I Found This Site Some Time Ago!!!
http://members.lycos.nl/saolim/zuid_shaolin.html
Quote taken from the website>
At this moment there are THREE (yes: 3!) Southern Shaolin Temples in China. All of them are located in Fujian Province.
Some more from the website>
Introduction, from the book: The Riddle of Southern Shaolin (Translated from Shaolin Fang Gu, by Wen Yu Chen ISBN:7-5306-2830-5)
"On April 4, 1992 the Putian city government held a press conference to announce that in a township therein the remnants of the Southern Shaolin Temple had been found. Xin Hua and 19 other Chinese and international news agencies showed up for the conference. Soon after, the news was published in Xin Hua and Zhong Xin outlets. The stories said that the work on the theory that Southern Shaolin was located within the LinQuan Yuan in Putian’s Lin Shan neighbourhood began with the ‘Southern Shaolin Temple Remnants Meeting?on Sept 14, 1991. Attending this meeting were more than 30 scholars and experts from seven provinces and was led by the head of the Chengdu Sports Administration, Prof. Yu Yun Tai, Chinese Peoples University (Renmin Daxue) professor Tai Bao Qi, and professor Luo Zhao of the Chinese Social Science World Religion Research Center. The meeting’s main presentation of evidence was a piece of research by the Fujian Cultural Center, Archaeological Team member Lin Gong Yu, entitled ‘Putian Lin Quan Yuan’ ruins discovery and early analysis.
According to this report, from Dec. 1990 to May 1991 a 1,325 square meter ruin was found with strata beneath that included Song, Yuan, Ming and late Qing dynasty periods. The remnants accord with building techniques of Ming through Song times. At the same time, Song dynasty era carvings were found that have clear writing: ‘Lin Quan Yuan, Enlightened Teacher Nan Ti’s tower, Tian You, thus proving it is indeed Lin Quan Yuan. However, Song era writers record in the ‘San Shan Zhi?(records of San Shan) report that Lin Quan Yuan construction was begun in 557, which is a long way from the Song era (1100’s).
The archaeologist proposes the following theory in the section ‘Concerning the problem of the Southern Shaolin Temple: ‘This find has not found any direct evidence of the Southern Shaolin Temple, but there is a lot of circumstantial evidence which points to this Lin Quan Yuan as being the Southern Shaolin mentioned by so many modern scholars, legends, novels, and stories among the people.
5 points support this conclusion.
First, ‘correct place. Many scholarly reports are that the southern temple was somewhere in Fujian’s Putian ‘jiu lian’mountains. Moreover, the Lin Quan Yuan is found in the Lin Shan neighborhood, which was called Quan Shan in Song times. ‘Jiu Lian mountain came along much later as a result of secret society activity.
Second, the Lin Quan Yuan had martial monks. Within the ruins a large stele was on which was carved ‘This temple’s martial monks Yong Qi and Jin Qi built a trough in Sept. 1063, placed by Ti Rong. The archaeologist concludes, ‘martial monks are naturally associated with Shaolin.
Third, Lin Quan Yuan’s location ‘created the right conditions for Northern Shaolin disciples to visit.
Fourth, Lin Quan Yuan is surrounded by several other temples, ‘and these temples records and steles have many references to Shaolin disciples’. For example, Ku Zhu Temple, Jiu Lian Yan Temple and others record that Shaolin monks built them. The nearby temple’s relationship with Lin Quan Yuan was very close, and some even counted themselves as sub-temples. This seems to show that Lin Quan Yuan could be the Southern Shaolin.
Fifth, the Southern Shaolin ‘has always and forever been related to Hong Men (early triad) legends. Lin Quan Yuan’s own destruction seems to coincide with the legends of early Qing demolition of the Southern Shaolin temple. The temple’s northern building ‘Red Flower Pavilion’ (built in 1646) has written over the door ‘All things return to the 3-foot sword, in the time of the 5 clouds, the 7-star flag will appear, which seem to relate to the Hong Men’s leader, Wan Yun Long. Not coincidentally, many of the late Ming loyalists ‘left home’ (become monks) and entered the Putian, Fujian Jiulian Southern Shaolin temple.
Overall, much of the scholarship in the report is trustworthy. However, the theories in the ‘Concerning the Southern Shaolin problem are not. For example, Hua Qiao University’s Lin Yi Zhou’s work ‘New Study of the Southern Shaolin Temple presents several doubts:
Fan Wen Lian’s 1941 revision of the ‘Complete History of China (school text book), struck out the line ‘Kang Xi’s 13th year, the triads were formed; they were begun by the Putian, Fujian Jiu Lian Mountain Shaolin Temple monks, because it was seen as incorrect and nothing but legend because Putian does not have a Jiu Lian Mountain.
Also, ‘martial monks’are not solely from Shaolin. In the Yuan Dynasty, the Quan Zhou Kai Yuan monastery also had fighting monks.
Therefore, the words ‘martial monks’ carved on the stele cannot be definitively related to Shaolin, northern or southern.
In November 1992 I asked about the problem of Lin Quan Yuan and Southern Shaolin, and after much debate, my opinion (Wen Yu Chen, writer) was asked for. I replied ‘there is nothing in the Songshan (northern) Shaolin Temple’s writings, or other materials we have currently, to indicate a Southern Shaolin
Temple. Whether Lin Quan Yuan is or isn’t, much remains to be seen and only hard research will reveal the truth."
So I don’t think it would “simplify” anything.
