Former head of Shaolin Temple in China sentenced to 24 years for bribery

Shi Yongxin, former abbot of China's Shaolin Temple was sentenced to 24 years in prison for crimes including embezzlement and bribery, state media reported Friday.

Shi Bu and Liz Lee/Reuters

29 May 2026 at 12:43:45

Former head of Shaolin Temple in China sentenced to 24 years for bribery

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BEIJING- Shi Yongxin, former abbot of China's Shaolin Temple was sentenced to 24 years in prison for crimes including embezzlement and bribery, state media reported Friday.

Shi, 60, was charged in March this year after being placed under investigation in July last year.

A court in the central Chinese province of Henan handed the sentencing, saying Shi abused his roles to embezzle, misappropriate, and take and give bribes totaling around 300 million yuan ($44.33 million) over nearly three decades.

($1 = 6.7672 Chinese yuan renminbi)

-Reporting by Shi Bu and Liz Lee; Editing by Tomasz Janowski/Reuters