Ahh, but the show is not the point...
Please keep in mind that I'm just relating a rather hasty translation of what was published in the World Journal. I'm more interested in this for the impact on Chinese pop culture, since that's what shapes a lot of CMA culture. Many students get their information from their masters alone and don't realize that it might just be something that they read in the paper.
There is a precedent case for the fake monk tours - it goes back to Hong Kong in the early nineties. I'd have to dig through my notes to remember the exact details, but I would argue that this incident set the standard for fake monk tours for the last decade plus.
I think Guosong is back in Oakland
He was there for a spell, then he went to Canada, then I heard he returned. Honestly, I haven't kept track. I can barely keep track of where I am day to day, much less the 40+ Shaolin graduates that are running around the S.F. Bay Area...