This was a fun story. As a young adult, Polly leaves his studies at Princeton University during the 1990s to travel to China in search of the Shaolin monks. I loved learning about the Chinese culture and their language through the eyes of a fellow American, and a very funny one :). The way he wrote it makes him so likable and human that I didn't want it to end. However, he is still concerned that he is a coward and could not win in a proper fight. Mathew Polly spent a year in a school outside the Shaolin Temple (not in it) learning wushu and then kickboxing. American Shaolin: Flying Kicks, Buddhist Monks, and the Legend of Iron Crotch: An Odyssey in the New China Summary & Study Guide includes comprehensive information and analysis to I have to respectfully disagree with that. He crosses 'spiritually confused' off his list. The combination of the fish-out-of-water story with the sports paradigm, and with the display of growth in understanding the sport as well as the culture makes this a doubly interesting book. I thought Matt was exactly the type of person I'd want representing America abroad: I had a lot of fun reading this memoir about Bao Mosi and his mad kungfu skills!!! The most brutal picture of this is when he helps fellow American John Lee get attention at the hospital by reprising his “crazy monkey foreigner kung fu” routine that amused his Chinese friends so much. A quick, entertaining read, but not much else. Let us know what’s wrong with this preview of, Published The early part of the trip is a humorous fish-out-of-water story, which did nothing to dispel. He becomes a badass by force of sheer will and that's always one of those things I want to hear is possible. “I wonder where true kung fu is taught,” I would often times ask myself. I have no idea how I stumbled on this book originally as I dont look up stories like this either, but it worked for me! However, what remains the same is the dedication and passion of the monks and the kung fu students, which is what Matt admires so much. i do sometimes judge a book by its cover and in this case the contents matched the goofiness, at least initially. If alarm bells ring at a book title beginning ‘American’ rest assured, this is an unexpected gem. He returned ten years later and found a transformed China. I didn't realize it until I was listening to a story on NPR about 'The New China' and I thought, Yeah, I know all about those customs and traditions! Every now and again, time and space just seem to line up in an incredible display of fate/coincidence (delete as appropriate). Polly himself often refers to better schools and a more open life in Beijing and Shanghai, even Wuhan, but instead is proud to represent Shaolin in the tourney – despite all but one of his teachers and classmates refusing to march with him and making him enter as the Princeton Team, USA.Polly recalls all of this with cheerful nostalgia. I found the thoughts of the writer quite familiar, and really wanted to know where the story went. Welcome back. It was impossible to put down. One anecdote has him proudly negotiate it down to USD600 per month. Matt begins to settle in even more, and learns more about the Chinese people. 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Matt's parents do not approve, but Matt uses his college fund to do it anyway. Told as a series of anecdotes, he flies in to Beijing without a plan, makes his way to the Shaolin Temple and stays there for 18 months to learn kung fu. I liked the author's self-effacing and simultaneous self-promoting style. At the time, Polly was a highly motivated and intelligent Princeton student who’d studied Mandarin to a decent level before leaving for China. I've never read a travelogue before, and I enjoyed it thoroughly. For months now, we have been trying to get to grips with the strange brand of Uncle Tom-ism on display in the Shanghai ex-pativerse. When Matthew was a teen, he made a list of things about himself that he didn’t like – and then went about changing those things. The story covers his first year, which ended with him being entered into a tournament in Zhengzhou City.Polly is intelligent and open minded. Oh, those crazy laowai. I like his honesty. He spends a whole chapter befriending a mysterious caretaker who eventually relents and teaches him “Iron Arm” kung fu. After reading Mark Salzman’s, Funny at times, and a unique story, but I found myself bogged down in the middle.Bill Bryson meets Bruce Lee in this raucously funny story of one scrawny American 19s quest to become a kung fu master at China 19s legendary Shaolin Temple. Polly's a hack and a chump! This book caught my attention several years ago due to my interest in Shaolin kung fu. But the dedicated monks still trained in the rigorous age-old fighting forms 14some even practicing the "iron kung fu" discipline, in which intensive training can make various body parts virtually indestructible (even the crotch). If you like martial arts, this book will be dangerously inspirational. The decidedly cheesy artist’s impression doesn’t do the content justice. I have to respectfully disagree with that. The book starts with the background of the author, who writes himself as a character. It's a quick, funny read with a number of interesting insights and anecdotes about Polly's two years in China. He becomes a badass by force of sheer will and that's always one of those things I want to hear is possible. Sigh. I think I should check out Bill Bryson now. “I wonder where true kung fu is taught,” I would often times ask myself. i really enjoyed his writing for much of the book - here is this person who goes to learn from Shaolin monks...that's such a little-boy-dream thing to do. I was very upset that Polly's experiences in Shaolin had to come to an end because that meant that the book was over. Be the first to ask a question about American Shaolin. It has so many unique facets that it appears to defy summary or clear explanation. It's cool how he speaks Chinese so well. He decides to take up Chinese kickboxing. He uses words like orientalism and peppers the story with measured observations and jokes about uptight neo-cons back home. Few foreigners up to that time had access to the Shaolin temple and even fewer had the opportunity to “eat bitter” along with Chinese students of his own generation. But I was never able to fully suspend disbelief about how successful and loved and accepted he was being the only non-Chinese in a town full of 10,000 Shaolin practitioners. Enjoyable. When a visiting master from a rival school challenges Shaolin, Matt steps up to defend Shaolin's honor. The big bonus was learning so much about the Chinese culture. I'll hav. I wanted to give it 2.5 stars, but the cultural insensitivity lowered it for me. He was very adaptable to his situation, and he never knowingly let himself be taken advantage of because he wasn't Chinese. As readers, we gain an understanding of the people of rural China and their struggle from the repressive area of Communist policies that sought to wipe out m. As a young adult, Polly leaves his studies at Princeton University during the 1990s to travel to China in search of the Shaolin monks.

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