A historic temple, with over thirty years of business experience, Shi Yongxin transformed the Shaolin Temple from a dilapidated temple into a massive commercial entity spanning fields such as culture and tourism, education, and film and television, once seen as a representative of “entrepreneur monk.” But with the official investigation looming, the nearly forty-year commercial history of the Shaolin Temple may be coming to an end.
Shi Yongxin’s downfall has posed a fundamental question to contemporary China: when faith becomes a business, when wordly gains are hidden beneath monk robes, how much purity remains in the realm of Chinese Buddhism?
On the evening of July 27th, a notice released by the “Shaolin Temple Administration” stated, “The abbot of Shaolin Temple, Shi Yongxin, is suspected of criminal activities involving embezzlement of project funds and temple assets; serious violation of Buddhist precepts, and long-term improper relationships with multiple women resulting in illegitimate children. Currently undergoing a joint investigation by multiple departments.”
According to reports by Caixin, “Shi Yongxin was restricted from leaving the country upon returning from an overseas trip around the Spring Festival this year… Around May, the local government stationed itself at the Shaolin Temple under the name of the Shaolin Temple Administration. This new institution’s main members come from the religious bureaus and united front departments of Zhengzhou and Dengfeng cities.”
It should be noted that this “Shaolin Temple Administration” is not an “official Shaolin Temple organization” as reported by some media. In reality, it is an office established by the local government stationed at the Shaolin Temple, operating similarly to the “inspection teams” common in the CCP governance system.
Religious places are apparently not directly investigated under the names of “Central Discipline Inspection Commission” or “inspection teams.” The establishment of this “administration” by the CCP authorities should be seen as a special arrangement for the official investigation of the Shi Yongxin case.
On the morning of July 28th, almost immediately after the news of Shi Yongxin’s downfall was made public, the Chinese Buddhist Association issued a public announcement, stating that Shi Yongxin severely tarnished the reputation of the Buddhist community, damaged the image of monks, and agreed to revoke Shi Yongxin’s precepts (secular name: Liu Yingcheng).
This means that the Buddhist Association expelled Shi Yongxin from his monk status, “forcing” him to return to the secular life.
Liu Yingcheng, born in 1965 in Anhui Ying Shang. There are many versions circulating about the reasons for his ordination. According to several villagers who spoke to the Phoenix Eye website, Liu Yingcheng dropped out of school and worked outside at a young age. One day, while on his way to the market, he met a Shaolin monk, who read his fortune, leaving behind an address. When he returned home, Liu Yingcheng packed his bags and followed.
Religious institutions in China have been subject to systematic suppression under CCP rule, and the Shaolin Temple has not been spared. During the Cultural Revolution, over a hundred Red Guards stormed the temple, monks were forced to return to secular life, Buddha statues were destroyed, temple property was seized, and halls collapsed.
After the end of the Cultural Revolution, religious sites gradually reopened, but the Shaolin Temple was left with only a few elderly and infirm monks, guarding dilapidated temples and 28 acres of thin farmland, with incense nearly fading, barely maintained with government subsidies. In 1981, 16-year-old Liu Yingcheng went to Shaolin Temple to become a monk, with then abbot Shi Xingzheng as his teacher, and he adopted the Buddhist name “Shi Yongxin.” Initially, it seemed that he did not harbor any utilitarian ambitions as a monk.
In 1982, the film “Shaolin Temple” premiered, becoming a nationwide sensation overnight, elevating the thousand-year-old ancient temple’s reputation. The influx of tourists boosted ticket revenue, gradually accumulating funds for reconstruction.
In 1987, Shi Xingzheng passed away, and Shi Yongxin inherited the mantle, becoming the director of the Shaolin Temple Management Committee, taking full charge of temple affairs. It was under Shi Yongxin’s leadership that the Pandora’s box of commercialization was opened for the Shaolin Temple.
He first formed a warrior monk troupe, launching nationwide and overseas tours, increasing its popularity and generating substantial performance income.
In 1998, Shi Yongxin established the Henan Shaolin Temple Industrial Development Co., Ltd. (predecessor of the Shaolin Temple Intangible Asset Management Co., Ltd., now deregistered), primarily engaged in tourism resources and product development. In 2008, he also established the Henan Shaolin Intangible Asset Management Co., Ltd. (referred to as “Shaolin Asset Management”), an important platform for the commercial operation of the Shaolin Temple.
Since 1999, these two companies have invested in a total of 16 external companies, with the largest single investment amounting to 16 million yuan, totaling nearly 80 million yuan.
In September 2020, Shaolin Asset Management became embroiled in a trademark dispute with the well-known clothing brand “Semir,” garnering widespread social attention. It was revealed that Shaolin Asset Management had registered as many as 666 trademarks for the “Shaolin Temple.”
In April 2022, Henan Teisong Digital Technology Co., Ltd. won a commercial land parcel in Zhengzhou Zhengdong New District for 452 million yuan, with Shaolin Asset Management indirectly holding a 10% stake among the company’s shareholders. Despite Shaolin Temple later stating that it was “solely for financial investment and not involved in development,” eventually withdrawing from the shareholder ranks, this move was still interpreted by the public as a signal of “temple venturing into real estate,” sparking heated debates.
In 2022, Shi Yongxin withdrew from the shareholder ranks of Shaolin Asset Management. According to the Leju Financial report, enterprise public data showed that Shi Yongxin held an 80% stake before withdrawing.
Under Shi Yongxin’s leadership from 1987 to 2025, over 38 years, the Shaolin Temple developed into a “commercial empire” valued at billions of yuan spanning culture, tourism, film and television, food, medicine, martial arts, education, and more. As a result, he was dubbed the “Shaolin CEO” by outsiders.
The magazine “Chinese Entrepreneur” once reported that Alibaba’s Jack Ma once had a conversation with Shi Yongxin on a flight that lasted over two hours. To Jack Ma’s surprise, Shi Yongxin did not talk about Buddhist teachings throughout the entire conversation but rather extensively discussed business topics, with some viewpoints even impressing Jack Ma. As a half-joking remark, Jack Ma called him the “number one private entrepreneur in Henan.”
While Shi Yongxin opened the door for commercialization at the Shaolin Temple, it also led the temple to gradually deviate from the essence of Zen Buddhist practice. On June 21, 2020, Shaolin Temple even held a fashion show in front of the mountain gate, touted by official Chinese media as the “first in 1500 years of Shaolin Temple’s history.”
Under Shi Yongxin’s helm, Shaolin Temple gained international fame, becoming an important symbol of China’s cultural output abroad. In the government-directed “soft power export,” Confucius Institutes and Shaolin Temple respectively play the roles of “literary” and “martial.” The former has been confirmed to export CCP ideology under the guise of Confucius, while the latter’s dissemination is no longer Buddhist doctrine but the commercialized “Shaolin Kung Fu.”
As the abbot and master of the Shaolin Temple, Shi Yongxin has long been the subject of controversy, enduring a whirlwind of public opinion. Back on July 25, 2015, an anonymous whistleblower using the pseudonym “Shi Zhengyi” posted a lengthy article online titled “This big tiger at Shaolin Temple, Shi Yongxin, who will supervise him?” accusing Shi Yongxin of multiple violations including dual household registration, illegitimate daughters, and financial problems. The original article listed five major wrongdoings of Shi Yongxin:
1. Shi Yongxin has a daughter with Harbin girl Guan Lili;
2. Shi Yongxin has an ambiguous affair with Shi Yanjie and has fathered a daughter;
3. Using all means to monopolize his disciples’ girlfriends;
4. Forcibly raping Shi Yanguo, the first ancestor of Shaolin Temple’s lower courtyard;
5. Adulterous behavior with Shenzhen beauty Liu and subsequent blackmail.
Following this, Shi Yongxin’s disciple Shi Yanlu, along with other former Shaolin Temple monks, went to Beijing on August 8 to report Shi Yongxin for financial issues and the issue of fathering children with multiple women. Some articles on the internet believed that “Shi Zhengyi” was actually Shi Yanlu, but Shi Yanlu himself has yet to confirm this rumor.
Due to the lack of female victims coming forward, the rape accusation was dropped. The most scrutinized issue that remained was the matter of illegitimate daughters. The report claimed that Shi Yongxin had two daughters, one named Han Jiaen, the daughter of Shi Yongxin and Shi Yanjie (real name: Han Mingjun), the director of the Shaolin Ciyao Academy. The other was named Liu Mengya, the daughter of Shi Yongxin and a woman named Guan Lili.
According to a report from Beijing Youth Daily on October 8, 2015, Han Jiaen was born on April 22, 2009, while Liu Mengya should have been born in 1989 (the article cited a neighbor saying Mengya was 26 years old).
This investigation revealed that Han Jiaen was an abandoned baby, taken in by a laywoman at the temple and adopted by Shi Yanjie. Liu Mengya was Shi Yongxin’s niece, born to his fourth brother Liu Yingbiao.
On November 28, the official investigation results released by Henan Province were almost identical to the aforementioned investigative article. Moreover, the authorities claimed to have conducted paternity tests confirming that Liu Mengya was indeed Liu Yingbiao’s daughter.
Although the official investigation results allowed Shi Yongxin to smoothly navigate the turmoil at the time, public doubts about it have not subsided.
For instance, why is Han Mingjun’s (Shi Yanjie’s) household registered under the name of Shi Yongxin’s mother, Hu Changrong, and designated as Hu Changrong’s niece? Also, since Liu Yingbiao is also a monastic, going by the monastic name Shi Yongsheng, how was he able to father a daughter like Liu Mengya? If Shi Yongxin fathering a daughter was a scandal, why isn’t Shi Yongsheng having a daughter considered one?
According to media reports, Liu Yingbiao was attracted to Shaolin Temple’s culture and martial arts training after visiting his brother Shi Yongxin in 1986, deciding to stay and practice martial arts, eventually becoming a monk and taking the monastic name Shi Yongsheng. At the time, Liu Yingbiao was 20 years old. How did he father Liu Mengya in 1989?
After becoming a monk, Liu Yingbiao served as the Secretary-General of the Shaolin Charity and Welfare Foundation, Secretary-General of the Shaolin Painting and Calligraphy Institute, among other positions. He has also appeared publicly in various capacities, such as the Chairman of the International Shaolin Temple Cultural Media Company, and President of the International Shaolin Kung Fu Research Association.
Three days after Shi Yongxin was announced to be under investigation, Liu Yingbiao had also disappeared. On July 30th, First Financial reported that after Shi Yongxin was officially investigated, several attempts to contact Liu Yingbiao by phone all resulted in a “call forwarding” prompt. When Shaolin Painting and Calligraphy Institute was called, the staff claimed they were unable to contact Liu Yingbiao at the moment, and the specifics were unclear.
As Shi Yongxin’s brother, Liu Yingbiao was also an important figure in the Shaolin commercial empire. Among the Shaolin Temple-related companies, Liu Yingbiao had held a shareholder position. Among the companies Shaolin Asset Management invested in, Shaolin Huanshi (Dengfeng) Co., Ltd. is an enterprise that still exists. Liu Yingbiao was a shareholder when the company was founded.
When Shi Yongxin was reported in 2015, Shaolin Huanshi was in debt of more than four million yuan, raising suspicion of asset transfer issues. There were reports that due to Liu Yingbiao’s sensitive relationship as Shi Yongxin’s brother, all of Shi Yongxin’s relatives later withdrew from their positions related to Shaolin Temple. When stepping down, Shi Yongsheng held a 35% stake in Shaolin Huanshi, transferring the shares to the then director of Shaolin Ciyao Academy, Shi Yanjie.
While it is not uncommon in Chinese history for “two monks of the same family,” in the case of Shi Yongxin and his brother, they obviously did not qualify to be included in the “Biographies of Eminent Monks,” as their actions had already departed from the purity of Buddhism, becoming tools in the pursuit of power and wealth of the secular world.
China expert Wang He told The Epoch Times that from a societal perspective, it is the CCP’s religious policy that requires figures like Shi Yongxin.
Wang He said:
“The CCP comprehensively destroyed religious beliefs, classics, temples, and monks during the Cultural Revolution but failed to completely erase faith in gods and Buddhas from people’s hearts.
“After the Cultural Revolution, the CCP allowed temples to reopen, not to restore the essence of Buddhist practice but to transform and utilize these religious sites, injecting CCP party culture under the guise of resuming religious activities, infusing materialistic worship of power, money, and desires to replace traditional Chinese spiritual cultivation, thereby further erasing people’s fear and faith in gods and Buddhas from their hearts.”
Wang He pointed out that this policy-guided religious commercialization, compared to the direct destruction of religious sites during the Cultural Revolution, is more insidious and malicious in effectively erasing people’s deep faith in gods and Buddhas. Under this policy domination, not only Shaolin Temple but also the entire mainland China’s temples have turned into tourist development zones with a goal of making money, no longer serving as traditional places for worship and cultivation, with Shaolin Temple just being a typical example.