  shaolin kung fu (), also called shaolin wushu () or simply shaolin quan (), is believed to be the oldest institutionalized style of kung fu and is one of the most famous martial arts. shaolin kung fu originated and was developed in the buddhist shaolin temple in songshan mountain, henan province, china.  during the 1500 years of the development of shaolin kung fu, it became one of the biggest schools of kung fu with abundant contents and various barehanded and weapon styles. besides, a majority of other kung fu styles claim to have been created or inspired on the base of shaolin kung fu.  one chinese saying is: "all martial arts under heaven arose out of shaolin." besides the core style of shaolin temple, the name shaolin is used as a brand for the so-called external styles of kung fu. there are many such styles outside of shaolin temple, mainly in southern and northern china, that use the name shaolin. ==history== ===chinese martial arts before shaolin temple=== chinese historical records, like spring and autumn annals of wu and yue, the bibliographies in the book of the han dynasty, the records of the grand historian, and other sources document the existence of martial arts in china since thousands years ago. for example, the chinese martial art of wrestling, shuai jiao, predates the establishment of shaolin temple by several centuries. since chinese monasteries were large landed estates, sources of considerable regular income, monks required protection. historical discoveries indicate that, even before the establishment of shaolin temple, monks have had arms and have also practiced martial arts. the establishment of shaolin kung fu is, however, the most important one of these stories. in 1784 the boxing classic: essential boxing methods made the earliest extant reference to the shaolin monastery as chinese boxing's place of origin. this is, however, a misconception, but shows the historical importance of shaolin kung fu. ===southern and northern dynasties (420-589 ad): shaolin temple established=== in 495 ad, shaolin temple was built in the song mountain, henan province. the first monk who preached buddhism there was the indian monk buddhabhadra (), simply called batuo () by the chinese. there are historical records that batuo's first chinese disciples, huiguang () and sengchou ({{zh|c=å§ç¨ | l
Chinese_martial_arts