The story goes that in 495AD, during the reign of Emperor Xiaowen during the Northern Wei Dynasty, a Buddhist monk named Buddhabhadra (Ba Tuo) came to China from India. The Emperor liked Buddhabhadra and offered him support to teach Buddhism at court which he declined. Instead he was given a piece of land to build a temple on Mount Song. The temple was named Shaolin, which translates to ‘Little Forest’.

In 520AD, another Buddhist monk travelled across the Himalayan ranges from India to China known as...