As the famous setting of countless Kung Fu movies, the original Shaolin Temple of China was brought back from near-destruction by a Jet Li movie.

Depicted in countless movies and TV shows, as well as in hip hop lyrics, the Shaolin Temple is a very real place, one of China's historic treasures and a UNESCO World Heritage site. Established in 495 CE, the original Shaolin Temple lies in the heart of China and is considered the birthplace of Zen and Kung Fu. But before Jet Li came, it was in ruins.

The 20th century was tough on the temple too. In 1928 during the turbulent Republic of China period, the temple was burned down by a warlord named Shi Yousan, who was suspicious of the Shaolin monks. Caused by firearms, the fires burned for 40 days. For a short period in 1941 during the Japanese occupation, it was converted to a secondary school. Then when the communists came, they expropriated 13,171 acres of land from Shaolin, leaving only the temple with only five. But that wasn't the worst. The Cultural Revolution ravaged Shaolin once more, destroying halls, art and pagodas, and disbanding the monks, forcing them back into secular life. By the 1980s, only four monks survived, struggling to hold on to what remained.

It was Jet Li's first film, The Shaolin Temple (1982), that brought the nation's attention back to Shaolin. The Shaolin Temple was to China what Star Wars was to the West: the year's highest-grossing blockbuster in their respective markets and a complete game changer. One of the first films shot on location, it revealed that Shaolin Temple was still standing to China's post-Cultural Revolution generation. People flocked to the temple as curious tourists, religious pilgrims, and, of course, as students of Kung Fu. To understand what happened, it's important to understand who Jet Li is.

A devout Buddhist, Jet Li is his Western name, given to him because his career took off like a jet. His Chinese name is Li Lianjie. He was the first superstar champion from a newly formed martial art called wushu. China sought to unify its diverse martial arts for competition by creating a new sport called wushu, which combined traditional Chinese martial arts with gymnastics for a sports spectacle. Wushu bid to be an event of the 2008 Beijing Olympics but didn't make the official cut.