Destruction of Shaolin
In the mid-1600’s, the Manchu Dynasty invaded China and overthrew the Ming Empire. The Manchu’s subjected the Chinese people to unfair foreign rule. They divided the people up into different classifications and each class had different rights and privileges. Because of the native resistance to the new foreign rule, men of power such as martial artists and other public figures were hunted down for extermination or imprisoned by the Manchu’s. They did this as an effort to break the back of the native people’s resistance, and keep them in control. The Shaolin monasteries became a place for these hunted natives to hide from the new government. Because of this fact, all of the Shaolin temples were eventually attacked and burned to the ground. Many monks were hunted down and killed while the survivors were forced to flee for their lives. Some of the monks went underground and stayed to help train the Chinese rebels, while the rest traveled to neighboring lands.
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