Warrior monks of China's famed Shaolin Temple are going to take orphans as disciples.

The temple will select about 50 to 100 children from a total of 1,000 orphans jointly being helped by the Henan Provincial Consolidated Benevolent Association and Shaolin Temple.

The temple will provide them shelter and education, as well as its centuries old martial arts skills and Buddhism.

A non-profit charity organization is being set up in Shaolin to provide shelters and study opportunities for homeless children.

The temple is now performing a 49-day Buddhist service to raise money and several distinguished monks have come to Shaolin to preside over the service.

To show their respect to the benefactors, Shaolin has made 2, 547 Buddha statues with stones and earth collected from China's ten famous Buddhist mountains such as Mount Tai and Putuo Mountain and water from the Yangtze River and the Yellow River. The ingredients are believed to bring blessing and wisdom to the benefactors.

Located in Dengfeng County in central China's Henan Province, Shaolin Temple was built in the foothills of the sacred Songshan Mountain in AD 495 during the Northern Wei Dynasty (386-534). Shaolin is commonly considered the birthplace of Chinese martial arts.

(Xinhua News Agency  November 12, 2003)