From Reuters:
China’s birth place of kung fu, the Shaolin Temple, has taken over the management of four Buddhist temples in southwest China in a move criticized by some Internet users for mixing capitalism with religion.
The fabled monastery, based in central Henan province and immortalized in countless martial arts films, had installed 10 monks at the temples in Gudu, a tourist district near Yunnan provincial capital Kunming, local media said on Wednesday.
“The move will help build a bridge between the cultures of Henan and Yunnan and increase the influence of Shaolin,” the China Daily quoted Master Yanlu, a Shaolin spokesman, as saying.