The Shaolin Scenic Area hosts regular kung fu demonstrations by students from the area's martial arts schools. The main performance venue near the monastery entrance runs scheduled shows throughout the day, typically lasting thirty to forty minutes. The quality varies considerably: the best demonstrations by senior students show genuine athletic ability — forms performed with precision, breaking demonstrations that require real controlled force, and aerial work that is legitimately impressive. The lower-tier tourist shows are more theatrical than athletic.
If you want more than a single performance, the dozens of martial arts schools in the villages surrounding the monastery offer multi-day training courses for foreign visitors. These range from serious full-immersion programmes of several weeks to lighter half-day introductions suitable for tourists with no martial arts background. The atmosphere in the better schools is one of disciplined practice rather than performance, and spending a morning learning basic Shaolin stances and forms gives a different understanding of the tradition than any amount of watching. Ask at your accommodation in Dengfeng for current recommendations, as the quality of schools changes frequently.