Business-oriented promotion of Shaolin Temple and its renowned
martial arts will offer Shaolin culture more widespread fame around
the globe, a political advisor said on Saturday.
"We (Shaolin monks) will keep practicing a market-oriented
transformation of Shaolin Temple to protect the legacy of
traditional martial arts and Zen Buddhism, which is also in line
with China's social system," said Shaolin abbot Shi Yongxin, a
member of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political
Consultative Conference (CPPCC), China's top advisory body.
To raise money for Shaolin Temple is not merely for themselves,
but is a symbol of their responsibility in carrying forward Shaolin
culture, Shi said. "If I failed, history would remember me as a
sinner."
Shi said he would raise a proposal concerning the development of
Shaolin Temple during the 12-day Fifth Session of the Tenth CPPCC
National Committee.
Shi, head of the 1,500-year-old Shaolin Temple in Dengfeng City
of central China's Henan Province, has sought to shed the
reclusive reputation of the temple since he was appointed abbot of
Shaolin in 1987 at the age of 22.
In 1994, he played a leading role in the Chinese religious
community in the application of registering "Shaolin" and "Shaolin
Temple" as trademarks, and established a company for managing
relevant intellectual property.
When the Internet was in its first stage of presence in China,
he established a website for Shaolin Temple.
Over the past two decades, he has led Shaolin monk delegations
to more than 60 countries to perform Shaolin martial arts shows,
and set up six overseas Shaolin Temple martial arts training
institutions.
With its fame escalating around the world, the temple gained a
revenue of 75.5 million yuan (US$9.4 million) in 2006 thanks to
nearly three million domestic and overseas tourists including
President Vladimir Putin earlier in the year.
(Xinhua News Agency March 3, 2007)