The Shaolin Temple expands further as it eyes national coverage. (Photo : www.chineseshaolins.com)
China's world-famous Shaolin Temple continues to make efforts to pursue its plan to expand all over the country.
A report from CRIEnglish reveals that the high-profile temple has not given up its goal to achieve global expansion as it set up new branches, open sub-monasteries and the trusteeship.
The most recent addition to the Shaolin Temple's network include Lingshi county's Zishou Temple, located in China's northwest province of Shanxi, as one of its sub-monasteries.
According to the report, the Shaolin Temple has entered into an agreement with the local government of Lingshi in Aug. 2014.
The trusteeship, which would last for 30 years, indicates that the Shaolin Temple would be investing 2 billion yuan (around $320 million) to cover the expenses for building the Zishou Temple Culture and Industrial Park in three to five years.
The Zishou Temple boasts many well-preserved wall paintings from as far back as the Yuan Dynasty as well as colored sculptures hailing from the Ming Dynasty.
Despite this, the temple sees very little visits from foreign and local tourists alike, earning the temple ticket sales and donation revenue of only 27,000 yuan ($4,300) during the first half of 2014.
Bringing in influence and the amicable reputation of the Shaolin Temple would mean more people would be visiting the Zishou Temple, says Local Religious Affairs Bureau Head Pei Chunsheng.
Aside from the Zishou Temple, four other ancient temples in Kunming--then dubbed as the "Kunming Shaolin Temple"--have provided the Shaolin Temple 30-year trusteeship since Nov. 2008.
