China Shaolin Temple Map

The Shaolin Temple is situated in the Songshan mountains in the province Henan of the People's Republic of China. Henan means "south of the yellow river" and Henan enjoys being called "cradle of the Chinese civilization". The capital of Henan is the industrial city Zhengzhou which represents one of the two most important junctions of the Chinese railroad line in southern central China. 65km southwest from Zhengzhou lies the town Dengfeng. Dengfeng is with approx. 60,000 inhabitants the nearest village to shaolin and offers some purchase possibilities. From there, 15 km further, lies Shaolin temple.

Regular bus transfers bring the tourists from Zhengzhou through Dengfeng to Shaolin. In the middle of the Songshan mountains lies one of the five holy mountains of China. There was built the Shaolin monastery. The name Shao Lin means "little forest".