Shaolin Temple is bustling with business, making money like water every year.

The recent scandal of abbot Thich Vinh Tin also exposed another "worldly" aspect of Shaolin Temple, which is its impressive business ability.

Shaolin Temple has many money-making activities - Photo: XN

"CEO monk" is the way the media sarcastically calls the abbot of Shaolin Temple - Thich Vinh Tin (real name Luu Ung Thanh), who was recently stripped of his Buddhist name by the Ha Nam Province Buddhist Association due to embezzlement scandals and improper relationships with women.

But it cannot be denied that Mr. Liu Yingcheng has made a great contribution to stimulating tourism in Dengfeng city (Zhengzhou, Henan), revolving around expanding Shaolin's promotional activities.

According to data from the Shan Dengfeng tourism agency, in 2017, the Shaolin Scenic Area earned about 350 million yuan (US$49 million) from entrance tickets, along with more than 120 million yuan (US$16.8 million) from martial arts experience services such as monk martial arts performances and spiritual tours combined with martial arts.

In fact, Shaolin Temple receives about 30% of the ticket revenue, or more than 100 million yuan/year. The remaining 70% will be submitted to the Dengfeng city budget, as well as distributed to travel companies and other service activities.

The data also shows that the number of visitors to Shaolin Temple reached 4.2 million in 2019. The entrance fee for adults is about 80 yuan (12 USD).

But tourists do not just buy tickets, because in the temple there are many other services and souvenir shops. If the average consumption is 300 yuan/person, the total tourism revenue of Shaolin Temple is up to more than 1.2 billion yuan/year.

In addition to admission tickets, the temple has developed a network of martial arts performances, with about 1,000 "runs" each year around the world.

Each show initially earns around $3,000, and can go up to $10,000 depending on the nature of the show. It is estimated that these activities earn Shaolin Temple an additional $3-10 million annually.

At the same time, Shaolin has registered more than 700 trademarks related to food, medicine, cultural products, tourism and martial arts education to sell copyrights to use images and brand names - creating additional long-term revenue.

The amount of this revenue is currently unclear, but some articles on ThinkChina or The Paper said it would be a huge number, not lower than the revenue from ticket sales.

Regarding martial arts teaching, Song Mountain Shaolin Kung Fu School is officially authorized to train international students. The average tuition fee is about 490 - 590 USD/month (3,900 CNY) including accommodation, training and uniform.

Long-term students who enroll for 12 months pay about $5,980 (40,800 yuan), with a reduction for multiple years. Hundreds of students take long-term courses each year, generating tuition revenue that can easily reach several million dollars a year.

With the number of martial arts students each year ranging from 20,000 to 30,000, each student studying for at least 1 month, Shaolin Temple's revenue from teaching martial arts is about 20 - 30 million USD each year.

All of the above revenue streams combined suggest that Shaolin Temple could be earning around $100-200 million a year. These are currently estimates from local and international newspapers.

In fact, the amount of money that Shaolin Temple contributes to tourism in Dengfeng city is dozens of times larger.

HUY DANG

Source: https://tuoitre.vn/thieu-lam-tu-lam-an-xom-tu-kiem-tien-nhu-nuoc-moi-nam-20250728200249129.htm