Shaolin Temple is located in Dengfeng City, Henan Province of China. Disciple's Home of Shaolin Temple is newly furnished to host the overseas Shaolin Disciples with comfortable accommodation, basic facility, and exotic Chinese food. It is only 10 minutes walking distance from Shaolin Temple.
I have never given my assent to the proposition that the gong-fu of the Shaolin school be given the epithet of “the orthodox school of traditional Chinese martial arts”. There are numerous schools of wushu in China. They have sprung up in different parts of our country. And they have been created by different ethnic groups and nurtured by different subcultures existing in our country. It is completely groundless to label one school of martial arts as orthodox or another as unorthodox, because there is no such thing as a commonly accepted criterion for justifying such an arbitrary labeling. Over two millennia have elapsed since the first appearance in the history of ancient China of the pristine and rudimentary forms of martial arts. All the extant schools of traditional Chinese martial arts are powerful ones; otherwise they would not have survived the millennia. Each of the extant schools of martial arts is an orthodox school of traditional Chinese martial arts in the region where, or in the subculture wherein, it originated. That China is replete with multifarious schools of traditional martial arts contributes to the glory of Chinese culture. The term “traditional Chinese martial arts” encompasses all schools of traditional martial arts in China. And they have made traditional Chinese culture all the more dazzling. Shaolin gong-fu constitutes only an ingredient of traditional Chinese martial arts.
The basic principle a martial artist must adhere to when he participates in a boxing bout consists in the most economical usage of his physical strength. Whether his wushu movements on such an occasion strike his opponent or onlookers as graceful or enchanting with their aesthetic appeal is practically of little importance. As a matter of fact, the wushu movements of a martial artist who is most masterly in employing his physical strength must be full of aesthetic appeal. The criterion that is appropriate for assessing the wushu proficiency of a martial artist must be one that is acceptable to all the martial artists concerned. A rule which is strictly adhered to by Shaolin Monastery gong-fu monkhood is this: “In launching an attack with the foot, it is not allowed to be flung higher than the opponent’s kneecap.” The rule is in contradiction with a criterion proclaimed by the central authorities in charge of China’s national sports affairs. Anyway Shaolin gong-fu monkhood has never countenanced the criterion, even though a portion of the secular folk who have learned Shaolin gong-fu from our monastery now chooses to be obedient to the criterion laid down by the central authorities. Moreover the same portion of the secular folk now has also chosen to do more pirouettes in doing martial-art demonstrations than Shaolin gong-fu dictates. Most of the guys belonging in the aforesaid portion are young people who are more susceptible to stooping before the central authorities’ behest, because they desire to take part in numerous wushu contests sponsored or organized by the central authorities in charge of China’s national sports affairs. Such young people say that the reason they have discarded the old rule is that they need to keep abreast of the new development which materializes in the form of the new criterion. Generally speaking, everybody needs to keep abreast of a positive development. But this does not mean that all conventions or traditions should be indiscriminately or gratuitously demolished. Nowadays the central authorities concerned are still frantically popularizing the so-called “model wushu”. This has resulted in rushing a great number of people to the “model wushu” training courses across the country. Thus has emerged the new nationwide wushu-training landscape: The number of people participating in martial-art training has been appreciably enhanced. But in actuality, the gong-fu level in China is now experiencing a drastic downturn. It is expressly for keeping the monastic tradition intact that the gong-fu monkhood of Shaolin Monastery clings adamantly to the monastic tradition and sila and declines to take part in wushu contests organized or sponsored by the central authorities.
What can serve as the criterion for assessing the martial-art proficiency of a martial artist? Is it the height his heel can reach when he kicks? Or is it the number of pirouettes he can execute within a given length of time? The answer is “no”. Martial arts rely simultaneously on a number of motor skills. It is against the basic rule governing the martial arts to judge a martial artist’s proficiency only from his or her proficiency in a certain motor skill. Generally speaking, a martial artist can hardly beat an Olympic champion weightlifter in physical strength, or a national champion high jumper in a high-jump event, or a champion long jumper in the distance he can jump over, or a gymnast in keeping balance in maintaining a precarious stance. In a word, martial-art training is a comprehensive training, in which are involved a great number of trainings in various motor skills. When such a comprehensive training is integrated with the theory and verve peculiar to martial arts, the result tends to impart uniqueness to wushu.
Mastery of traditional Chinese martial arts requires multifarious trainings. Physical training alone or a training intended exclusively for the acquisition of a certain single “motor skill” such as sprint, high jump, long jump, weight lifting, is not able to mold a trainee into a martial-art master really worthy of the name.
Traditional Chinese martial arts are part of China’s cultural heritage which is the crystallization of the creativity of our forefathers. Being not a blaze of modern business maneuverings, they are particularly worth revering. Although they can be adopted as sports events, yet they weren’t created for playing the roles of some sports events. Since they were originally created for fulfilling some culture-related functions, it is only rational to leave them to play the role they have been playing for over fifteen centuries.
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