Posted Monday, May 15, 2006; 20:00 HKT
Vicious attacks by well-built young skinheads normally follow a predictable sequence: you get smacked around, then relieved of your money. But at the martial arts schools surrounding the Shaolin Temple in China's central Henan province, you first hand over your cash, then take the blows. Students here display an appetite for violence not normally expected of shaven-headed, Buddhist acolytes—but the physical discipline required for martial arts, the thinking goes, will confer spiritual benefits.

The official school attached to the Shaolin Temple in the foothills of Mount Song is the most famous, but there are lots of privately run academies in and around the nearest town, Dengfeng. Many welcome foreigners, who pay around $20 a day to learn moves like the "seven-star fist" or "the blue dragon whipping its tail." Training is brutal: beginners are encouraged to whack their hands and feet against walls to toughen themselves up. Filling your spare time by suspending weights from your privates is optional. And don't expect any creature comforts when the day ends—many of the schools display a degree of external opulence, but most dormitories are spartan and hot water is rare.

Your sparring partners are likely to be drawn from the thousands of children attending kung fu schools in the area. Most are sent by poor parents, who hope that several years of training will give their offspring not so much religious as material advantages—through work as a member of a performing martial arts troupe, a tycoon's bodyguard or as an extra in period dramas. Don't underestimate these kids: many are capable of beating you to a pulp, which means bruised egos as well as bruised bodies. If you want a vacation that packs a punch there's no better alternative—just make sure you've got insurance.

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