Shaolin Temple

Shaolin Temple	Shaolin Temple

Shaolin Temple is located at Dengfeng County, Henan Province. It is the birthplace of Buddhism's Chan Sect (Zen) in China as well as the cradle of China's Shaolin Wushu (martial arts). In 1983, it was designated as one of national key temples in the areas of the Han nationality.
Shaolin Temple firstly is famous for its Shaolin Kungfu. Shaolin Kungfu obtained its great reputation during the Sui and Tang dynasties (581-907). It also famous for its great scale of covering an area of more than 30,000 square meters. Much attention has been paid to symmetry of its overall arrangement. On its medial axis stand the Gate of the Temple, Heavenly King Hall, Main Hall, Sutra Hall, Abbot's Room, Thousand Buddhas Hall, etc., and a number of important buildings stand on both sides hereof.
About 300 meters in the west of Shaolin Temple, there stands the largest-scale group of pagodas in China. This group, consisting of more than 250 pagodas, is the burial ground for all abbots of Shaolin Temple in the past dynasties since the Tang Dynasty (618-907). All pagodas are different in shape and size, and were almost inscribed and graved, which mirror the architectural styles of different dynasties, and is the treasury for research on China's ancient brick-and-stone buildings and statuary.