Kung Fu Fighting

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We arrived in Zhengzhou late in the evening in the middle of a torrential downpour.....the weather in China had just dramatically changed bringing a temperature drop of 10C, heavy rain and flooding and even snow in the north! Unfortunately we haven’t yet mastered the taxi grabbing skills (pushing everyone over and jumping onto the car) of everyone else so we had to wade through the streets to our hotel - it was a novelty to feel cold for once!

The next day we wandered around trying to find a tour that would take us to the Shaolin temples. One of the local hotels sold surprisingly cheap tickets for a tour and we decided to go......only to discover when we got on the bus that we had accidentally bought tickets for a Chinese speaking only tour! The rest of the group were very smiley but no-one spoke any English except the tour guide who could speak a few words.....we had a lovely day at the temple though and probably enjoyed it more than being in a loud group of westerners...

The Shaolin temples are the home and origin of Shaolin Kung Fu and to Zen Buddhism, one of the larger divisions of Buddhism, dating back to 495 AD. Various emperors through China’s history have both actively supported and denounced Buddhism, so the temples have enjoyed years of prosperity as well as years of hardship. Today, more than 20,000 students attend the famous Kung Fu schools where they receive training in Martial Arts as well as a normal school curriculum from the age of 6 up to the age of 20.

In 540AD an Indian Buddhist Priest called Bodhidharma joined the monks at Shaolin. He noticed the monks were totally unfit, spending all day hunched over tables transcribing handwritten texts. He felt the Shaolin monks consequently lacked the physical and mental stamina needed to perform even the most basic of Buddhist meditation practices. The priest therefore began teaching them moving exercises, designed to enhance chi flow and build strength. The exercises were modified types of Indian yoga based on the movements of the 18 main animals in Indo-Chinese iconography (e.g., tiger, deer, leopard, cobra, snake, dragon, etc.) and were the beginnings of Shaolin Kung Fu.

Apparently it is not clear when the exercises became "martial arts". As the Shaolin temple is in a secluded area the monks may have had problems with bandits and wild animals, so development of the exercises into 'martial arts' might have started out to fulfill self-defense needs.

Something we found difficult to understand was how Buddhism (we thought traditionally a non violent religion) could fit with Shaolin's legendary martial art skills. We were told that the Shaolin practitioner is never an attacker, nor will they use the most devastating defenses in any situation. Instead, studying kung fu leads to a better understanding of violence, and consequently how to avoid conflict. If it cannot be avoided the kung fu expert will generally initially choose to simply block an attack, but if the attacker is both skilled and determined to cause harm, a more definitive and concluding solution may be required, from a joint-lock hold to a knockout, to death. The more sophisticated and violent an assault, the more devastating the return of the attack to the attacker. Buddhists are not, therefore, hurting anyone; they merely refuse to accept intended harm.

The temples are set in a beautiful mountainous area and next to the sacred Taoist mountain of Song Shan. Walking around there are hundreds of tiny boys practising their moves and we were also invited to see an amazing Kong Fu demonstration by the monks of the temple. Also in the grounds there is an impressive ‘pagoda forest‘, where 246 pagodas of different age, style and size are clustered together, like in a cemetery.

In Zhengshou we had more than the usual trouble getting train tickets back to Beijing. As the Chinese mid Autumn festival approaches, more and more people seem to be travelling. When we tried for tickets they only had 4th class tickets left (‘hard seats’), of which we had heard many awful stories. Well, we needed to get back to Beijing, so we had to go for it. ‘Hard seat' was pretty bad - starting with the crazed rush at the platform gate towards the train - I ended up in a fight with a little old lady after she kept elbowing me in the ribs to push by me! The seats were not too comfortable and we sat 3 on a bench on either side of the aisle which was also packed with people standing and sitting. Apparently, in our case, we got a special treat as our seats were also wet - we hoped as the covers had just been washed rather than the nastier alternatives! Our carriage companions didn't hold back in their spitting, belching, smoking and yelling so it made for a nice 9h journey! Still, we were glad we experienced it and it was definitely more full of real life than the soft sleepers....



We've now been in Beijing again for a few days, seen the Summer Palace, Forbidden City and Tienammen Sq but no time to write about that yet - we'll update you again next week...

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