3 Days Zhengzhou Shaolin Temple KungFu Tour

After breakfast, your guide will pick you up at your hotel and drive you to visit the Astronomical Observatory near Dengfeng City. Built by astronomer Guoshoujin in Yuan Dynasty, it has a history over 700 years till today, and it's the existing oldest astronomical observatory in China.

Keep driving about 25km to the final destination of today - Shaolin Temple, the birthplace of Zen Buddhism and the cradle of Kung Fu. You will visit the grandiose temples and halls, admire stone carving art, learn about Buddhism culture, observe the daily living and meditation of monks in the temple. Don't miss the famous Pagoda Forest, the existing largest pagoda forest in China. When an important monk passed away, their cremains or skeleton would be put into the underground palace, and a pagoda will be built on it. The pagoda's height, size and number of layers will be decided according to the monk's Buddhism knowledge, reputation and merits and virtues when during his lifetime. The pagodas here were built in different dynasties, including 2 Tang Dynasty pagodas, 2 Song Dynasty Pagodas, 10 Jin Dynasty pagodas, 46 Yuan Dynasty pagodas, 148 Ming Dynasty pagodas, etc.

Then continue your visit to enjoy a magnificent free Kung Fu Show in the Shaolin Wushu Hall, lasting for half hour each day. In order to enjoy more about Kung Fu, you have about 2 hours Kung Fu training experience in Shaolin Temple.

After that, drive back to Dengfeng City for accommodation.

After breakfast, drive several kilometers to visit Zhongyue Temple and Songyang Academy whith both sit on the Mount Song as the neighbors of Shaolin Temple.

Zhongyue Temple, which is sitting at the foot of Taishi Mountain, is the core part of Zhongyue Scenic Area. First built in Qin Dynasty (221 BC ~ 207BC), Zhongyue Temple is the holy land for Quanzhen Taoism in China, and it's the largest and best preserved ancient architectural complex among the Five Famous Mountains in China.

Songyang Academy, together with Yingtian Academy, Yuelu Academy and Bailudong Academy, are called as the Four Greatest Academies in ancient China. It's one of the earliest academies in China. First built in Northern Wei Dynasty (386 ~ 534), many famous Confucian scholars had given lectures in here, including Sima Guang, Fan Zhongyan, Cheng Yi, Cheng Hao, etc. The academy has a total different architectural style from the temples in China. It's more simple and elegant.

After the tour, drive 80 km back to Zhengzhou to catch yur flight/train to next destination.