Chinese monks find different world as Las Vegas showmen

Angie Wagner

Wednesday, Feb. 23, 2000 | 12:46 p.m.

There's only so much meditation and prayer that can help a monastery built in 495 A.D. So, what to do with a monastery in dire need of a face lift? Pack up 20 Buddhist monks skilled in martial arts and head for the entertainment capital of the world.

The Shaolin monks didn't count on winning any jackpots (monks can't gamble), but they did know a show that includes sword fights and walking on knives would sell in Las Vegas. After all, everything else does.

"Las Vegas is not just a city of gambling," said Jian Wang, the monks' manager and interpreter. "It's a city of entertainment."

The Shaolin monks rarely leave their secluded monastery in the mountains of the central Chinese province of Henan. They follow a strict routine of meditation, prayer and martial arts training. There are no televisions, women and, of course, no drinking and gambling. So why come to the city of excess, where alcohol, gambling and strippers are everywhere?

Wang said deciding to perform in Las Vegas is not only to help the monastery financially, but also a cultural exchange. The Shaolin monks are considered the jewels of China, and the Chinese government gave its blessing to allow them to travel to Las Vegas, Wang said.

"As a monk, you take every corner of the world as your home," he said.

The Shaolin monks have been part of Chinese culture for more than 1,500 years. Not all the monks in the monastery are skilled in martial arts. Some are just meditative monks. The monks began learning kung fu years ago to keep away animals and robbers. Now the monastery is a place for monks to hone their craft and also where students as young as 6 begin their training.

For their two-week run at the MGM Grand hotel-casino in Las Vegas this month, the monks showed off their incredible strength by walking on knives, breaking granite with their hands and breaking iron bars over their heads. They also performed kung fu techniques in unison, kicking and turning to music. They showed the many fighting styles - with exotic names such as monkey, snake and dragon - that have emerged through the centuries.

Wang said martial arts allows the monks to live in perfect physical and spiritual harmony.

"It's a way of life,"' he said.

The youngest performer, 9-year-old Shi Xiao-Cheng, was brought to the monastery by his father, who "wants him to be very good in kung fu," Wang said.

The boy is just a student, but said he desires to be a monk.

Men can become a Shaolin monk when they are 18. They can stay their whole lives in the monastery, as Shi Yan-Wen, 57, has done or they can leave when they choose. If they desire to be a "kung fu monk," as Wang calls them, they must train four to eight hours a day.

But even the monks realized their monastery needed some renovation. The heads of the monastery consented several years ago to a few shows to help raise money for the monastery.

The monks, who speak no English, have performed several times in Europe and had been to the United States for a small show, but nothing like Las Vegas.

Wang said he wouldn't know how much money the performances would bring to the monastery until after he returns to China this week.

Before arriving here, the monks did the talk show circuit in Los Angeles - the "Martin Short Show," "The Late, Late Show with Craig Kilborn" and a local television show. They even met up with some drag queens when they visited "The Roseanne Show."

Las Vegas has not only been an eye-opener for the monks, but also for tourists. The monks, who always wear robes, usually orange, have gotten more than a few stares as they walk through the casino.

They toured Hoover Dam, ventured out on the Strip and even rode a roller coaster.

And what about an urge to slip a quarter in that slot machine nearby?

Doesn't happen, the monks say.

"It's no problem," Yan-Wen said.