Shaolin Temple in the context of "Bodhidharma"

Henan is a province in Central China, home to many heritage sites which include Yinxu, the ruins of the final capital of the Shang dynasty (c. 1600 – c. 1050 BC) and the Shaolin Temple. Four of the historical capitals of China, Luoyang, Anyang, Kaifeng and Zhengzhou, are in Henan.

While the province's name means 'south of the river', approximately a quarter of the province lies north of the Yellow River. With an area of 167,000 km (64,000 sq mi), Henan covers a large part of the fertile and densely populated North China Plain. Its neighboring provinces are Shaanxi, Shanxi, Hebei, Shandong, Anhui, and Hubei.

Shaolin kung fu (Chinese: 少林功夫; pinyin: Shàolín gōngfū), also called Shaolin Wushu (少林武術; Shǎolín wǔshù), or Shaolin quan (少林拳; Shàolínquán), is the largest and most famous style of kung fu. It combines Mahayana Buddhist, Chan philosophy and martial arts. It was developed in the Shaolin Temple in Henan, China during its 1500-year history. In Chinese folklore there is a saying, "Shaolin kung fu is the best under heaven", which indicates its superiority among martial arts, and "All martial arts under heaven originated from Shaolin", which indicates its influence on other martial arts. The name Shaolin is also used as a brand for the external styles of kung fu. Many styles in southern and northern China use the name Shaolin.

In Chinese martial arts, there are fighting styles that are modeled after animals.

In Southern styles, especially those associated with Guangdong and Fujian provinces, there are five traditional animal styles known as Ng Ying Kung Fu (Chinese: 五形功夫) Chinese: 五形; pinyin: wǔ xíng; lit. 'Five Forms')—Tiger, Crane, Leopard, Snake, and Dragon. The five animal martial arts styles supposedly originated from the Henan Shaolin Temple, which is north of the Yangtze River, even though imagery of these particular five animals as a distinct set (i.e. in the absence of other animals such as the horse or the monkey as in tai chi or xingyiquan) is either rare in Northern Shaolin martial arts—and Northern Chinese martial arts in general—or recent (cf. wǔxíngbāfǎquán; 五形八法拳; "Five Form Eight Method Fist"). An alternate selection which is also widely used is the crane, the tiger, the monkey, the snake, and the mantis.