Beginnings of Shaolin Boxing - history

[GeneChing]

I was wondering what the photos above were about. The article below runs the same pix, except for what I've copied here.

Shaolin kung fu shares stage with yoga
chinadaily.com.cn | Updated: 2018-08-27 14:40

A yoga master and a Shaolin warrior monk perform similar movement on a shared stage of the closing ceremony of the 2018 Shaolin Martial Arts General Assembly at Mount Songshan, Henan province, Aug 25, 2018. [Photo/IC]
Yoga lovers and Shaolin monks performed together at the zen culture festival, a theme activity on the last day of the 2018 Shaolin Martial Arts General Assembly on Aug 25, at Mount Songshan, location of the Shaolin Temple, in Henan province.

The two exercises have been deeply influenced by zen Buddhism in their development. By inviting yoga lovers to the event, the audience had a better understanding and different experience of the zen culture.

Yoga and martial arts performers exercised on the various scenic spots of Mount Songshan. The world-renowned yoga masters were on the scene to lead the audience to practice yoga.

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Beginnings of Shaolin Boxing - history yoga

[GeneChing]

I copied the two posts above from the Beginnings of Shaolin Boxing - history thread to this Shaolin Temple World Martial Arts Assembly because it sits more appropriately here. Also copying this to our Shaolin's African Disciples because I love those cross-links. I suspect the flag raising ceremony might have been connected to this Assembly too, but I'm not going to add that because it might have just been about National Day.

African Nations Pull Up in Force to Shaolin Kung Fu General Assembly
by Adan Kohnhorst | Aug 30, 2018



The Shaolin Temple just closed out its 2018 Shaolin Martial Arts General Assembly, and well ****, African nations came through.

Twenty-two trainees from seven African countries — Cameroon, Chad, Niger, Burundi, Mali, Djibouti, and the Central African Republic — spent three months at the temple as participants in the Ministry of Culture’s sixth African student exchange program. The class studied empty-handed Shaolin kung fu, plus sword and staff techniques. At the end of the training period students performed what they’d learned for the temple’s abbot, and received certificates of completion.



Full disclosure, this writer happened to be at the temple while the African exchange unit was there training, and can confirm, they were doing some serious stuff. Tourists from across China watched with confusion and pleasant surprise .

“We came empty-handed but finished full of enthusiasm,” one participant said. “We’re really excited to be ambassadors of Chinese culture, and to share what we learned at the temple with people back home.”

The abbot Shi Yongxin, international media’s notorious “CEO monk”, had a more put-together statement to make:

The Shaolin Temple is committed to supporting China-Africa ties, cultivating the friendship between Chinese and African people, and pushing forward on cultural exchange and cooperation between China and Africa.

Outside of the African class, other foreigners and kung fu fans made the trip out for the occasion. People’s Daily was quick to seize a photo op on Twitter:

View image on Twitter

People's Daily,China
✔
@PDChina
Yoga lovers practice yoga and Shaolin students perform martial arts along a cliff walkway on Songshan Mountain during the 2018 Shaolin Martial Arts General Assembly in Dengfeng city, Central China's #Henan province, on August 25

5:07 AM - Aug 27, 2018
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As time marches on, and the world around us changes, we can all take comfort knowing that foreigners will continue to flock to the Shaolin Temple with shocking consistency.