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In the Song Mountains of China's Henan province, on Mount Shaoshi, is a famous Buddhist monastery. Founded in 477 AD, the actual structures have been destroyed and rebuilt many times over the centuries. Warlord depredations during the 1920s, and Communist purges during the Cultural Revolution, severed any real connection with the original monastic order.

From the beginning, the Shaolin monks have been associated with martial arts, best known for fist (Tiger, Snake, Panther, Crane and Dragon) and staff fighting. Holds, sword combat, spear combat, kicks, etc. are also taught, along with much "strength and endurance training" plus a few odd things like Iron Shirt (for resisting damage), Cinnabar Palm (sort of like Dim Mak), etc.

During the last Imperial dynasty, the Qing government forbade martial arts training for many years. By 1900, this prohibition is no longer in force, but the result has been that much of Chinese martial arts tradition is still passed covertly, and records are scanty.

The Shaolin monks of the Boxer Juncture have been through about 1000 years of strife, factionalism, disaster, etc. Some new fighting methods have been developed, and some older ones have been lost. In general, the Shaolin monks of the 1018 Juncture have better access to fu-based martial arts.

Quan Lo of the Guiding Hand was trained at the Shaolin Monastery in the early Nineteenth Century. The Shaolin monks of the Boxer Juncture consider him to be misguided and perhaps even deliberately perverse. Neo-Confucianism is not held in high regard by the Shaolin.

In 1018, the head monk at Shaolin is named Zhishan; in 1900, the leader is Shin. In the Contemporary Juncture, the head monk is Shi Yong Xin. In the year 12505 AD, Zifeng is the abbot.