Kung fu and wushu are popular terms that have become synonymous with Chinese martial arts.
Note: looking for kung fu blog writers - send us your news or article. please register!Russia to get a Shaolin Kungfu Center
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China and Russia have signed a letter of intent on the building of a Shaolin Kungfu center in Russia, which will be the first of its kind in Russia, and also the biggest overseas Kungfu center when completed.The Kungfu center will be built in the Republic of Kalmykija, and the president of Kalmykija promises that the land for the Kungfu center will be offered free of charge.
Kungfu is very popular in Russia nowadays, and many young people there have already joined various martial arts clubs. Putin, the Russian president, also contributed to the popularity of Kungfu.
Shi Xiao Guang, the young monk who once sat on Putin’s shoulders in a Kungfu demonstration, has become a famous pop idol in Russia. Last March, when he went to Russia to attend the opening ceremony of the Year of China, Shi was warmly welcomed by many Russian citizens, as well as the president himself.
Ancient kung-fu monk order turns rural property developer
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This article was originally posted on Brisbane Times
“THE 1500-year-old Shaolin Temple, the home of kung-fu, lies in the Songshan mountains in central China, far from Shoalhaven, on the South Coast.
Under a plan that appears to have the NSW Government’s blessing, the famous Shaolin monks hope to build - at a cost of up to $800 million - a temple, martial arts and Chinese medicine complex, with a golf course, hotel and housing, seven kilometers from Jervis Bay.
The 1200-hectare development site is a former dairy and pine plantation owned by Shoalhaven City Council.
The plans have not been released, but include a three-tier temple with room for up to 100 resident monks, a kung-fu academy for 500 students, a 1500-seat exhibition hall and a Chinese herbal medicine centre. For those less spiritually inclined, there will also be a 27-hole golf course, a 500-room hotel and a 500-lot housing subdivision.
Bizarre as it sounds - and the proposal has already attracted opposition from local Christians - the NSW Tourism Minister, Matt Brown, who first suggested that NSW could be an ideal site for the temple, spent two days at the Shaolin Temple this week. He met the Abbot of Shaolin, Shi Yong Xin, to assure him the NSW Government will do whatever it can for the project.
“It will be the first time in 1500 years that another Shaolin temple will be built and to have it built in Australia is a huge coup,” Mr Brown said yesterday from Shanghai, where he is working on promoting tourism to Sydney.
Mr Brown said the next step was for the abbot to appoint a consultant in Sydney to act on the temple’s behalf and negotiate.
The Shaolin monks last year signed an option to buy the 1200 hectares from the council subject to planning and other approvals. The sale’s origin was a conversation between Mr Brown, whose Kiama electorate takes in about a third of Shoalhaven, and Shoalhaven’s Mayor, Greg Watson. Mr Brown told him the abbott was looking for land to build a temple complex.”
