Schools spread word globally with Olympics goal

Shaolin Temple has an aggressive and wide-ranging outreach programme that isn't confined to the temple and the corporation that runs it but also extends to the wushu schools that have cropped up around the temple. 

The largest school, Tagou Wushu Academy, has an outreach office that has held numerous events to promote the school abroad and internationalise the student body's experiences as much as possible.

A recent exhibition, involving hip-hop dancers from Los Angeles and wushu performers from Shaolin Temple, was organised by the international outreach office at Tagou and coaches from the temple. 

Such events are baby steps for the schools. Many lack websites and administration staff that can communicate with people looking to learn wushu, so prospective students have to rely on their own ingenuity and pluck. Taking a trip out to Dengfeng remains the most effective route to gaining a spot at the temple or one of the nearby academies. 

But the web presence is becoming more efficient, with the outreach offices in Shaolin and academies in Dengfeng able to communicate enough to help students enrol. 

Wushu performances abroad have never been more popular. Shaolin performances take place across the US, Europe, Australia, South America, the Middle East and Africa. There is no region it the world where Shaolin kung fu isn't known or performed. Despite the growth of wushu across the globe, the ultimate goal for many proponents is to see the martial art included in the Olympics.