The monastery was built on the north side of Mount Song, one of the sacred mountains of China by Emperor Xiaowen of the Wei Dynasty which was about 447 AD.
The monastery has a long cyclical history of flourishing then being destroyed by bandits or rebels fighting against the dynasties that supported the monastery. More recently, during the Cultural Revolution (1966) the five monks in the monastery when the Red Guards attacked where shackled and paraded through the streets where people threw trash at them. The Red Guard destroyed many of the relics the monastery once housed.
More recently, martial arts groups all over the world donate money for the upkeep of the monastery. At the temple we saw many monks and many people of all ages taking martial arts classes.
The monastery had a really beautiful pagoda forest which are pagoda tombs for monks. The pagodas were built from 791 AD through 1917.
We also went to Shaoshi Mountain which is a sacred Taoist mountain. We rode a pagoda up half of the mountain but didn't hike up the mountain where we could cross a hanging bridge and go to a monastery at the top of the mountain.
Shaolin Temple
Pagoda Forest
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