The Shaolin temple is located on the north of the Shaoshi Mountains in Dengfeng County in Henan Province. It was built in 496 AD in the Later Wei Dynasty. It is said that the word "Shaolin" means that this temple was established in the lush forest, lin, in the Mt. Shaoshih. The meditation corner of Damo, the Bodhidharma who introduced Chan (Zen) to Chinese people, is on the right side of this temple, and because of Damo, this temple is regarded as the Mecca of the Chan (Zen) Sect. Stories about the monks who knew martial arts in this temple can be dated to when the temple was just built, which indicates that there were monks fighting to protect the temple's real estate. The monk Tan Zong gathered a 13-member group to help King of the Cing, Li Shihmin, who later became Emperor Taizong of the Tang, to defeat the Warlord Wang Shihchong.

       The Shaoling martial arts monks were particularly famous when they assisted the Ming court to defeat the pirates along the coast. After the Ming was replaced, the temple became a shelter and martial arts training center for the former Ming officials and scholars who did not want to obey the Cing, such as Gu Yanwu.

       A story says that a member of the Ming imperial family called Jhu Dechou also came to the Shaolin temple and became the chief monk known as Tongchan Shangren. He set up 10 principles for his fellow disciples, and the first principle required the students of Shaolin martial arts to vow to reestablish China and to drill the martial arts persistently. Probably because there were so many people who wanted to bring back the Ming by force that the number of martial arts monks increased in the periods of Emperor Shunjhih and Kangsi, and Shaolin became the center of the martial arts circle. So there is a popular saying, tiansia wugong chu Shaolin meaning that "Shaolin is the birthplace of the martial arts."

       According to scholars, the Shaolin temple has nine branches, the main one is the original temple in Henan Province, and the one located on the Jioulian Mountains in Putian County in Fujian called Nan Shaolin is also very important. The Nan Shaolin was burned down by Emperor Yongjheng of the Cing, and only five monks led by monk Jhih Shan fled away. They invented a boxing form called Wuzucyuan in Fujhou, and their chief disciple Hong Siguan by using this form became very famous in the Guangdong area. This form is known as Hongchuan, (Hung Kuen in Cantonese).

       This always No.1 martial arts sect both in the real life and in wusia novels such as those written by Wolong Sheng, has countless stories. The book, Yitian Tulong Ji, by Jin Yong, creates a very exciting episode about a conflict between the main Shaolin temple and a branch one in central Asia.