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Agence France-Presse

From a distance, the Shaolin Temple outside Lusaka appears almost like a mirage, a slice of central China dropped into the Zambian landscape.
Then the dragons emerge from beneath the pagoda, their brightly coloured fabric bodies hoisted on poles by teenagers moving with surprising precision.
Nearby, smaller children tumble across a weather-beaten foam mattress, twisting into barrels and forward rolls as 30-year-old instructor Yan Chen barks commands.
The sprawling complex houses Africa’s first Shaolin Temple – part of a Buddhist monastic martial arts tradition – set on a 20,000-square-metre (215,300 sq ft) plot in Ngwerere, 18km (11 miles) north of the Zambian capital.
The site was donated by Chinese businessman Jiang Qingde, with the cost of building the cultural centre estimated at nearly US$6 million.
It has become one of the most visible symbols of China’s cultural footprint in a country where Beijing’s influence already runs deep through investment in mines, roads, factories and infrastructure.

John Bwalya arrived at the temple three years ago.
“I grew up watching The Karate Kid on TV and told myself I needed to learn this thing,” he says, recalling the 2010 reboot of the film series featuring martial-arts star Jackie Chan.
Now 23, Bwalya lives at the temple alongside 36 other students, most from underprivileged backgrounds.
Shaolin is one of the most well-known schools of wushu (Chinese martial arts). There are many videos online and films showing the rigorous training of Shaolin monks.
This school originated at the Shaolin Temple in the Songshan mountains of central China’s Henan province. The temple was built around 495 and is the ancestral temple of the Zen school of Chinese Buddhism.

At the Shaolin Temple in Ngwerere, under the watch of four Chinese instructors, a Zambian and an Ivorian, students’ days begin as early as 3am.
The compound is their school, training ground and home: they sleep, study and train there, leaving only for a few days each December to visit their families. Students also earn a stipend from performances.
Saulo Woonga, 18, did not want to come. His mother sent him after he got into a fight with another boy in their neighbourhood.
“I was beating another guy,” he says. “So, my mum decided that ‘you need to go in the Shaolin Temple.’”
Mathews Mafulu, also 18, arrived with a different problem. He was being bullied and, by his own admission, was lazy.
Kung fu has changed him, he says, making him “jacked up, creative and a little strong”.

Mafulu, who has lived at the temple for five years, does not see the Chinese presence around him as an intrusion.
“It’s not like the Chinese are taking over Zambia,” Mafulu says. “It’s like exchanging cultures. We are learning new things from the Chinese and we are also teaching them new things about Africa.”
Their early-morning routines, acrobatics, dragon dances and training sessions have drawn millions of views on TikTok and Douyin, China’s version of TikTok.
Ronald Mwale is one of its biggest faces. The 26-year-old, who now speaks Chinese and goes by the Chinese name Hang Shao, has travelled to China four times and is preparing for a year-long stay there soon.
His videos, chronicling life inside the temple, have made him a social media sensation, attracting some 615,000 followers on TikTok.

Yet when he first arrived, he had little interest in China itself.
“All I was interested in was training martial arts,” he says, watching younger students rehearse.
Today, his ambitions stretch far beyond the training yard. He hopes to become an actor and dreams of following in the footsteps of performers from Henan province, the cradle of Shaolin kung fu and Zen Buddhism, where many of the temple’s traditions originated centuries ago.
A few hours later, the training yard falls quiet and the students file silently into the temple.
Dressed in orange and yellow robes, they bow shoulder to shoulder before Buddhist altars and begin chanting prayers beneath ornate ceilings painted in red, blue and gold.
At the doorway, a handful of curious visitors stand quietly, phones raised as the students’ voices rise and fall in unison.
For instructor Chen, who arrived in Zambia in 2022 after growing up in a poor community in China, the temple is about more than martial arts.
“It gives them hope for their lives,” he says.


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How Africa’s first Shaolin Temple shares Chinese martial arts and culture

Shaolin monk Yan Chen helps a student do a somersault during a training session at the Shaolin Temple in Ngwerere, outside Lusaka, Zambia, on August 8, 2026. Photo: AFP

Shaolin monk Yan Zhen gestures during dragon dance training at the temple. Photo: AFP

Students pray at the temple in Ngwerere, outside Lusaka. Photo: AFP

A student attempts a handstand behind Shaolin monk Yan Chen at the temple. Photo: AFP

Ronald Mwale stands in front of a shrine at the Shaolin Temple. He now speaks Chinese and goes by the name Hang Shao. His videos have attracted around 615,000 followers on TikTok. Photo: AFP

Students and monks pray at the Shaolin Temple outside Lusaka, on August 8, 2026. Photo: AFP

Figures in one of the shrines at the Shaolin Temple outside Lusaka on August 8, 2026. Photo: AFP

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Lifestyle

The temple in Zambia has become one of the most visible symbols of China’s cultural footprint in a country where its influence already runs deep


The temple in Zambia has become one of the most visible symbols of China’s cultural footprint in a country where its influence already runs deep.


Martial arts

Shaolin Temple

Africa

Zambia

How Africa’s first Shaolin Temple shares Chinese martial arts and culture

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}The temple in Zambia has become one of the most visible symbols of China’s cultural footprint in a country where its influence already runs deep

The temple in Zambia has become one of the most visible symbols of China’s cultural footprint in a country where its influence already runs deep