On the second floor of Far East Plaza in Chinatown, six kung fu students assume warlike expressions and ball their hands into fists. Shaolin Master Shi Yanxu bellows a command: “Mao Bu” — Chinese for ...

ZHENZHOU, China — Chinese auds can gear up for a flurry of swirling robes and fists of fury as Jackie Chan, Andy Lau and Nicholas Tse assume a kung fu stance alongside mainland Chinese star Fan ...

Shi Yan Ming didn’t intend to make me feel bad. But when a 40-something journalist asks a 59-year-old interviewee to confirm his age, it’s not really appropriate to lift a straight-kneed leg over your ...

Shi Yan Feng closes his eyes and breathes deeply with ancient form. His palms rise face up on the inhale, then fall slowly, face down, on opposite sides of his torso then stretch straight upwards, ...

Kung Fu's first home is hard to kill. Since it was built in 495 AD, Shaolin Temple, the original home of kung fu and Zen Buddhism, has been attacked and nearly destroyed multiple times. It's survived, ...

COSTA MESA, Calif. (KABC) -- A kung fu master, who joined an ancient Chinese temple at the age of 12, has left China behind to call Orange County home. There are only 600 Shaolin kung fu masters in ...

This story appears in the March 2011 issue of National Geographic magazine. The master spent his last day of life wrapped in a quilt stitched by his wife, his rasping, irregular breaths filling the ...