If the legends of Shaolin were actually accepted as truthful fact, then one would have to believe that the best martial art in China originated in one small place over a period of ten years! Furthermore, one would have to accept that all these forms of fighting originated from one single Indian Buddhist monk! Though a legend is a legend and shouldn't be taken as truth, this is one incredible legend!

According to oral myths and legends passed down throughout generations, an Indian Buddhist monk arrived to China in about A.D. 520.1 This mo

Over the many years, Shaolin temples have evolved from religious temples to martial arts institutions to political soldiers and back to the martial arts schools. Martial artists today from all over the world travel to Shaolin to study the traditional Chinese martial arts. The Shaolin Temples have also become a tourist attraction. Every day tourists gather in a circle at Shaolin to enjoy the kung fu demonstrations by Shaolin monks. Shaolin Kung Fu no longer remains inside the temple but is widely spread throughout the world. The original forms of kung fu have evolved to include fascinating new styles. Shaolin Temples are even sites settings for movies to take place. Shaolin group even travels around the world to do performances. In summer of 1997, they were even here in Vancouver at the PNE. It was a spectacular performance. Although Shaolin have been through many tough times, today it is well known around the world and is still standing strong and bold in China.

As history has pointed out, Shaolin Temples are not just religious temples, they are famous for their martial arts. Even the Emperors from the past asked them for help during political battles. There were other encounters of the burning of the temples where invaders from outside China attacked Shaolin causing many damages. But by far, the most damages were caused during Emperor Ching's reign.

There are two styles of Shaolin. One is the Northern Foot and Southern Fist developed in Northern and Southern territories. Northern Shaolin is believed to have originated at the Honan Shaolin Temple, while the Southern Shaolin is believed to have come from the Fukien Shaolin. Both Northern and Southern styles make use of five interesting animal forms: dragon, snake, crane, tiger and leopard. Both Styles have their own uniqueness. The Northern style focuses more on long range, high kicking techniques, flexibility, jumping and mobility. Soft movements and power are usually taught first then harder external techniques are introduced later. And finally there would be a mixture of hard and soft. Southern styles emphasize hand techniques, short punches and fighting-methods. It is the opposite of Northern style. The monks learn the hard techniques first, and soft introduced afterwards.11

Meditation was Ta Mo's main teaching. He spent nine years meditating while sitting in front of a wall. Interesting enough, during this time his legs withered away due to lack of use! Ta Mo became very disturbed when he found out that the monks at Shaolin often fell asleep during their meditations. Because of this, he designed special exercises to increase their stamina to maintain weariness. In the I-Chin Ching (Muscle-Change Classic), a work that is attributed to Ta Mo, we can find eighteen basic exercises for the purpose of improving one's general health. These exercises are believed by some people to be the basis of shaolin, the category of hand-to-hand martial arts named after the temple at which Ta Mo meditated.

Monkey Style-The five basic forms are drunken monkey (very cute and funny to watch), stone monkey, lost monkey, wooden monkey and standing monkey. The essence of being a monkey fighter is learning how to think and act like a monkey. Characteristics of a good monkey fighter are that he/she is sly and tricky; poisonous to opponent, like a poisonous snake; able to bluff to it's opponent; able to destroy opponents attacks; and most important of all, unpredictable when fighting. An interesting story is that the drunken monkey style was originated because prison guards used to give monkeys wine and watch them for entertainment. This style is perhaps the hardest to learn.

Hsing I-Is one of the oldest and most sophisticated kung fu systems. Hsing I means 'shape of mind'. It was formed at the beginning of the Ching Dynasty by Chi Chi Ki in the province of Shansi. The system consists of forms depicting fire, water, wood, metal and earth. A major

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