Shaolin Temple, the birthplace of Chinese martial arts, denied involvement on Monday in a two billion yuan (HK$2.53 billion) effort to create a new generation of Chinese soccer players armed with its ancient skills.
China’s most prominent kung fu temple said in a statement published in the Guangzhou Daily that it had “never sent monks to teach” soccer at an academy carrying its name.
Combining soccer with kung fu is controversial. In 2001, censors had temporarily delayed the Hong Kong comedy movie Shaolin Soccer's screening on mainland silver screens, arguing that associating the millennial Buddhist practice with the Western sport in the film’s title could be considered offensive.
The temple was not involved “by even half a mao” (HK$0.06) with the training base, the statement said on Monday. The soccer academy was one of many attempts to “swindle money, hurt the people, disturb social order and seriously damage Shaolin Temple’s reputation”, it read, comparing the soccer project to “advertising lamb but selling dog meat”.