Located at the base of Mount Shaoshi in the Henan province of central China, the Shaolin Temple was founded in 525 AD by a Buddhist monk from India named Ta Mo. Leader of a Buddhist sect, Ta Mo laid the foundation for the martial arts out of a commitment to enhancing harmony between mind, body, and spirit through Ch’an (Zen), an intense form of meditation. The early monks found themselves in need of protection during China’s brutal feudal wars and developed a system of defense by meditating on the attack and defense movements of animals that lived near their monastery. The Shaolin monks called their system of fighting wushu, and after a few centuries of practice their order was famous far and wide for being a brand of Buddhist monks that one would be unwise to provoke. However, even with all their remarkable fighting abilities, the Shaolin monks’ skills are never put to aggressive use, the only exception being a group of wayward monks who left the monastery around 1620 AD to form a secret mercenary organization known as White Lotus that specialized in quiet, sure assassinations.

The production features many forms of Shaolin kung fu as well as a look at the daily life of the warriors and their Zen Philosophy. Shaolin Warriors toured the United States and Canada with great success in 2000, 2002, 2004, 2007, 2009, and 2012; Australia and New Zealand in 2003, 2004, 2007, 2011, and 2016; the United Kingdom, Ireland, Switzerland, and Serbia in 2009, 2011, and 2013; and Indonesia in 2016. To date, Shaolin Warriors has entertained more than one million audiences throughout the world.