Editing Shaolin Monastery (section)

===Protection of the site===
The original Shaolin Temple was burned to the ground in 1928 by [[Shi Yousan]], a renegade nationalist warlord.<ref>{{harvnb|Khabarovsk|loc=Shaolin Temple}}</ref> The monks were either killed or deported. The ground lay more or less abandoned, and under [[Mao Zedong]]'s [[Cultural Revolution]], it suffered additional damage. However, in 1982, six years after Mao's death in 1976, the Law on the Protection of Cultural Heritage of the People's Republic of China was passed.<ref>{{harvnb|Su|2015|p=1}}</ref>

The [[Mount Song|Songshan Scenic Area]], established that year, came to include the Shaolin Temple Scenic Spot. "Scenic areas" were created by the 1982 law as protected regions valuable to the public for their natural or cultural assets. The Songshan Scenic Area covered the mountains around Denfeng. In 1990, the Ministry of Construction and [[Tongji University]] proposed that scenic areas be divided into subregions called "Scenic Spots". When this measure was passed by the state council (central government), the "Songshan National Scenic Area" (SNSA) acquired the "Shaolin Temple Scenic Spot" (STSS), consisting of the Shaosi side of the Scenic Area. Though named after the famous monastery in the south of the spot, it also included the north, where the government established a kung fu academy, the largest in China. The scenic spot consists of the entire park.<ref>{{harvnb|Su|2015|p=167}}</ref>

The government promptly allocated funds for the reconstruction of the monastery as a tourist site. They were to rebuild nine halls, restore ten, and construct eight new ones. However, all documentation on the temple had been destroyed. Already familiar with the type of structure, the architects interviewed elders who had been at the monastery before 1928 for details.<ref>{{harvnb|Su|2015|pp=164–166}}</ref>

The task became greater than simply restoring the monastery of 1928. That monastery was the end point of a long line of development, which included reconstruction after some twenty or more previous destructions, and variations in size from twenty monks during the Tang dynasty (619–907) to more than 1,800 monks living in 5,000 rooms during the Yuan dynasty (1271–1368).<ref>{{harvnb|Su|2019|loc=3. Historic Background of the Case Study}}</ref> No single configuration representative of the entire span of the monastery was apparent. Multiple possibilities existed, and deliberations about what to restore were complex and prolonged. By 1998, the government of Dengfeng had reconstructed or restored fourteen architectural items, mostly buildings.<ref>{{harvnb|Su|1919|loc=Table 1}}</ref>

By 2010, it was obvious that management decisions were beyond merely the government. A new management was created that year to operate a joint venture between the government, a private company from Hong Kong, and the abbot of a newly constituted body of monks. They were empowered to maintain a balance between historical authenticity and tourist sustainability.<ref>{{harvnb|Su|2019|loc=5.1. Implementing Authenticity Criteria of the AHD}}</ref>

[[UNESCO]] was not far behind this change in management technique. It took an interest and was invited to participate. In 2010, several ancient sites around Dengfeng were united into a single UNESCO World Heritage Site, with eight distinct scenic spots. The Shaolin Scenic spot contained three of the WHS components, collectively called the "architectural complex".<ref name=icomos16/> By this, the International Council on Monuments and Sites (ICOMOS) of UNESCO designated three ancient sites: the Shaolin Temple compound, assigned the name "Kernel Compound"; its cemetery, the Pagoda Forest; and its subsidiary, the Chuzu Temple.