The Shaolin Heritage documentary is the results of my research trip to the town of Dengfeng, just outside the Shaolin Temple in Henan province. I traveled there is the summer of 2019 to explore the folk styles of Kung Fu practiced in the villages in the mountains surrounding the temple. While the Shaolin Temple has been burnt down several times in history, the villages and the town of Dengfeng have maintained a mostly uninterrupted transmission of traditional martial arts.
This documentary is the first in a series of documentaries which will explore the questions of: what actually is Shaolin Kung Fu, what is its influence on Chinese martial arts in general, and where did it really come from?