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December 1, 2009

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Thai boxers' challenge fails to disturb the peace at Shaolin

THE Shaolin Temple in Henan Province has shrugged off a challenge from five Muay Thai kick boxers, saying the spirit of martial arts is peace rather than fight.

The comments from Shi Yongxin, the abbot of Shaolin, came after the Thai boxers, who are coming to China later this month for a martial arts competition in Foshan in Guangdong Province, claimed they could overwhelm Chinese kung fu artists, according to a report on Dahe.cn, a news Website in Henan.

The Muay Thai boxers said they have been longing to knock down Shi Yongxin, the abbot of Shaolin Temple. Shi called their challenge ridiculous.

Computer hackers, who paralyzed the temple's Website three times this month in protest at its commercial activities, left a message urging the temple to send out its elite kung fu monks to fight the Thais to defend China kung fu's fame.

Challenges against Shaolin were "too many" every year, and the temple had "no intention at all" to fight with these challengers, said a temple spokesman. He said the Thai boxers were only promoting themselves for attention, the Wuhan Morning Post reported yesterday.

The Thai boxers said they wanted the fight because they found it unbelievable that Buddhism could be used as a platform for commercial gain.

Kaoklai, one of the fighters, said the Shaolin Temple showed no respect to Buddhism.

While Shaolin monks have decided to stay calm, another Chinese kung fu master has risen to the Thai fighters' challenge.

Wang Jian, the leading master of Emei martial arts, a historic wushu school in southwestern China's Sichuan Province, said he would be teaching the Thais a lesson of respect, according to the news Website.




 

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