| （School of Physical Education，Beijing Normal University，Beijing 100875，China） Abstract: By means of literature research, the authors examined such a view of some scholars as “the historical fact of Shaolin monks helping the Tang dynasty by catching thieves is irrelative to Wushu”, and drew the following con-clusions: “Shaolin monks helping the Tang dynasty by catching thieves” was only one of many military actions of Shaolin monks; the atmosphere of Wushu practicing of Shaolin monks originated as early as the Beiwei period, and quite a few monks engaged in Wushu practicing at the time of the Tang dynasty, therefore the monks described in “Shaolin monks helping the Tang dynasty by catching thieves” should be skillful Wushu practicers, while various interpretations about this event by later generations were their admirations for the fact that Shaolin monks were good at Wushu; it should be further verified that whether the number of monks participating in this event was the thirteen monks indicated so far; the story of “thirteen Shaolin monks saving the king of Tang” was formed only after the period of the Ming dynasty. The process of evolution was roughly as follows: “Thirteen Shaolin monks” was in-terpreted into “Thirteen Shaolin stick monks” from the mid-late period of the Ming dynasty to the early period of the Qing dynasty, then the story of “thirteen stick monks saving the king of Tang” was formed in the early period of Qing dynasty, and interpreted into different versions in the mid-late period of the Qing dynasty.
Key words: sport history；Shaolin；thirteen stick monks；saving the king of Tang |
