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 Caine in his favorite 1970s TV series, Kung Fu . While in college, Matthew decided the time had come to pursue this quixotic dream before it was too late. Much to the dismay of his parents, he dropped out of Princeton to spend two years training with the legendary sect of monks who invented kung fu and Zen Buddhism. Expecting to find an isolated citadel populated by supernatural ascetics that he’d seen in countless badly dubbed chop-socky flicks, Matthew instead discovered a tacky tourist trap run by Communist party hacks. But the dedicated monks still trained in the rigorous age-old fighting forms—some even practicing the "iron kung fu" discipline, in which intensive training can make various body parts virtually indestructible (even the crotch). As Matthew grew in his knowledge of China and kung fu skill, he would come to represent the Temple in challenge matches and international competitions, and ultimately the monks would accept their new American initiate as close to one of their own as any Westerner had ever become. Laced with humor and illuminated by cultural insight, American Shaolin is an unforgettable coming-of-age tale of one young man’s journey into the ancient art of kung fu—and a funny and poignant portrait of a rapidly changing China.

馬修·波利 (Matthew Polly)，美國旅行作傢。1992年，21歲的馬修前往中國，在河南少林寺學藝兩年，拜釋永信為師，是少林寺第一位正式的美國弟子。2003年，他應邀在著名的在綫雜誌Slate.com上撰寫一係列有關中國的旅行文章。2007年，馬修的迴憶錄 American Shaolin 在美國齣版。2011年，他齣版瞭另一部非虛構作品Tapped Out，記錄瞭他受訓兩年並最終成為一位綜閤格鬥師（MMA）的經曆。目前，他正在撰寫一部關於李小龍的書。