Just Hollywood lore?

By Chen Nan (China Daily)
Updated: 2008-09-25 09:10

Nine-year-old Yuan Peng practices splits.

The mention of Shaolin Temple conjures up images of a quiet and peaceful monastery on a remote mountain in China, a peaceful retreat, a place to worship, a place to reflect, and dozens of monks practicing kungfu.

Alexander Sebastien Lee, a Korean-American, was one of those with such an idea, thanks to the Jackie Chan and Jet Li movies of his childhood. But when he actually went to visit Shaolin Temple and studied kungfu there in 2003, he found a very different Shaolin Temple, the birthplace of Chinese kungfu.

After graduating from the USC School of Cinema-Television, Lee saw a documentary about the Shaolin monks and their amazing physical feats. The monks would head butt sandbags, kick trees, and break spears by pressing down on the pointed end with their throats. Born in Los Angeles, Lee studied the Korean martial art Taekwondo from the age of 7, which prepared him for the basics of kungfu.

"I wanted to see if I could withstand the brutal training, and was extremely curious about the legendary birthplace of martial arts," Lee says. However, that trip which was supposed to last three months, gave birth to another idea - a documentary about the modern day Shaolin Temple, The Real Shaolin.

Instead of explaining the history of the Shaolin Temple or showing amazing qigong demonstrations, first-time director Lee wanted to understand the daily practices of the kungfu students and the reasons for Westerners to travel so far to learn a Chinese martial art.

Kungfu may be the stuff of Hollywood lore, but the roots of the ancient martial arts run deep in the temple's hallowed ground.

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