Shaolin kung fu has mystified the world for years with its incredible strength, vitality and flexibility.
Earlier this year, the 1,500-year-old martial art started an application process to the United Nations' Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) to become a "World Intangible Heritage."
The Chinese Academy of Arts will evaluate the application over the following few months and present a final submission to the UNESCO at the end of the year.
"Most people nowadays barely scratch the surface of Shaolin kung fu. The successful application will greatly help protect and rejuvenate the endangered culture of Shaolin," said Shi Yongxin, the abbot of Shaolin Temple, which is widely regarded as the birthplace of Shaolin kung fu.
Located in Dengfeng County in central China's Henan Province, the temple was built in AD 495 at the foothills of Songshan Mountain.
Thirty-two years later, Bodhi Dharma, an Indian monk, began to spread Zen Buddhism in the temple and started the temple's martial art tradition.
Generations of Shaolin monks have devoted themselves to enriching and improving the tradition and gradually developed it into a complex and colossal system of fighting.
These days, the monks use their skills primarily for self-discipline.
With the increasing popularity of Chinese martial arts, the temple has become the country's largest training base for Shaolin kung fu, receiving more than 1 million pilgrims and students every year.
The local government has spared no effort in protecting both the Buddhist temple and its martial art tradition over the past few years.
A research institute on the famous Shaolin culture, which includes the study of martial arts and religious paintings, has been set up in the temple.
The institute has conducted a series of research projects on Shaolin culture, said Wen Yucheng, a Chinese archaeologist and the head of the institute, adding the studies will help Chinese and foreigners learn more about the history, culture, art and architecture of the ancient temple.
According to Shi, an international seminar on Shaolin kung fu will be held in Dengfeng this year.
(China Daily March 13, 2003)
