More true tales from history about real men who did real things. This is a story about what was one of the first special ops / hostage rescue missions in history.


In 527 a temple was founded in the Songshan Mountains in Honan privince in China. The name of the temple was Shaolin and like other temples it was a place of religious and cultural education. What made Shaolin different from others was it was the birthplace of modern Asian martial arts.

The Buddhist pacifist monks heightened the skills of armed and unarmed combat to a level never previously obtained by combining their newly discovered energy source (chi) with existing boxing methods. The secrets of these advanced combat methods were further refined in secret over the centuries. The monks and disciples of Shaolin were the keepers of the most advanced military skills ever developed.

In 621 a warlord raised a huge army and challenged the position of the Tang Emporer. In addition to the large renegade force they kidnapped the prince and heir to the throne. Independent of the Imperial Court (who were largely ignorant of the secluded mountain temple) the elders of Shaolin discussed the situation. They decided the Tang Emporer ruled in harmony with the heavens and that it was their obligation to protect the ruler and his heir of the Middle Kingdom (China was believed to be between heaven and earth).

13 expert boxer were dispatched from the temple to the rival warlords encampment. According to legend the enemy force numbered 10,000 men but the actual number was probably more like 2,500 (Chinese legends are very prone to exaggeration) based upon reliable records. The 13 men covertly entered the camp at night and located the prince. Legends say by this time more than more than 500 guards lay dead while the actual number is certainly lower, the still must have killed several sentries to remain undetected.

6 of the 13 entered the prision area to secure the release of the price and 6 secured a route of escape. 1 found his way to the tent of the rival warlords general and engaged him in personal combat. In rapid succession the monk from Shaolin defeated and killed the senior officer.

The prince was broken out and the monks fought their way to down the escape path and the camp came alive with confusion. 4 monks successfully escaped with the prince and 9 remained to fight and protect the escape.

It is claimed that in the course of the events the 9 monks personally killed over 1,000 men giving rise to the expression "One Shaolin Is Worth 100 Men." While this number again is obviously an exaggeration it is known that they stayed and fought long enough to secure the escape and killed everyone that tried to stop them and then escaped themselves without loss. Reasonable estimates are that these 9 men killed over 250 enemy soldiers.

The prince was returned to the Tang Court and the emporer became aware of the existence of Shaolin martial methods and skills for the first time. He increased their grounds and gave them grants to further their efforts. He also requested a performance of their skills at his palace. It was largely due to the Imperial donations that the skills at Shaolin were perpetuated and secured for the ages.

The 13 monks exploits were recorded into the official record and became known as the 13 Immortals.

And you wonder why Karma has divined for you to live next door to a jackoffasaur. [:D]

Actually Wu Dan (aka Wu Tang) has very little to do with Shaolin boxing methods. The Shaolin perfected the external styles such as Long Fist, 5 Animal and many Chi Gung methods.

The Wu Dan Temple perfected the internal styles which became TaiJi (aka Tai Chi - Chen Version), Hsing-I and BaGua (aka Pa Kua).

Yes I knew about Wu Tang the group.

The method is Tien Hseuh (aka Dim Mak aka The Death Touch) and the story is probably just folklore, however Tien Hseuh does exist and is pretty much just accupuncture / accupressure theory in reverse.

The posts are known as Plum Blossom Stumps but only had spikes on the ground under them in the movies.

Another folk tale.

One of the training halls does have a very uneven floor with regularly spaced depressions, but they were caused by centuries of 100s of devoties training daily and performing the same exercises in more or less the same place.

When it comes to Shaolin there are often more myths than facts. Makes for great entertainment and culture, but adds to the confusion of a serious devotee.

Posers are the norm.

In fact even the monks currently AT Shaolin are posers for the most part.

The Shaolin legacy was forever severed during Mao's Cultural Revolution when people like martial artists were hunted down and jailed or executed for following the "old ways." The few monks at Shaolin who survived were either not knowledgeable about Shaolin fighting arts or far too old to demonstrate or teach.

Other martial artists in China who could fled to Hong Kong and the knowledge of genuine Chinese Martial Arts went with them.

Only in the early 70s did China again see value in the fame and heritage of Chinese martial arts but all of their experts were dead. and those in Hong Kong were not interested in the invitations they received to return to China to train the communists.

Some martial artists from other countires (US, UK, etc.) did travel to China to ironically teach Chinese martial arts to the Chinese but these practioneers were, for the most part, only marginally knowledgable compared to those in Hong Kong.

So given the major gaps in the instruction the communists combined them with gymnastic and created what came to be referred to as WuShu and is almost completely unrelated to genuine martial arts, especially those of the Shaolin tradition.

In China today there are about 20 Shaolin "acedemies" at the base of the Song Shan mountain which all claim to teach authentic Shaolin Kung Fu. All of tehm are merely the communists interpretation of Shaolin in the WuShu style. Even funnier most are supported by foreigners who travel to China and pay a premium to basically live in a gymnasium for a month, eat little more than rice all because they believe they are learning genuine Shaolin Kung Fu.

Of course anyone who knows anything knows that better (authentic) instruction is available in the United States and the best place in the world is Hong Kong.