Southern Shaolin Monastery
The Southern Shaolin Monastery also known as the Fujian Shaolin Monastery refers to a Buddhist Monastery located in Fujian province, China; by tradition it is considered the source of all southern Chinese martial arts.
Establishment
During the Tang dynasty in the reign of Emperor Taizong of Tang, warrior Monks from Henan Shaolin were deployed from the Shaolin temple to combat piracy. With the pirates suppressed the Monks remained in support of the local garrison and established the Southern Shaolin Monastery. During the Tang dynasty Shaolin warriors were used in support of the regular army and at its peak there were nine subsidiary Shaolin Monasteries. With the demise of the Shaolin warrior units the subsidiary Shaolin Monasteries disappeared, so that by the end of the Qing dynasty only the temple at Henan remained.
Modern perspectives
In some accounts of the burning of the Shaolin Temple it was the Southern temple that was burnt and destroyed by the Qing authorities, not the Northern temple. In these accounts with the Southern temple destroyed there remained just the Five Elders to continue the traditions of the Southern temple, and as the elders fled and dispersed throughout Southern China they established the lineages that gave rise to the Hung, Lau, Choi, Lee, Mok and Wing Chun styles and those styles that derive from them such as Cai Li Fo.
Controversy
The Southern Shaolin Monastery is considered by some to be a construct of fiction and folklore.
In an interview the abbot of Henan Shaolin Shi Yongxin has said
“ In all the records of the Shaolin Monastery, I have never seen the words "Southern Shaolin". ”
“ 在我們少林寺所有的典籍中，我從來沒有看到過『南少林』的字樣。[1] ”
The abbot of the Shaolin Monastery at Quanzhou, in answer has said
“ Shaolin is definitely present in Fujian, it is not up to anyone to say it does or does not, its history can be found, its history can be proven, in this kind of argument these are of no consequence. ”
“ 少林肯定在福建，这不是谁说有或没有，历史是可以查得到的，历史是有凭证的，对于这种争论并不在乎。[2] ”
