We sort fact from myth about Shaolin Monastery, home of kung fu that a Jet Li martial arts film, Shaolin Temple, rescued from obscurity
- For hundreds of years, monks from Shaolin Monastery in central China fought alongside armies in times of upheaval, and were renowned for their martial arts
- A staple of martial arts films, the Shaolin kung fu style only evolved from using poles and spears to employing hands and feet in the past 500 years
Everyone with an interest in martial arts films has heard of the Shaolin Monastery on Songshan mountain near the former Chinese imperial capital of Luoyang in Henan province. According to film critic Ng Ho, writing in 1980, more than half of the wuxia and kung fu films made in Hong Kong and Taiwan “touch on the monastery and the legends surrounding it”.
Chang Cheh’s Shaolin cycle, Lau Kar-leung’s Executioners from Shaolin and The 36th Chamber of Shaolin , and numerous lesser films feature or refer to the Shaolin Monastery, often in the form of its later mythical “southern” incarnation in Fujian.
The legends that grew up around the monastery, in martial arts literature and folk tales, tell of fighting monks who went to war with armies during times of civil strife and fought with rebels against the Manchus of the Qing dynasty.
While such tales are often thought to be legends, academic research has shown that some of them are true. The monks did fight alongside various armies throughout history – one Shaolin monk was even made a general – and did develop powerful martial arts techniques in the Shaolin Monastery, which often doubled as a martial arts training school.
The Shaolin Monastery is flourishing today. It’s a state-sanctioned seat of Buddhism – its abbot is a member of the National People’s Congress, China’s legislature – as well as a centre of tourism and a martial arts school.
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The Shaolin Monastery was founded in the last decade of the 5th century. According to Meir Shahar’s detailed academic study The Shaolin Monastery: History, Religion and the Chinese Martial Arts, the first time the monks used their martial arts skills in combat was to ward off an attack on the monastery by bandits in 610AD.
Soon after, in 618AD, the monks fought alongside military troops for the first time, in an action which helped to establish the Tang dynasty. During a chaotic time in China, Emperor Gaozhu had established the Tang dynasty over the remnants of the Sui dynasty, but still had to destroy the armies of five rivals, including that of General Wang Shichong.
The monks took part in the campaign against Wang, and “Shaolin monks defeated a contingent of Wang Shichong’s army … and took Wang’s nephew captive”, writes Shahar. A contingent of monks even stormed an enemy fortress. Full of gratitude, the Tang Emperor presented the monks with a stela (an inscribed stone column) that would continue to afford the monastery political protection far into the future.
This historical event forms the basis for the movie Shaolin Temple, which features a shot of the actual stela at the end.
The Shaolin Monastery became renowned for its martial arts prowess over the centuries that followed, doubling as a martial arts school and even training members of the military in archery, sword, and spear techniques.
By the 16th century, Shaolin martial arts were known all over China, and the monks famously took part in a military operation against coastal pirates. One hundred and twenty monks killed over 100 pirates and sustained only four casualties. They were merciless, and even killed a pirate’s escaping wife.
How did they fight? Shahar says that the martial arts of Shaolin developed in two phases. Until the 16th century, the monks were known for their staff (pole) fighting techniques – monks were religiously bound to carry a staff, so it was logical to turn it into a weapon.
“They trained in spear fighting and unarmed combat and they carried steel tridents and hooked spears into battle. But they specialised in the staff,” writes Shahar.
The monks started fighting with their hands and feet in the 16th century, but it wasn’t until the 17th century that they turned it into a system. They often tried to strike acupuncture points – a technique shown in many martial arts movies, notably Executioners from Shaolin.
In Lau’s film, the hero must strike the villain Bai Mei – who was, in legend, the traitorous monk who helped the Manchus burn the southern Shaolin Monastery down – at his vital point to defeat him.
Shahar says that although the monks thought that unarmed combat styles were useful at close range, they were developed from breathing exercises, and were primarily intended for spiritual and physical development rather than fighting. But those outside the monastery simply used them for combat.
The Shaolin monks’ penchant for fighting finally led to their downfall in 1928, during the Warlord era, when they allied themselves with a losing warlord. The mistake led to the destruction of some of the monastery’s halls by fire.
Fans of martial arts films will know that legend has it that the monastery was burned down much earlier in 1736 by the Manchus, who suspected that the monks were in league with anti-Qing rebels. But there is no evidence that this fire occurred.
The survivors are supposed to have fled and founded the Southern Shaolin Monastery in Fujian, which developed Southern martial arts styles until it, too, was burnt down by the Manchus in 1768.
The Southern Shaolin Monastery often features in martial arts films and literature, although there is no evidence that it ever existed. But that is another story.
In this regular feature series on the best of Hong Kong martial arts cinema, we examine the legacy of classic films, re-evaluate the careers of its greatest stars, and revisit some of the lesser-known aspects of the beloved genre.
