Shaolin Temple, The Birthplace of Kung Fu/Wushu, China
On the road again to Shaolin Temple, possibly the most famous temple in China. Not only because of its long history and role in Chinese Buddhism, but because of its martial arts. "Wushu" or Kung Fu is China's most famous martial arts tradition. We were scheduled to watch a Kung Fu/Wushu performance, visit the Pagoda Forest and Shaolin's various temples. From what I understand, you never see the masters doing Kung Fu, only the younger students and thousands enroll every year at Shaolin's martial arts schools.
We pulled up to Shaolin, visited the absolutely 5***** public toilets...View image...View image..., bought tickets and started the walk into the complex. Fields filled with students everywhere you looked, working intensely on their exercises. They run 10k/6.2 miles every morning and practice 5-7 hours a day. There are at least 3,000 students enrolled in the various schools, most hoping to become the next Jet Li or Jackie Chan, appearing together in a new movie, The Forbidden Kingdom. Jet Li is the favorite because he studied at Shaolin Temple and made it big.
Nine Martial Arts Performances are scheduled indoors and outside on a daily basis with rotating groups performance. We had an hour to kill before the performance and walked around watching the men/boys on practice their different katas. A kata is a choreographed pattern of movements usually practiced solo. ...View image... ( I'm going to use "kung fu" and "wushu" interchangeably throughout.)
A student has to study for 10 years to become a Master and develop hands like steel. Andy showed us a tree with holes driven into the bark by the fingers of students over the years. Masters are also able to do a handstand using two fingers on each hand!
The short version of Wushu (and who knows if this is the real story) originated with Shaolin monks on Mount Songshan imitating the animals around them for exercise. For lots of in-depth information, use this link to Shaolin Kung Fu. From this, Wushu developed into a form of combat for the monks to defend themselves and further metamorphed into "monks for hire."
Time for the entertaining performance (watch video below) with photo ops galore (this is one wealthy temple), lots of real swords flying, chains, other combat apparatus and one Master broke a steel sword with his head. Don't mess with these guys...
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Comments
I wish I could practice in there and be and fell kung fu.
me too!
Posted by: getnet | September 24, 2008 05:20 AM
iam just scerious to learn the art........
If there isn't any place by you, most serious learners do travel to china. But check around your area. It takes many years of practice and study.
Posted by: akbar | April 3, 2009 11:06 AM