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Topic Twelve: The trademark of the Shaolin name

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  • A new level of commericalization of the Shaolin name

    Shi Yong Xin brings commercialism to the Shaolin in new and wondrous ways....

    Just yesterday, Yongxin was on CCTV (China's government run television station) complaining that there were many, many Chinese run businesses that were using the "Shaolin" name. There are companies that make Shaolin beer, Shaolin bra's, Shaolin this and that. And he made it perfectly clear, that the Chinese government needed to do something about the improper use of the Shaolin name.

    Problem is, there are hundreds of companies in China using the Shaolin name.

    And Yongxin wants to stop each and every one of them. Shaolin belongs to the Shaolin Temple. These other companies need to stop using the name.

    This is not behavior that is unexpected from Yongxin. As I've mentioned before, the people at shaolinwolf.com have been sued over trademark infringement. The term "shaolin" has been trademarked in Euroland, or whatever they call themselves now, and shaolinwolf is referring themselves as "Shaolin Temple Austria". Yongxin has filed an injunction demanding that they change the name. As I hear it, the issue is going to go to court.

    Yongxin is working with the Chinese government to try to have them enforce the Shaolin trademark issue with all of these companies. No word on whether or not the Chinese government will get involved. I'm not sure if Yongxin is planning on filing suit in Chinese courts over these few hundred companies that use the Shaolin name, though, if past behavior is any indication, it looks like his lawyers are going to become very wealthy. They're not the only ones making money on this Shaolin thing....

    In the same television broadcast, Yongxin also claimed that he now has business dealings with a company in Taiwan. He made it clear that he has sold the rights to the Shaolin name, to a Taiwanese video game company, who will produce a video game that features Shaolin monk characters. The name of the game is called "Legends of Shaolin". No word as to whose pockets the proceeds of this game are going to line. Also, another company in Taiwan bought the rights to the Shaolin name.

    They plan on producing a cartoon for television.

    No word on how much the rights to the Shaolin name has sold for.


    Yongxin looked healthy on television, but, you know what they say. TV makes you look fat. The world's Shaolin gong fu spiritual leader, who has been referenced in the western press as being "pudgy", looks like he's been eating well.

    In the same broadcast, Yongxin's accomplice demonstrated the new use of Yi Jin Jing qi gong in Taiwan.

    Dieting.

    Apparently, according to the leader of the Shaolin world, it's very effective.

    Attached Files
    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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    • News from BEIJING EVENING NEWSPAPER , May 7th, 2005 ,

      << GREAT DESERT SHAOLIN>> revealling the real shaolin kungfu
      yesterday, the TV serial play <<great desert shaolin>>started to shoot in Beijing. Deci ,Chan master , from shaolin Temple,composes a 20 series TV play with his personal experience, telling his own lifetime of frustrations, filling with legend of his emotion world, and the stories about his first--creating the LIUHE(six connections) therapy/treatment to cure the sick . Deci attends the release news meeting about the starting shooting accompany by his disciple Xinghui.and the old famous artist , Yuyang is the artist consultant, and the old master of Saholin temple, Suxi , autographed the title /name of the play.

      Deci introduced, the theme of the <<great dessert shaolin>> is punishing evial and praising good. it is not about hunting for novelty about shaolin, filled with acrobatic fighting and trick shots/special effects, but reveals the real shaolin kungfu." the play is my real personal experiernce , when i was younger and was compelled to leave shaolin to desert , telling a true life of the younger generation nurtured by Chairman Mao Thought about supporting the construction of the border areas and the frontier fortress minority nationality pastoral areas. i hope the true story which describing the human nature had better shoot without any ornate style , persuing the trueth , which lost from fluorescent screen, subsidizing the crisis of modern people's hearts, returning a healthy trends world."

      It's said Deci will act himself of middle-aged.

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      • It sounds extremely cool Deepthroat!


        For those of us who may not get the broadcast though for whatever reason , a dvd series stockist link will be greatly appreciated. Looking forward to the update.

        cheers

        Blooming Lotus

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        • Yongxin gets closer to completing his plan for world domination in the arena of Shaolin gong fu. We've been anticipating this for many years; some commentary that I had with Shi De Cheng two years ago had confirmed that Yongxin was taking over more and more control of the training of foreigners in the Shaolin area. But this news article essentially confirms what we had expected years ago: the complete control of the Shaolin name, and the arts associated with it. Read the article carefully; it makes it very clear about Yongxin's intentions to protect his "product".

          Shaolin Temple charts aggressive expansion plan to cash in on growing demand for kungfu

          Winds of change are sweeping through the famed Shaolin Temple in central China's Henan province. The cradle of Chinese kungfu plans to spread its wings across the globe more aggressively not only to increase its influence, but also to bring about a semblance of order in the way it runs its overseas cultural centers.

          Shi Yongxin, the temple's abbot and first Chinese monk to get a master's degree in business administration, said the expansion plan was not aimed at making money, but to promote the legendary Shaolin culture in the West.

          "If the temple makes larger differences abroad, it will have a broader influence in China," Shi said at an international forum in Beijing recently. It has an international footprint of 40 centres spanning cities like London, Berlin and Rome. Plans are also afoot to set up centers in Paris and Amsterdam.

          According to Shi, the overseas centers, which provide martial arts training, workshops on Zen meditation and Chinese language courses, have evoked a good response. "The student intake at our US cultural centres has exceeded 400,000 and most of them have traveled to China for further communication with our monks."

          Promoting Shaolin culture in languages like English, Spanish and German are top of Shi's agenda and the abbot is leaving no stone unturned to provide the requisite training for his monks. Shi wants his monks to possess communication and teaching skills in at least one foreign language before they go abroad.

          Though the temple's overseas expansion plan has found favor with the local government and enterprises, it has also evoked sharp criticism from some quarters. According to recent media reports, the temple holds control of some 40 overseas companies.

          Dismissing these charges as baseless, Qin Daliang, manager of the Shaolin Intangible Assets Management Center says in his official blog that, "the overseas centres are not companies, but charity organisations." The overseas centers were initially the rented facilities used by the monks. The tuition fees and donations received from adherents were subsequently used to acquire the premises.

          "Chinese kungfu culture, represented by the Shaolin Temple, has a universal appeal. The centres were established to satisfy kungfu fans' demands for more direct cultural contacts," Qian says.

          According to Shi, the expansion plan makes sense especially as the demand for Shaolin kungfu centers is growing in the West. "Additionally there are also no expenses involved for the temple," he says. While the average number of students at a typical overseas Shaolin center is around 100, some centres have the facilities to increase the intake to over 1,000, Shi says.
          In Germany, the Shaolin Temple has a main cultural centre in Berlin, and a branch in Biederfeld. The Berlin center, spread over an area of over 3,000sq m, currently has over 500 students and several thousand alumni, says Ding Ding, the monk who looks after the temple's European cultural centres. The Berlin centre has four Shaolin monks, including the abbot Shi Yongchuan, a 33rd generation Shaolin disciple. The centre teaches courses like kungfu, qigong (Chinese breathing exercise), tai chi and Zen meditation.

          Ding says the ages of the students at the Berlin centre vary from 4 to 80. Most of them are between 14 and 25 and include not only local residents but also students from abroad. "Those who do not live in the country come to our centres to study Shaolin kungfu during the winter and summer breaks," Ding says.

          "Young people come to us because they want to learn authentic Shaolin kungfu, while the middle-aged and senior citizens focus more on healthcare courses like qigong and tai chi," Ding says, adding that women in Europe are also interested in learning kungfu. The tuition fees range from 30 to 100 euros (US$40-134) a month for adults and 20 to 75 euros a month for children under 16.
          The centres also conduct study tours every year to China for foreign disciples to experience the life of a Shaolin disciple. "The tours usually last for two to three weeks, and the foreign students will eat and live like the monks in the temple. The tours will help them understand more about Shaolin culture than just kungfu," Ding says.

          The growing popularity of the overseas centres has also put the temple in a spot as there are several pretenders. Ding says that only the Berlin, Biederfeld, London and Rome centers are directly managed by the temple and have Shaolin monks as instructors. There are, however, several kungfu training centres set up by locals that claim to be branches of the Shaolin Temple.
          Ding says the temple decided to authorise some of the centres and sent monks to train them in Shaolin culture. Last year, the temple also established a Shaolin Europe Association in Berlin to better supervise the promotion of Shaolin culture.

          Ding says that the presence of copycats will ruin the rich legacy of the Shaolin Temple.

          "There is no unification of those centres yet. Some of the organisers just came to China and studied kungfu for two or three months, and opened a training centre back home," he says.
          "That is not good for the promotion of authentic Shaolin culture, because kungfu is not the only thing Shaolin carries. There is also several thousand years of culture within."

          "Going out to foreign countries is not a problem for our monks, as they always lead wandering lives," Shi, the abbot, says. "It is a traditional way of practicing Buddhism. I hope other temples in China also send their monks abroad as it is an ideal way to promote Buddhism globally." Asia News Network
          Experienced Community organizer. Yeah, let's choose him to run the free world. It will be historic. What could possibly go wrong...

          "You're just a jaded cynical mother****er...." Jeffpeg

          (more comments in my User Profile)
          russbo.com


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          • Throughout 1,500 years of history, Shaolin Temple has gone through many demanding situations and seemly insurmountable events protected most current China Cultural Revolution. Time and time again, Shaolin survived under the sturdy leadership of Abbots.

            In this data and internet generation, Shaolin in addition encounters any other issue - identity blurring. For numerous motives, the call Shaolin and its logos were utilized in areas in which they're now not supposed to be used.

            While Shaolin Temple welcomes everybody to the propagation and dissemination of Shaolin Kung Fu, Ch'an, and subculture, it must be done in alignment with Shaolin Temple's perception, philosophy, and practice.

            We function with an open-door philosophy. We welcome everybody with aspirations to uphold the Shaolin lifestyle to interact with us, join us and analyze that Shaolin isn't always the simplest about physical Kung Fu, but about the harmony of Ch'an and Kung Fu and its manner of lifestyles.

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