

Mandy Zuo in Shanghai
Published: 10:10pm, 6 May, 2021

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Tourists climbing on bamboo at the sacred Shaolin Temple site in Henan, central China. Photo: Handout
China’s tourism industry may have returned to pre-pandemic levels during the May Day holiday, but tourists have once again been called out for bad behaviour.
Tourist attractions across mainland China saw various boorish behaviours including climbing up ancient walls and drawing on centuries-old steles as the government recorded 230 million trips during the 5-day public holiday, which was up 103 per cent from the same period in 2019.
In Xian, the ancient Chinese capital famous for the Terracotta Army, some tourists were caught on video climbing up the ancient city walls, another major attraction of the city built over 600 years ago, causing bricks to fall, according to China Youth Daily.
https://cdn.i-scmp.com/sites/default/files/d8/images/methode/2021/05/06/f8b6f692-ae3a-11eb-9c9f-63ba12e765d1_972x_224028.JPG
Tourists climbing and damaging the ancient city walls at Xian, centra China, despite requests they refrain from doing so. Photo: Handout
In a video published this week some adults were seen scrambling up Xian’s ancient exterior wall in order to take photos, while others were seen pushing their children up so they could play on the ruins.
This has become so common that the attraction’s service centre has to repair the ancient structure after each tourism peak, said a worker.
The wall, which was built in the early days of the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644) on top of ruins from the Tang Dynasty (618-907), is 13.7km long in total and “it’s impossible for us to arrange a staff worker to stand at one point all the time”, the worker said.
In Henan province’s Shaolin Temple, a Zen Buddhist monastery that’s also a popular tourist destination, a teenage boy was seen drawing on an ancient inscribed stele on Monday, according to Feidian Video, a video news outlet.
According to the signature of the inscription, the stele is more than 500 years old.
Graffiti was also left on bamboo plants near the temple.
https://cdn.i-scmp.com/sites/default/files/d8/images/methode/2021/05/06/fa92de7c-ae3a-11eb-9c9f-63ba12e765d1_972x_224028.JPG
Graffiti is left on an ancient monument in central China. Photo: Handout
Words reading “*** was here”, and “*** and *** 1314”, meaning the two will spend the rest of their life together, were also engraved onto bamboo plants.
A group of adults were filmed climbing up the bamboo and encouraging their children to do so, causing damage as a result.
When asked why he climbed up the plant, one adult said, “to exercise.”
Managers of visitor attractions have intensified their efforts to deal with “uncivilised” tourists.
https://cdn.i-scmp.com/sites/default/files/d8/images/methode/2021/05/06/f9b2c12a-ae3a-11eb-9c9f-63ba12e765d1_972x_224028.JPG
Tourists carved their names onto the branches of ancient bamboo groves. Photo: Handout
The Huangzangyu National Forest Park in Anhui province had to expel two visitors on Monday after the pair climbed up the safety fence of a glass trestle in order to impress others and take photos, local media reported. The bridge was about 200 metres above ground and the men put on their “Spiderman” show despite shouts of warning from other visitors.
The Xian ancient city wall managers are more creative in terms of stopping dangerous behaviour.
https://cdn.i-scmp.com/sites/default/files/d8/images/methode/2021/05/06/fb572b24-ae3a-11eb-9c9f-63ba12e765d1_972x_224028.JPG
A man climbs cables on a bridge at a tourist site in a bid to impress. Photo: Weibo
A group of large men dressed up as warriors from the Tang Dynasty were dispatched to warn such tourists politely against damaging the site.
“When seeing such tourists our warriors would approach them and ask them to stop doing it, in a manner commonly used in the Tang Dynasty,” Guo Hui, the centre’s spokeswoman, told Sohu News.

Seems like the monks might open a can of whoopass on these desecrators.

[GeneChing]

Shaolin Temple car park packed with vehicles on China National Day (https://www.victoriaadvocate.com/shaolin-temple-car-park-packed-with-vehicles-on-china-national-day/video_6008b85b-a336-553b-ae31-b2dd87aec0bb.html)
ViralPress Oct 6, 2023 Updated Oct 6, 2023

This stunning aerial footage of a giant car park packed with vehicles reveals the jaw-dropping amount of visitors that filled a tourist site in China during the country's National Day celebrations. Images captured on October 1, the first day of celebrations, show hundreds of vehicles across the vast parking at the Shaolin Temple in Zhengzhou, in Henan Province. The breathtaking scene, filmed from above, shows countless sedans, SUVs and tourist busses arranged in an orderly and dense manner. The front and rear of the cars were so close together that it created a complex and intricate flow of vehicles that took up every empty corner of the car park. Another piece of footage, captured five days later on October 6, seems to show that interest in the temple had not decreased as the parking was as full as the week before. The Shaolin Temple is a Buddhist monastery that was founded under the Wei emperor Xiaowendi in 495 and is considered to be the birth place of Shaolin Kung Fu. As a deeply historic Buddhist temple in China, Shaolin Temple attracts numerous visitors every year, and during the National Day holiday, the excitement reportedly reaches its peak.

It's been nearly 20 years since I've been back to Shaolin Temple. I wasn't aware of this car park. NOTE that this post is unimpressive but if you follow the link, you can see the video, which is impressive.