Five sites, one mountain of context

The 1,500-year-old cradle of Chan Buddhism and Chinese kung fu.

Founded in 495 CE, Shaolin Temple combines living monastic tradition, ancient architecture and the world-famous kung fu legend. Most international visitors spend half a day here: main temple halls, the Pagoda Forest, and the martial arts performance.

Cliff-hanging plank walkways on the sheer quartzite face of Mount Song.

The most dramatic scenery in the Songshan range: suspended walkways, the suspension bridge, and the geological cross-section of the "Songshan unconformity". This is the hiking half of the Shaolin ticket — most people enter from the Shaolin side, walk the ridge, and return.

One of the four great academies of ancient China, where Confucian classics were taught for centuries.

A quiet, scholarly counterpart to the martial energy of Shaolin. Founded in 484 CE as a Buddhist temple, later converted to a Taoist site, and finally the Confucian academy where the Neo-Confucian masters Cheng Hao and Cheng Yi lectured. Do not miss the two 4,500-year-old cypresses and the Great Tang Stele.

Geology, archaeology and temple art of the Songshan region under one roof.

The ideal first stop: the geological hall explains why Mount Song is called the "textbook of the Earth" (five geological unconformities visible in one mountain), while the history halls put Shaolin, the Academy and the pagodas into context.

Huishan Temple, Songyue Pagoda and Fawang Temple — the quiet, profound Songshan.

Three sites for the slow traveller: Songyue Pagoda (523 CE) is China's oldest surviving brick pagoda and a 12-sided masterpiece; Fawang Temple holds some of the oldest pagoda tombs; Huishan Temple preserves a Tang dynasty astronomical observatory used by the monk Yixing.