Shaolin Temple Launches Online Store

The Shaolin Temple is famous outside of China, for a whole bunch of reasons.

Being the birth place of several legendary forms of Kung Fu — like Wushu — means it’s pretty well known around the globe and its presence in a long list of action movies makes it even more familiar to the average Joe. Throw in the fact that the Shaolin Monks regularly tour the globe putting on a show to demonstrate the discipline and agility they’re famous for, you wouldn’t think the Shaolin Temple would need any more publicity.

Well, maybe it doesn’t, but it couldn’t hurt, right? It seems the Temple has set up its own website to peddle Shaolin Temple goodies.

Named “Shaolin The Stage of Joy”, the page has been set up on www.taobao.com, a Chinese e-commerce site (you can visit Taobao.com by clicking here, however be warned, it is all in Chinese).

So what exactly does Shaolin The Stage of Joy offer? Well, it’s essentially a Shaolin gift store or souvenir shop. Shaolin Temple enthusiasts can pick themselves up anything from chopsticks, to tea, to Kung Fu handbooks.

While Kung Fu fans may think this is a great idea, it seems the Chinese may not be so hot for the idea. Reuters quotes one disgruntled web user as saying:

"Shaolin temple is getting less and less likeable. There’s a giant laughing buddha in Shaolin temple. If it saw what the temple is doing these days, I’m not so sure it would still be laughing."

Related Links Reuters: China’s famed Shaolin temple kick starts online store Taobao.com