In Mordern Era

The Destruction of the Shaolin Temple in Henan

In 1647, matters came to a head between the Shaolin monks and the leaders of the Ching who destroyed the main temple at Henan in a bid to end the rebellion. After bombarding it with cannons, they set the buildings on fire slaughtering most who tried to escape the flames and capturing and torturing many others. According to some sources only five monks survived, known as the Five Elders, many legends have since grown around them concerning the history of kung fu. 

From this time up to the early twentieth century, martial arts were outlawed for China’s citizens and documents and scrolls were systematically destroyed. Kung fu through this time had to be taught in secret and knowledge handed down from master to student, with very little being written down. As a result, the truth about many of these stories and even the existence of many of the famous masters is often doubted by scholars because of the lack of surviving primary evidence. 

While much of the factual history may never be known for sure, it is true to say that the myths and legends surrounding the temples and Chinese martial arts in general have themselves had a great influence on practitioners and experts of kung fu for centuries. Therefore we can say that they are still important tales despite their lack of validation. 

The Shaolin in the Early Twentieth Century

The 19th century saw the country annexed by foreign powers including Japan, Russia, France, Holland, the USA and Britain. The imperial powers became mere puppets of the foreigners and by the turn of the 20th century, the Empress was hated by most Chinese people.

In 1901, the so called Boxer Rebellion began, led by Chinese martial artists (then commonly known as boxers) from the Shaolin Temple and its subsidiaries. They were heavily defeated, largely because they believed talisman and spells would protect them from the bullets being used against them. This led to a downturn in fortunes for the temples and many of the warrior monks that survived migrated to other countries or went into hiding and obscurity.

The fall of the Ching Dynasty in 1911 after a revolt led by Dr Sun Yat-Sen saw an upturn in the fortunes of the Shaolin and in Chinese martial arts in general. The secret styles that had been handed down from master to student started to be taught publicly and many books on the subject were published.

During the civil war in China in the 1920s between the Communist forces of Mao Tze Tung and the Nationalists let by Chiang Kai-Shek, the Shaolin monks were further persecuted. This time it was due to their neutrality in a conflict that was fuelled largely by overstated national pride, though they did have by this time warriors who could fight in a modern battle.

O Mei Shan (Great White Mountain) Temple in the Szechuan Province was used as target practice due to its location on top of a mountain. The temple in Henan did not fare any better and was again burned to the ground with a fire that lasted for 40 days. All the buildings were destroyed along with the loss of many priceless books, records and artefacts.

In a bid to preserve the martial arts, President Chiang Kai-Shek established the Nanking Central Guoshu Institute in 1928. Many renowned masters were brought together to share their knowledge and the traditional name Wushu (martial techniques) was renamed Zhong Guo Wushu (Chinese martial techniques) or Guoshu (country techniques).

However this effort to preserve and develop Chines fighting styles only lasted a short time as all training was discontinued with the onset of the Second Sino-Japanese War (1937 – 1945). The temples suffered more damage at the hands of the Japanese during this time and after the war and the onset of the Cultural Revolution, martial arts were banned by the country’s communist leaders.