Abstract: In recent decades, arguments on the site of "Southern Shaolin Temple" in Fujian have never been ceased, and many areas have even fought over the cultural legacy of the temple. These arguments involves how to deal with the superimposed or eliminated social historical memories and the reconstruction of local history. This paper explores the superimposed memories of "Shaolin Temple" as a temple of Zen Buddhism and "Southern Shaolin Temple" as a temple of martial arts. This also helps deliberate upon the imagination of the nation and the pathetic historical view deeply rooted in the cultural memories of Shaolin Temple in Fujian. Beginning from a pagoda epigraph, this paper reveals why the historical memory of "Shaolin Temple" "inheriting Zen Buddhist Master Huang-nie" was consciously or unconsciously erased, while the tragic complex of fighting against "Japanese pirates" and the "Qing Dynasty" accumulated in the legend of "martial arts" in "Southern Shaolin Temple" has become today's "historical fact" after it was emphasized repeatedly. The reconstruction of the concept of "Southern Shaolin Temple" today shows that the superimposition is typical in social memories, collective memories and historical memories. When social memories are conveyed, preserved and constructed through various "social texts" such as historical literatures, myths and legendaries, activities and rituals, religious texts, art works and cultural landscapes, different kinds of memories, including those of individuals, groups, history and regions, will be selected and integrated into new superimposed memories, which serve as the basis of the construction of social, cultural, group and regional identities.

Key words: a temple of Zen Buddhism, a temple of martial arts, Shaolin Temple, Southern Shaolin Temple, superimposed memories