Visit the Shaolin Temple in Mount Song, Henan, to explore the origins of kung fu and experience the culture of Zen Buddhism

Shaolin Temple, located at the foot of Mount Song's Wuru Peak in Dengfeng City, Henan Province, is named for its location in the dense forests of the Shaoshi Mountain in the hinterland of Mount Song. It was founded in the 19th year of the Taihe era of the Northern Wei Dynasty (495 AD) by Emperor Xiaowen to accommodate the Indian monk Batuo, whom he revered, at the northern foot of Shaoshi Mountain in Mount Song, facing the capital city of Luoyang. The residential compound of Shaolin Temple covers an area of about 57,600 square meters, and its current abbot is Shi Yongxin. Shaolin Temple is a world-famous Buddhist monastery and the ancestral court of Chan (Zen) Buddhism in Chinese Buddhism. It holds an important place in the history of Chinese Buddhism and is known as 'the number one famous temple under heaven.' It is renowned worldwide for the Shaolin kung fu developed and continuously evolved by generations of Shaolin monks, giving rise to the saying, 'All kung fu under heaven originated from Shaolin, and Shaolin kung fu is supreme in the world.'