American Shaolin: Flying Kicks, Buddhist Monks, and the Legend of Iron Crotch: An Odyssey in the New China

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American Shaolin: Flying Kicks, Buddhist Monks, and the Legend of Iron Crotch: An Odyssey in the New China

3.95 of 5 stars 3.95 · rating details · 1,410 ratings · 285 reviews

Bill Bryson meets Bruce Lee in this raucously funny story of one scrawny American’s quest to become a kung fu master at China’s legendary Shaolin Temple. Growing up a ninety-pound weakling tormented by bullies in the schoolyards of Kansas, young Matthew Polly dreamed of one day journeying to the Shaolin Temple in China to become the toughest fighter in the world, like Cain...more

Hardcover, 384 pages

Published February 1st 2007 by Gotham (first published 2006)

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Jul 30, 2011 Wendy Welch rated it 4 of 5 stars

There are five compelling reasons why I shouldn't have liked this book.

1) It's about martial arts, and Jack (my husband) and I are Quakers. As in pacifists.

2) It's about a sport. I was the smart kid who had her period every week throughout high school so she could avoid playing volleyball.

3) A man wrote it.

4) It's about China. Africa and the Middle East are my anthropological areas of expertise, and ergo what I read about more because I can tell when somebody's lying.

5) It's about a rich white...more

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Mar 10, 2008 Broche rated it 1 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: don-t-read-this

I hated this book. Rather than being culturally sensitive, this asshole woke up 10 years after his experience and decided he wanted to make some money so he wrote this book. He's totally ignorant and doesn't even use the principles he SHOULD have learned from what SHOULD have been an incredible experience. He gives people who do follow this way of life a bad name. Asshole.

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May 03, 2012 Soteris rated it 5 of 5 stars

I had never heard of this book, so when forced upon me by my sensei, I took one look at the cheesy 1970's art work of a blond American fella in a Chinese shaolin outfit standing in some sort of crane or tiger pose(not the same cover as above) and thought, cheese.
I was suprised when I started reading it to find that it was actually a true story about a young American man's journey to China and his experiences as an outsider training in the Shaolin community.
As a recently returned martial artist I...more

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Apr 21, 2011 Sarah rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: adventure, alex-award, recommended-reads, reality-rules

This adult memoir wins the "Best Title of the Year Award!" And it lives up to its name. I couldn't put this one down, and I hate kungfu movies. So the author did something right. I think this one has wide appeal, especially for high school students, and it definitely shouldn't be purchased for "large psychology collections." Puh-leese. I can't believe I just read that in a review.[return][return]Matthew Polly is a wuss from Topeka, Kansas, who gets into Princeton. But things aren't going right a...more

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Sep 02, 2007 Matthew rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: the casual martial arts fan

Shelves: biography

Get past the awful cover of American Shaolin, because this travelogue-slash-memoir is a little gem. The decidedly cheesy artist’s impression doesn’t do the content justice.
Granted, the book calls occasionally for suspension of disbelief. A recollection by author Matthew Polly, at the time a self-confessed skinny nerd obsessed with kungfu who wants to be a bad ass madafacker, of two years spent training in Shaolin, it celebrates certain stereotypes, like that of ridiculously acrobatic monks hone...more Get past the awful cover of American Shaolin, because this travelogue-slash-memoir is a little gem. The decidedly cheesy artist’s impression doesn’t do the content justice.
Granted, the book calls occasionally for suspension of disbelief. A recollection by author Matthew Polly, at the time a self-confessed skinny nerd obsessed with kungfu who wants to be a bad ass madafacker, of two years spent training in Shaolin, it celebrates certain stereotypes, like that of ridiculously acrobatic monks honed by ridiculously painful training. A monk who practices ‘iron crotch’ qigong gives new meaning to the phrase beating your dong. As Polly, a Princeton graduate and award-winning travel writer, confesses in the Author’s Note, he would “like to admit to an occasional reorganization of events for the sake of the narrative.” Uh-huh. Lets just say I’m pretty sure Damo, an Indian monk said to have introduced kungfu to the Chinese, didn’t slice off his eyelids to keep from falling asleep through 9 years of meditation.
But fans, even practitioners, of Chinese martial arts - who know how not to take it too seriously – will enjoy Polly’s combination of a deep respect for its richness and discipline with a wickedly sardonic awareness of how ridiculous it all can get. “Chinese kungfu is one of the most glorious examples of obsessive-compulsive behavior in the history of human culture,” he says. As to why Shaolin has more than 200 open hand forms, he dispenses with the historic reasons of self-defense and religious meditation in favor of his own: boredom.
The China that emerges is realistic and deeply human. Monks want to make money, play politics, talk about sex, complain that training is tough, bully the juniors, envy the seniors, are gay. Taxi drivers, cunning shopkeepers, materialistic waitresses and weirdo laowais (‘old foreigner’, a Chinese version of angmoh, if you like) appear. The atmosphere at a rival sports school is nothing so much as what you’d imagine in an American high-school canteen; kickboxers compete with wrestlers for attention of the girls, as number two jock sucks up to number one jock.
But it feels genuine, in sharp contrast to the wealthier but soulless temple Polly finds in a rapidly developing China 10 years later. Before, he writes, the monks thought of themselves as fighters first, with performance an economic necessity. A decade later, beside the traditional Buddhist monks (wen seng) and the warrior monks (wu seng), a third category has depressingly popped up: the performance monks (biaoyan seng).(less)

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Jan 07, 2008 Jennifer rated it 5 of 5 stars Recommends it for: martial arts lovers

This book was so phenomenal that I wrote a thank-you note to the author. The way he wrote it makes him so likable and human that I didn't want it to end. He becomes a badass by force of sheer will and that's always one of those things I want to hear is possible. The big bonus was learning so much about the Chinese culture. 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! Even if you don't love ma...more

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Apr 21, 2008 Jordan Funke rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: humor, memoir

This was a fun story. I wanted to give it 2.5 stars, but the cultural insensitivity lowered it for me. I liked the author's self-effacing and simultaneous self-promoting style. 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. It wasn't too gory and only glorified violence a little. It completely hooked me all the way through, but I hate that this is the kind of American wh...more

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Jan 02, 2009 Karin rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: 20-somethings, adventure, autobiography-memoir, books-for-boys, coming-of-age, funny, multicultural, nonfiction, sports, travel, china, chinese, kungfu, shaolin-monks, martial-arts, borrowed-from-the-library

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. His first accomplishment was educating himself and becoming an intellectual. From there he went on to tackle his cowardice – by going to China and studying kung fu in a Shaolin temple.

It was a lot harder than he’d expected. He met with resistance from his family – they wanted him to finish college, and difficulties finding the temple once he’d reached China, and was fa...more 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. His first accomplishment was educating himself and becoming an intellectual. From there he went on to tackle his cowardice – by going to China and studying kung fu in a Shaolin temple.

It was a lot harder than he’d expected. He met with resistance from his family – they wanted him to finish college, and difficulties finding the temple once he’d reached China, and was faced with hours of training every day – which was initially very painful and exhausting. Matt came away having learned a lot more than just kung fu. Although he knew some Chinese, Matt was not educated in Chinese culture and had to pick up a lot on the fly. Polly is now fluent in many things Chinese - vulgarities, dirty jokes, bargaining, male friendships, debts, and call girls (just to name a few).

After training in traditional forms for a number of months, Matt was able to observe a shanda (Shaolin kickboxing) match. He became interested and encouraged his school to start up their own shanda team and training program (by holding them up against the competing school in a rather unfavorable light). Matt took to shanda like nothing the monks had seen. Once he got over his fear of being beaten, he rapidly mastered all of the kicks, punches, and throws. His trainer told him he had never seen someone (particularly a laowai, or outsider) progress so quickly, and then arranged to have him compete against the finest shanda fighters in the world.

Matt eventually makes it through other items on his list (and adds new things to work on), finally realizing that there will always be room for improvement and his list will never be complete.

A friend of mine pointed out that this is pretty much every guy’s dream. You go off to some remote temple and learn to be a complete bad ass. And after that either no one messes with you, or those that do come to regret it. I don’t think it’s a completely male attitude either – we all want to be invincible, inviolate, eternal in some way. Some of us just make it more physical. American Shaolin was a really fascinating look at Chinese culture – going beyond kung fu and really allowing readers to get to know and understand some of the people. While Matt’s personal story was interesting, his descriptions of the place and the people of China were far more intriguing and entertaining. I mean, how can a laowai compete with someone who studies iron dong kung fu? Don’t answer that. If you’ve ever been interested in martial arts, or training to be the biggest bad ass around, however, this might suit your tastes exactly. And for those of us who like a taste of other places and cultures, this will leave you wanting to know much, much more about China.(less)

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Apr 27, 2013 Ensiform rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: non-fiction, china, travel

As a high school student in Kansas, Polly discovered the intellectual world and began to apply himself, getting into Princeton, where he became enthralled with martial arts and Chinese studies. After reading Mark Salzman’s Iron and Silk, Polly became determined to go to Shaolin to study kungfu. This was in 1992, when there was little information available on Shaolin, and no World Wide Web to initiate global contact, so it took a bit of courage and a bit of temerity for Polly to fly to China, wit...more As a high school student in Kansas, Polly discovered the intellectual world and began to apply himself, getting into Princeton, where he became enthralled with martial arts and Chinese studies. After reading Mark Salzman’s Iron and Silk, Polly became determined to go to Shaolin to study kungfu. This was in 1992, when there was little information available on Shaolin, and no World Wide Web to initiate global contact, so it took a bit of courage and a bit of temerity for Polly to fly to China, without an introduction or appointment, and ask to sign up for kungfu classes at the legendary temple – but that is exactly what he did. Arriving in Beijing, he discovers that even the Chinese are not sure if Shaolin still exists, but he presses on anyway, and to his credit, he manages to arrive. Not understanding the Chinese tradition of haggling (or extorting the foreigner), Polly agrees to an outrageous price to be taught kungfu at Shaolin, and his journey begins.

The account of Polly’s time in Shaolin is both hilarious and informative; it’s a coming-of-age story blended with a travelers-abroad tale. Polly experiences all the shocks that China gives the Western traveler (I was interested to see that he describes his personality as splitting in two, an American Matthew Polly and the dopey, grinning Chinese version, always struggling to process what was going on – a phenomenon similar to that described by Peter Hessler in River Town: Two Years on the Yangtze; he also describes the same resentful, helpless feeling in the face of emotionless, unspeaking, staring crowds), but takes them in stride. Eventually he is quite at home in Shaolin, distinguishes himself in kungfu tournaments, meets a few wastrel and pretender Westerners who follow in his footsteps, and even does the unthinkable: he dates a Chinese woman. Polly’s memoir is a terrific read, but it’s also valuable in two main ways. One, it documents the training process and some outstanding martial arts techniques studied at Shaolin, such as the Iron Forearm or Iron Head or Iron Dong (they all involve focusing qi through breathing and then punishing the specified body part daily until it is as tough as steel), which are fascinating. Two, in addition to all the cultural mores that Polly diligently records (the little rituals of polite language that I find enthralling), because Polly revisits Shaolin ten years later, he is able to document how China has changed – not just in the ease of transport or shopping opportunities, but the emerging confidence and higher expectations of the Chinese people. It’s an insightful, first-rate memoir. (less)

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Feb 22, 2013 Helmut Barro rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: china, favorites

Kämpfen um verteidigen Ehre, nicht um zu verteidigen Titel!

Man kennt das ja aus Film und Fernsehen. Ein Junge wird von allen in der Schule verprügelt und hat nach vielen blauen Flecken eine Idee - er will Kungfu lernen, um es den ganzen Unterdrückern heimzuzahlen. Karate Kid lässt grüßen!

Solche Geschichten erfinden kann jeder, doch Matthew Polly hat sie selbst erlebt, und liefert in diesem Buch einen Bericht über seine Jahre als Kungfu-Schüler im chinesischen Shaolin-Tempel. Man muss den Mut und...more Kämpfen um verteidigen Ehre, nicht um zu verteidigen Titel!

Man kennt das ja aus Film und Fernsehen. Ein Junge wird von allen in der Schule verprügelt und hat nach vielen blauen Flecken eine Idee - er will Kungfu lernen, um es den ganzen Unterdrückern heimzuzahlen. Karate Kid lässt grüßen!

Solche Geschichten erfinden kann jeder, doch Matthew Polly hat sie selbst erlebt, und liefert in diesem Buch einen Bericht über seine Jahre als Kungfu-Schüler im chinesischen Shaolin-Tempel. Man muss den Mut und Durchhaltewillen Pollys wirklich bewundern, denn ganz so einfach, wie er sich das selbst vorgestellt hatte, läuft die Geschichte nicht, denn er hat nicht mit den kulturellen Eigenheiten Chinas gerechnet.

Man kommt beim Lesen kaum aus dem Grinsen heraus, wenn er das rückständige China der frühen 1990er Jahre beschreibt; neben dem allgegenwärtigen Begafftwerden (ein "laowai", ein Ausländer, war damals in der chinesischen Provinz noch eine Sehenswürdigkeit!) und den Sprachproblemen wird nicht gespart mit extrem lebensnahen grausligen Schilderungen über den nicht-vorhandenen Hygiene-Standard der öffentlichen Plumpsklos, lebensverachtende Krankenschwestern und äußerst korruptionsbereiten Kampfkunstschulen-Vorständen. Dabei ist immer ein Augenzwinkern, und man freut sich über jede kulturelle Falle und jedes Fettnäpfchen, in das der zu Beginn so hilflose Polly tappt, um dann aber später auch mit ihm zu fiebern, als er endlich als Kämpfer anerkannt seinen Weg zu gehen beginnt.

Interessant ist die Sichtweise des Autors: Bei allem langsam gewachsenen Verständnis für fremdartige Kultur, bei allem Willen, sich in sie hineinzuversetzen, bleibt er doch fest bei seinen amerikanischen, cocacola-durchtränkten Wurzeln - besonders deutlich, wenn er das chinesische Konzept des "qi" erklärt, und dabei schreibt: "They believe that qi courses through the human body like the Force in Star Wars (...)" (S. 93). George Lucas hat offensichtlich alles richtig gemacht, wenn Henne und Ei so selbstverständlich vertauscht werden.

Das Abacus-Taschenbuch überzeugt mit schöner Aufmachung und angenehmen Schriftbild. Die Schwarzweiß-Fotos im Mittelteil beweisen nicht nur den tatsächlichen Aufenthalt Pollys, sondern lassen auch viele der Personen noch lebendiger werden, als sie es durch Pollys witzige Schreibe eh schon sind.

Ein großartiges, hinreißendes Buch über ein China, das es so nicht mehr gibt, und über eine wirklich beinahe unglaubliche Reise zum Erwachsenwerden, das ich völlig fasziniert in einem Rutsch durchgelesen habe. (less)

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Aug 13, 2012 Zen Meditation rated it 5 of 5 stars

Polly, a highly intelligent individual who opts to chase a dream, presents a memoir of his time spent in Henan Province at the Shaolin Temple studying Kung Fu. The work is as insightful as it is disenchanting for the author refuses to hide his disappointment: He spent several years learning the language and studying the culture only to find that the latter, as reported to him, was largely romanticized. In the process, we come to discover that revered Shaolin Kung Fu, like much of Chinese culture...more

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Jul 22, 2012 Paul rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: non-fiction, travel, autobiography, memoir, martial-arts

In the early 1990's, Matthew Polly dropped out of Princeton and did what a lot of young men only dream about: he traveled to China and studied kung fu with the monks of the Shaolin Temple. A victim of bullying with issues of self confidence and a heaping helping of teenage angst, Polly is transformed by his experiences.

He gains faith in his own abilities, but also exposure to a China on the cusp of its current rise, and he is shaped by both the profound and equally mundane aspects of the people...more

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Apr 11, 2012 Clarry rated it 4 of 5 stars

I read this book a long time ago, so my apologies for writing this review from memory. But I had to say, I loved this book. Don't take it too seriously, it's not trying to be a major spiritual journey through martial arts and the Chinese cultures, it's trying to be funny.

I first picked it up off the shelf because at the time I was a Wushu practitioner. I opened to a random page where the author is practicing with something called a 7 sectional whip or chain (you don't whip it Indiana Jones styl...more

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Jan 26, 2012 Nshslibrary rated it 4 of 5 stars

American Shaolin by Matthew Polly is a strange and intriguing book. Matt struggles to find himself. Trying desperately, he decides to train in Chinese Shaolin Kungfu at the Shaolin Temple in China. Matt is a junior at Princeton University, a very prestigious school and decides to leave for 2 years to the Shaolin Temple, the place where kungfu was founded. Along the way, Matt starts to find himself and steadily starts to get rid of the things on the “Things That Are Wrong With Matt” list. It is a...more

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Mar 05, 2011 Twilight rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: martial-arts, shaolin, expat, expatriot, china

Somewhere between 3.5 and 4 stars. Overall it's an excellent book about an American who went to find himself in China through Shaolin kung-fu. Thankfully he spends most of his time discussing the art and the changing China rather than focusing on himself and his experiences as an expat, although a lot of it comes into play.

A lot of the book is downright amusing with the author speaking in a relatable, easy-going tone that sometimes contrasts with the monks of the temple. There isn't really a "st...more Somewhere between 3.5 and 4 stars. Overall it's an excellent book about an American who went to find himself in China through Shaolin kung-fu. Thankfully he spends most of his time discussing the art and the changing China rather than focusing on himself and his experiences as an expat, although a lot of it comes into play.

A lot of the book is downright amusing with the author speaking in a relatable, easy-going tone that sometimes contrasts with the monks of the temple. There isn't really a "story" or "goal" for the author to reach; rather he is narrating his experiences.

I enjoyed most of the book, but I began to feel uncomfortable towards the end, when he discusses one of his relationships with a Chinese woman and how he goes to defend a friend and the friend's girlfriend from a supposed mafia-connected man. I'm not sure if the author was writing from the point of view of an immature college boy or perhaps is still stuck in that mode--his attitude towards women struck me very much as a stereotypical frat boy, although there isn't any mention of him actually being in a fraternity at Princeton University (where the author left to go to China). Reading some of the other reviews here on Goodreads makes me relieved to see I'm not alone in this. It's no wonder the girlfriend he mentions towards the end leaves him for another man--I wouldn't want to stick around for some guy with such attitudes either. (The reason he gives is that they couldn't compromise about him not wanting to ever get married--I think there's more to it than that.)

The end also sort of trails off, with the author skimming over his reasons for leaving and then fast-forwarding 10 years later, when he returns to China. While interesting to see where the various monks and other practitioners ended up, it was mostly a letdown interest-wise from the rest of the book.

Overall an interesting read, especially for those interested in martial arts and Shaolin kung-fu, but the end in particular left me with a slightly jaded eye towards the author.(less)

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Sep 20, 2010 MacK rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: am-lit, non-fiction

While reading Polly's account of life in rural China I couldn't stop reflecting on my own life in rural India. Polly arrived in China just before the nation transformed into a world power; I arrived in India just as reports of its burgeoning importance were hitting the states. Polly felt totally isolated in a country of a billion; I was snugly safe among a posse of ex-pats, but at any given moment I could feel absolutely alone in a sea of other people. And try as we might to accept our adopted h...more

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May 07, 2012 Jess Saxton rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: memoir, ebook, 2012, non-fiction

I've been watching a lot of martial arts movies on Netflix lately and just happened to have this book sitting in my Kindle library, so I thought now would be the perfect time to read it.

Although this is a book that talks a great deal about Kung Fu, it's also something of a coming of age story as Matt talks about the time he spent studying Kung Fu in Shaolin, China.

Having kept a list of his faults since his childhood, Matt decided to correct a few of them after eliminating 'ignorant' from his li...more

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Oct 15, 2009 Goran Powell rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: martial-arts-books

If alarm bells ring at a book title beginning ‘American’ rest assured, this is an unexpected gem. Matthew Polly writes with wonderfully self-depreciating humour that makes for a very enjoyable read. Better still, he delivers real insight into modern training at the Shaolin temple.

There is a sense of genuine warmth for the people he meets and every word rings true. Polly is not afraid to expose the less spiritual side of Shaolin, with its tourist traps, political intrigues and the unhappy relati...more

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Sep 02, 2012 Alvin Chi rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: advisory-2012-2013

This is a great novel written by Mathew Polly who attended Princeton University. He wanted to learn Mandarin and his college Professor recommended him to go to China which was the origin of Mandarin. Then he decided to go to a Shaolin temple in Henan, which was a part of China who specialized in Kung Fu.
This was a really good novel about Polly’s experience in China; although he didn’t go to China for the reason he wanted to but he managed to focus on Kung Fu as well as improving in his Mandari...more

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Jan 10, 2009 Linda rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: non-fiction, biography

I have an affinity for anything to do with oriental cultures but I do not have an affinity for martial arts. I chose to read this book because it showed up on the ALA Alex list. I was not disappointed, and I can think of a number of teen boys who would enjoy reading it.
The author had much to be proud of having spent the time to learn Chinese before embarking on his two year stay in China to improve his Kung Fu skills. By doing so, he was able to give us a personal look into the lives of the Chi...more

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Jun 25, 2010 Lisa Eggers rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: other-asia

I had a lot of fun reading this memoir about Bao Mosi and his mad kungfu skills!!! It's cool how he speaks Chinese so well. I like his honesty. He's not afraid to look kind of ignorant or silly when he describes events in the book. Love that. I read a review that said something like: a good book but I'm sad that this is the kind of person who represents Americans abroad. I have to respectfully disagree with that. I thought Matt was exactly the type of person I'd want representing America abroad:...more

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Apr 05, 2013 Kimberly Taylor rated it 4 of 5 stars

I picked this book up because I like kung fu movies and I am a big fan of literature based in Asia. As other reviewers have mentioned, the author seems a bit immature, a bit selfish, and a bit culturally backward, but that is the point! Polly is brutally honest about his experience to the point of occasionally making himself to look a bit of a jerk, which is an accurate depiction of two cultures meeting. Yes, the reader can sit back and point out everything that may have been wrong with each sit...more

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May 23, 2008 Julie rated it 4 of 5 stars

This account of the culture clash between Buddhist martial arts monks in modern China and geeky American kungfu wannabe is fascinating, but also laugh-out-loud funny. Don't read it in a restaurant if you don't want Coke coming out your nose. It's really a guy book (considering language I'd say 15 & up), and I would give it to a reluctant reader in a heartbeat.

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Dec 11, 2011 Marc rated it 5 of 5 stars

This book entertainingly recounts the author's unique and fascinating experience as the only American (and for most of the time, the only Westerner) studying kung fu martial arts at Shaolin Temple Wushu Center, in China, from September 1992 to September 1993. In addition to being a devoted martial arts student, the author speaks Chinese, so he's really able to understand, communicate with, and befriend the locals. The book is full of cultural insights, written with keen cultural understanding, a...more

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Dec 17, 2008 Heather rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: nonfiction

As a young adult, Polly leaves his studies at Princeton University during the 1990s to travel to China in search of the Shaolin monks. His goal is to live with the monks, learn kung fu, and improve himself. Polly relates his experiences with humor and a tone of self-deprecation as he stumbles through cultural barriers and misunderstandings. 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...more

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Jan 20, 2013 Angela rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: 2007-2010

Leaving his home in Kansas as a college student on sabbatical, Matthew Polly went to China in pursuit of the Shaolin Temple, where he sought to study martial arts with the monks in the birthplace of kung fu. Armed with three years of Mandarin classes and a love of adventure, Polly found the temple and lived and studied there for two years in 1992 and 1993. Writing about the experience over a decade later, his book is a blend of his own experiences, cultural insight, wit, and a Westerner’s perspe...more

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Oct 13, 2012 Joe Green rated it 4 of 5 stars

All the good things people have said or written about this book are true. It's a quick, funny read with a number of interesting insights and anecdotes about Polly's two years in China. There's really no reason to rehash the same virtues that others have already done a fine job of exploring.

The thing that bugged me about this book and ultimately led me to dock it a star is that Polly comes down with a bad case of Hemingway-itis. Polly pretends to be humble and self-deprecating, but it was hard f...more

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Jun 21, 2012 Sara rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: autobiography, china

You don't have to have any interest in kung fu at all to enjoy this book. Matthew Polly has written a sympathetic and very funny account of his years studying martial arts at China's famous Shaolin Temple. He is able to convincingly describe the disjointed fish-out-of-water feeling that one gets when traveling in an unfamiliar culture, and his narrative seamlessly transitioning to familiarity with the cultural norms as time goes by. This is an excellent look at what China and its people were lik...more

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Apr 21, 2010 Unwisely rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: 2010, kept-me-up-too-late, memoir, travelogue

Ok, so, at first I was a little hesitant. This guy is another trustifarian kid who travels to somewhere exotic. But, then I remembered "My Super Sweet 16" (is that even still on?) and got over it - he does everything I would hope he would to - learns the language, respects the culture, and, oh yeah, studies kungfu 7 hours a day.

So...yeah. While I've never been to Asia at all and am basically a wimp, I love the concept. And that he made a life list and checked things off of it. After reading the...more

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Apr 13, 2013 Todd Giles rated it 4 of 5 stars

A quick and easy read ... chalk full of laugh-out-load and profound moments shared by the author of his own experiences training as with the Shaolin monks in Henan China. I still can't get over the Iron Crotch Kung Fu, can't even imagine what drives one to do that. Having been to Shaolin temple three times myself, it was particular interesting hearing more of its history, as well as recent history through the eyes of a young American giving up two years of his life to study Kung Fu from the sour...more

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About Matthew Polly

Matthew Polly is an award-winning travel writer for Slate. His first book, American Shaolin: Flying Kicks, Buddhist Monks, and the Legend of Iron Crotch; An Odyssey in the New China, was published in February of 2007. A Princeton University graduate and Rhodes Scholar, his work has appeared in Esquire, Playboy, and The Nation. He grew up in Kansas and lives in New York City

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Tapped Out: Rear Naked Chokes, the Octagon, and the Last Emperor: An Odyssey in Mixed Martial Arts

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“It is difficult for my fellow countrymen who have never lived abroad to understand that until a foreign man is about sixty-five, he still thinks, every so often, that under the right circumstances he'd like to punch an American in the face. Even people like the Chinese, who mostly like us, think of us--at least partly--as loud, fat, poorly dressed, overprivileged, hectoring, naive, arrogant, self-righteous bullies with little knowledge and no interest in any culture other than our own. I once had a conversation with a Japanese journalist who said to me, "You don't seem like an American." When I asked him, slightly hurt, why he said that, he replied, "Because you listen.” — 5 people liked it

“The sayers do not know and the knowers do not say.” — 1 person liked it

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American Shaolin: Flying Kicks, Buddhist Monks, and the Legend of Iron Crotch: An Odyssey in the New China

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