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Thread: Economic State of Shaolin Temple today

  1. #121
    I can totally understand this. When I was there two years ago, someone let his kid crap between the Pagoda's. Totally disrespectful!

  2. #122
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    Quote Originally Posted by charliegreens View Post
    someone let his kid crap between the Pagoda's.
    I miss China.

  3. #123
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    Quote Originally Posted by charliegreens View Post
    I can totally understand this. When I was there two years ago, someone let his kid crap between the Pagoda's. Totally disrespectful!
    uh... Welcome to China?
    Kung Fu is good for you.

  4. #124
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    ****** dj!

    I just came back from lunch at the local dive Chinese place. Now I'm having Zhengzhou flashbacks.
    Gene Ching
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  5. #125
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    When you've been here a long time you realise unfortunately it's not just the kids.......



    Went past the pagoda forest a few days ago and saw these. They look hideous, but at the same time, you can get some nice views of the forest without people standing everywhere.

    It is probably a good idea since all the pagodas have writing scratched into them from Chinese tourists. But I would have chosen a better looking fence.

    Wish I had filmed some forms there while I had the chance.....

  6. #126
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    That's exactly what I mean...

    Quote Originally Posted by RenDaHai View Post
    When you've been here a long time you realise unfortunately it's not just the kids........
    I was partying in Zhengzhou once, in their little night club district. I was standing on the sidewalk of this major busy intersection and I hear this gush ans splatter in the gutter right next to where I was. I look over to see this woman who just hiked up her qipao, copped a squat, and took a big ol' **** all over. I had to jump to get away from standing downstream. I remember glaring at her and her looking back at me with this vacant 'what?' expression. The surreal thing was that she was smoking hot. Ahhhh, China.
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  7. #127
    Wait a while and the fences will look like the pagodas.

    Now maybe Gene can tell us where all the temple's riches go ...?

    yss
    Last edited by breeze; 04-17-2012 at 01:19 PM.

  8. #128
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    breeze

    Why would I even know that?

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  9. #129
    HMPF!

    I was just curious .... - Since you know a lot. And since my master never really tells me ...

    Btw, the German solar company WIRSOL AG sponsored the book "Die Shaolin Mönche" that i tried to introduce in the topic "New Shaolin book", probably that's also reason for Shi Yongxin's sanctifying the Beijing office. It's a nice book anyway, showing what Shaolin temple also is.
    But i guess the solar equipment behind the Meditation-hall in the temple (under "Alternative Energie" on: http://shaolin-reflection.blogspot.d...&max-results=1) is from another company, since it is there already a couple of years.

    yss

  10. #130
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    See? Now I never would have put that book and that solar company together

    Just a glance at the archived news on this thread gives us an inkling of how complex the financials of Shaolin Temple is now. There are so many different influences there - numerous government bodies that oversee Temple business, private companies and schools are invested, and then there's the funding of reconstruction and new construction, and the charitable gestures. Following the money trail there just makes my head spin. I do know for certain the the temple proper only gets a portion of all the income. Various government bureaus that oversee the temple take out a hefty sum. An actual study of the economics of Shaolin would be a fascinating read, but I can't even imagine how one might go about researching such a thing.
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  11. #131
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    Shaolin Maglev

    Henan mulls maglev for Shaolin
    Updated: 2012-05-21 20:25
    By An Baijie (chinadaily.com.cn)

    China's largest train manufacturer is talking with officials about the possibility of building a magnetic levitation railway for tourists to Shaolin Temple in central China's Henan province, according to a local newspaper.

    China South Locomotive and Rolling Stock Corporation Ltd, a listed State-owned enterprise, believes the project is a fit for Shaolin Temple, China's most famous Buddhist temple, said Zhao Xiaogang, chairman of the board of the train manufacturer, in an interview with Dahe Daily.

    "The low-speed magnetic levitation railway could run at a speed of 80 to 100 kilometers per hour, with low noise, which is very suitable for the tourism resort," Zhao was quoted as saying. "We noticed that it is about 3 km from the bus station to the temple, and we are going to test the local environment to see whether we can build the project as soon as possible."

    The low-speed magnetic levitation, or maglev, railway costs much less than its high-speed counterpart, Zhao said.

    Zhao promoted the idea of a low-speed maglev railway in talks with Guo Gengmao, governor of Henan province, on May 18.

    There are currently no maglev railways in business in China, and the Shaolin Temple would be the first tourism resort to introduce such a project if the negotiation goes smoothly, Dahe Daily reported.

    The newspaper did not say whether the provincial governor has given it the green light or not. China Daily could not obtain confirmation of the project's status from the provincial government before press time.

    Sun Chunxia, an employee from the publicity department of the CTS Star, which runs tourism operations at the Shaolin Temple, told China Daily on May 21 that the project is still being considered, and no final decision has been reached at the moment.
    I'm not sure I'd feel safe on a PRC Maglev.
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  12. #132
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    All they needed were some new signs...

    ...and who knows what else under the table.

    This is follow-up on the National Quality Ranking Committee of Tourist Attractions issue.

    There are more pix of tourists at Shaolin if you follow the link.
    Shaolin Temple improves management, service
    (Xinhua)
    08:21, May 23, 2012


    A new warning sign of the slippery surface is set on a stone bridge near the Shaolin Temple in Dengfeng City, central China's Henan Province, May 21, 2012. Shaolin has passed the reexamination by the country's tourist watchdog and kept its rating as a five-A tourist site earlier this month. A national committee on tourist site assessment at the end of last year issued a circular demanding that the temple overhaul its "chaotic operation" or forfeit its rating as a five-A tourist site. The circular said the temple had been overrun by vendors and rip-off businesses. Now Shaolin has improved a lot in its management and service and more tourists came to visit Shaolin these days. (Xinhua/Wang Song)
    Gene Ching
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  13. #133
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    @Shaolin Maglev...

    That is ridiculous..... Its a pleasant mile walk from the main gate to Shaolin. Years ago it was filled with thousands of people practising wushu and really had the shaolin feeling. Now it is just lined with bamboo. Never the less it is a pleasant walk, to build a Maglev here is so absolutely unnecessary.

    Now they are in the process of building a new road directly from the airport to Shaolin. (The stupid decision to build ZhengZhous airport completely in the middle of nowhere, 45 mins from ZZ means they need a lot of new roads for it) They are bulldozing a route along the edge of dengfeng.

    Their are soooo Many fingers in Shaolins pie these days.......I really don't think Shaolin even sees a fraction of the profits.

    They have changed all the rules of access for this new 5 star rating. It is much harder for anyone from the local area to get into Shaolin now (without paying), and the cost of owning a small stall has been raised. There are no longer Year passes and everything is controlled by some HongKong company.


    On a side note, I went on the Maglev in Shanghai before... It was awesome, it hits a peak of 431km per hour. It feels like an airplane taking off. But the last thing the Shaolin area needs is a monorail. That will look hideous.

  14. #134
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    In the Economist

    This is an overview of several stories we've been following here; The platform is interesting.
    Trouble at the temple
    Everybody was kung fu fighting
    Shaolin temple takes a hit

    May 26th 2012 | DENGFENG | from the print edition

    Shi Yongxin, the CEO?

    AS THE sun rises over the foothills of Mount Song, thousands of young martial artists are kicking, punching and spinning spears and swords in unison on a huge open parade ground. They have flocked here to train at Shaolin temple, the birthplace of Shaolin kung fu.

    The parade-ground scene is timeless, but the surrounding temple is not. In December it failed its examination by China’s National Tourism Association, after inspectors condemned the poor conditions of the sprawling temple complex and the abundance of pushy touts and dodgy fortune-tellers.

    Such hangers-on have arrived as part of the commercialisation of the Shaolin brand, tirelessly promoted since the 1990s by the temple’s abbot, Shi Yongxin (pictured). Mr Shi is known in the Chinese media as “the CEO monk”. He has rented out the Shaolin name for films, reality-television shows and computer games, and approved an online store selling Shaolin kung fu manuals for 9,999 yuan ($1,600). Many Chinese believe he leads too lavish a life for a holy man. In 2009, the temple’s website was hacked twice. In one instance a fake apology letter from the abbot was posted on the site, listing his alleged misdeeds. In the other, a message was scrawled saying “Shaolin evildoer Shi Yongxin, go to hell”.

    The temple last year twice issued statements rejecting unspecified rumours about Mr Shi that had spread widely in Chinese media and online. In its second statement in October, the temple even announced it was setting up a hotline offering a reward of 50,000 yuan for information leading to the source of the rumours. But as the temple feared in its statements, the damage to its reputation had already been done. The number of visitors during the Chinese new year holiday in January this year, traditionally high season for tourists, fell by nearly half.

    Then on May 16th, after spending millions of yuan sprucing up the temple, Shaolin passed the tourism board’s re-examination, and so was able to retain its five-star scenic-spot status. Abbot Shi remained bullish: “The Shaolin scenic spot’s problems are mostly caused by the intervention of the government,” he said after the announcement. “I hope to return Shaolin temple to a peaceful religious environment.”

    Restoring such an environment may not be so easy. Just days later, Chinese media reported that discussions were under way about building a magnetic-levitation train around Shaolin, in order to boost tourism.
    Gene Ching
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  15. #135
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    The wake of the Open Door

    Govt against listing temples on stock market
    Updated: 2012-06-06 07:08
    (Xinhua)

    SHANGHAI - China's State Administration for Religious Affairs is against plans to list temples on the stock markets by some local governments, a top official said Tuesday.

    Listing the temples on the stock exchanges harms the legal rights and damages the image of the religious community. It also harms the feelings of the believers, said Liu Wei, a deputy department director of the administration.

    Temples are the sites for believers to carry out religious activities and are non-profit organizations. There is no precedent in the world to list the temples on the stock market, Liu said at a meeting in Shanghai.

    Developing the economy should have its limits and should not cross the moral lines, he said.

    Many of Chinese Buddhist and Tao temples have long been tourist sites and sources of revenues for local governments, which have a strong desire to make the temples more attractive and more lucrative. Listing in Shanghai or Hong Kong is a natural choice for them.

    Famen Temple, dubbed as the ancestor of pagoda temples in northwest China's Shaanxi province, was expected to be listed in Hong Kong in 2013. The Baoji municipal government postponed the plan at the end of April as the second phase of the expansion project had not started construction.

    Shaolin Temple, China's most famous Buddhist temple in central Henan province, was also pushed to be listed on the stock market at the end of 2009 to attract more investment and tourists. The plan was aborted due to pressure from the Buddhist abbot Shi Yongxin and religious authorities.

    China currently has about 139,000 religious sites. Of them 33,000 are Buddhist temples, 9,000 Tao temples, 35,000 mosques, 6,000 Catholic churches and 56,000 Christian churches.
    Now those are some interesting stats. I never realized there were so many Christian churches in China.

    Thou shalt not launch IPOs, China tells temples
    SHANGHAI | Wed Jun 6, 2012 4:22am EDT

    (Reuters) - Buddhist and Taoist temples have no right to go public and list shares on stock exchanges, a Chinese official was quoted in state media as saying of an issue that seems to have touched a nerve with the officially atheist government.

    The listing of companies linked to world famous Chinese heritage sites is not new in the country's three-decade-old capital markets, but attempts to list at least one religious site have apparently crossed a line.

    Schemes to promote tourism via temples, or even for temples to band together and go public to raise funds, were wrong, Xinhua news agency quoted Liu Wei, an official with the State Administration of Religious Affairs, on Wednesday as saying.

    Such plans "violate the legitimate rights of religious circles, damage the image of religion and hurt the feelings of the majority of religious people", he said in remarks at a conference on the management of religious sites.

    Reports about the Shaolin Temple, famous for its kung-fu monks, planning a listing sparked a public outcry three years ago when they surfaced. Many Chinese are concerned that the Shaolin Temple, which has become a high-profile commercial entity in recent years, is becoming overly money-minded.

    Shanghai-listed Huangshan Tourism Development Co, for example, sells admission to Huangshan, or the Yellow Mountain, a UNESCO World Cultural and Natural Heritage site in the southern Chinese province of Anhui.

    And the sale of admission tickets to the famed Emei Mountain in southwest China is also an important source of income for Shenzhen-listed Emei Shan Tourism Co.

    China's Communist-run government is officially atheist but the state recognizes Buddhism, Taoism, Islam, Catholicism and Protestantism, and tolerates religious activity within boundaries.
    Gene Ching
    Publisher www.KungFuMagazine.com
    Author of Shaolin Trips
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