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  • Shaolin Temple to build new branch in Hong Kong


    Shaolin Temple, the home of the kung fu monks, plans to build a branch temple in Hong Kong to promote Shaolin culture.
    The 50,000-square-meter Hong Kong Shaolin Temple is expected to cost 420 million yuan (US$61.46 million) with a traditional kung fu institute, pagodas, steles and an amusement park, Orient Today reported.
    The temple in Hong Kong will help residents practise Kung Fu, spread the teachings of Buddha and attract tourists, Shi Yongxin, the abbot of the Shaolin Temple at SongShan Mountain in central Henan Province, and Shi Yan, from its Hong Kong office, told a press conference on Friday.
    Hong Kong is considering the proposal, a Special Administrative Region government official said.
    Eric Tsang Chi-wai, the Hong Kong actor, director, producer and television host said he would raise money for the project with the help of other actors.
    The Shaolin Temple has set up an office in Hong Kong to provide training.
    Late last year, Shaolin monks went to Kunming, the capital of Yunnan Province, and took over the management of Tuzhu, Fading, Miaozhan and Guanyin temples.
    Shaolin has also expanded into film production, e-commerce and kung fu shows.
    (Shanghai Daily February 23, 2009)

  • #2
    Shaolin Temple plans to open "branch" in Hong Kong

    The renowned Shaolin Temple plans to build a temple in Hong Kong to promote Shaolin culture. Currently temple officials are applying for land from the government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region to build the temple.

    All the design concepts of the new temple will be similar to those of the Songshan Shaolin Temple. The construction is expected to be completed within four years, with a cost of around 420 million HKD.

    Abbot Shi Yongxin and Master Shi Yanchang from the Shaolin Temple held a press conference in Hong Kong on February 20. Shi Yanchang said the Hong Kong Shaolin Temple will be composed of six construction projects in accordance with the structure of the Songshan Shaolin Temple. It will include the Hong Kong Shaolin Temple, a zen and kung fu institute, a meditation center, a Shaolin Temple pagoda complex, a Shaolin Temple tablet forest and a Shaolin amusement park. The project is expected to cover 50,000 square meters.

    By People's Daily Online
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    • #3
      Shaolin Temple in HK 'will boost tourism'

      If the planned expansion of the Shaolin Temple here works well, it may open doors for more branches worldwide, said a top temple official yesterday.

      "After it is constructed on a much bigger site in Hong Kong, the Shaolin Temple is bound to attract followers from diverse countries in the region," Shi Yanchang, master of the Hong Kong Shaolin Temple, told China Daily.

      "And if all goes well, there are chances that branches of the temple will come up in more countries around the world," he said.

      As of now, there are about a dozen-odd overseas branches of the Shaolin Temple, known for its martial art legends, in the United States, the United Kingdom and Russia, to name a few.

      "Hong Kong is the most important international metropolitan in the region. Having a major Shaolin Temple here will be good for tourism and Buddhism," Yanchang said.

      The Shaolin group last Friday announced its plans to build a new temple in Hong Kong, similar in size to its headquarters located on Mt. Songshan in central China's Henan province.

      The new temple, which the Buddhist group said can be constructed by 2013, is planned in an area of 50,000 sq m, and is expected to cost more than 400 million yuan ($58.5 million).

      The current office of Hong Kong's Shaolin Temple, which was registered in 2000, is inside a small building, with several hidden rooms, in Tsim Sha Tsui.

      Though the cost to build the new temple is not easy to generate amid the financial crisis, local sponsors have not hesitated to support the plan, Yanchang said.

      "If we are sincere about building our temple, we will carry on with our pursuit as our hearts wish," he said.

      Besides a monastic hall and a martial arts institution, the plan of the new temple includes a Shaolin garden and a heritage museum.

      Abbot Shi Yongxin, director of the Shaolin Temple, who has been criticized for commercializing Buddism, said Shaolin has an "enormous influence across the globe".

      According to Hong Kong's Travel Industry Council, the new temple may turn out to be a major tourist spot for visitors.

      "A Shaolin Temple in Hong Kong will be more attractive than a temple overseas, as it is a Chinese city, which inherits the tradition," said Joseph Tung Yao-chung, the executive director of the council.

      The Hong Kong Home Affairs Bureau said it was studying the land application submitted by the Buddhist group in detail.

      Temple officials said it was up to the bureau to decide the location for the temple.

      Meanwhile, the Shaolin group declared it had withdrawn from the Hong Kong Shaolin Wushu Culture Center, set up by the Hong Kong Culture Association Charitable Foundation, which launched martial arts classes in the city in 2006.

      Source: China Daily
      Experienced Community organizer. Yeah, let's choose him to run the free world. It will be historic. What could possibly go wrong...

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