Matthew Polly’s book covers the author's two year stay in China training with Shaolin monks, an awe-inspiring and fascinating story which has been described as ‘Bill Bryson meets Bruce Lee.' Lesley Jackson dives in to find out more.
This is a publication I had been looking forward to for weeks, even, I’m not ashamed to admit, as much as the last Harry Potter. This book, about Polly’s two year stay in China to study kung fu with Shaolin monks, has been described as ‘Bill Bryson meets Bruce Lee’ which is spot on as it details the author’s heartfelt time in China in the early nineties. It is also very funny as we see the young Princeton student find himself in the most bizarre situations with some equally nutty people, not all of them being Chinese.
Matthew’s story starts with him explaining the reasons for wanting to go, which mostly revolves around his love of the TV series Kung Fu starring David Carradine and his mental ‘to do list’ called ‘Things That Are Wrong with Matt.’ However, whereas most young people would either slip into therapy or take drugs, Matt bravely (and some might say, foolishly) decides to live his dream by packing his bags and going to China in an attempt to train and become ‘the baddest mother on planet Earth.’ Fortunately for Matthew, he does take the time to learn some Mandarin before leaving which enables him to ask for directions on the streets of Beijing, asking people where the Shaolin temple is. Strangely, someone manages to tell him and so he makes his way to the Henan province and the Shaolin village where instead of an isolated temple he finds a thriving community based around kung fu tourism. He manages to find his way to the Shaolin Wushu Center where he is accepted as a paying student to study his chosen martial art.
As the only foreigner (“laowai”) for several hundred miles, he becomes an object of curiosity for the local population but he also forges close friendships with his tutors and comrades during his long and arduous stay. He learns the Shaolin forms and later he learns Chinese kickboxing (“sanda”) where he learns to ‘chi ku,’ or, ‘eat bitter.’ We get an honest and curious snap shot of life in an emerging economically developing China in the early nineties, not very long after the massacre in Tiananmen Square. Matthew’s progress in kung fu is also charted in detail, from the very painful beginnings to his victory in a kickboxing challenge match and successful performance in an international tournament.
Without any doubt, this has to be one of the best books about martial arts currently available on the shelves. There is plenty of detail to get your teeth into and Polly as a story-teller is very engaging, self-effacing and witty when describing his determination to learn kung fu from the dedicated monks of Shaolin. American Shaolin is an absolute page-turner which deserves to become a cult classic for every aspiring martial artist.
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