Shaolin Temple, the birthplace of Chinese martial arts, plans to
spend 300 million yuan (US$41.10 million) on a new temple which
will become home to the nation's biggest Buddhist college.
The new temple, on the site of the Donglin Temple in Xingyang
County, Zhengzhou, Henan Province, will cover 107 hectares and is
expected to take 10 years to build, Shanghai Morning Post
reported today.
Donglin used to be a temple for royal families in the Ming
Dynasty (1368-1683). Most buildings in the temple have been
destroyed in wars since it was built almost 1,800 years ago.
The new temple will include China's biggest Buddhist college and
will offer courses in literature, philosophy, logic, English and
computing, as well as some traditional Chinese culture such as
calligraphy and Chinese medicine, the report cited Shi Yanruo,
supervisor of Shaolin Temple, as saying.
A worker is busy working at the Donglin
Temple.
Most of the teachers will be monks and the courses will be
taught in three schools of Buddhism tailored for students from
China's mainland, the Tibet region and southeastern Asian countries
like Thailand and Burma, the report said.
Besides preparatory classes and bachelor classes, the college
will also set up postgraduate classes, but these will be exclusive
to monks, the report added.
Meanwhile, Shi Yongxin, abbot of Shaolin Temple in Henan's
Dengfeng City, yesterday ruled out the possibility of the temple
making an initial public offering on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange
soon.
Such a move may "compromise the ancient temple's reputation,"
Xinhua news agency reported.
Shaolin Temple [file photo]
The Dengfeng government established the Songshan Shaolin Tourism
Group in August to integrate local tourism destinations including
the Shaolin Temple and said the company may launch an IPO on the
Chinese mainland or in Hong Kong.
The 1,500-year-old Shaolin Temple reported that it made more
than 100 million yuan in ticket revenue alone in 2006.
Shi insisted in previous reports that a business-oriented
promotion of the Shaolin Temple and its renowned martial arts would
help Shaolin culture grow in fame around the globe.
(Shanghai Daily January 3, 2008)
