Matthew Polly - American Shaolin

FLYING KICKS, BUDDHIST MONKS, AND THE LEGEND OF IRON CROTCH: AN ODYSSEY IN THE NEW CHINA

W hile there are several arguably superior systems for the romanization of the Chinese language, pinyin is the approved system of the Peoples Republic of China and most international publications. It is therefore used throughout this text with two exceptions. The first is popular English spellings of proper names and places like Confucius ( Kong fuzi ), Hong Kong ( Xianggang ), and Canton ( Guangdong ). Second, while most American dictionaries spell kung fu as two words, I reduced it to one, kungfu, because I didnt want thousands of orphaned fus populating the pages of my book with no cks to keep them company.

Pinyin s system of spelling does not always correspond to standard English pronunciation. To help the Western reader, here are a few of the major differences. The letter q sounds like ch, so Monk Deqings name is pronounced De ch ing. The letter x sounds like sh, so Deng Xiaopings name is pronounced Deng Sh aoping. The letters zh sound like a j combined with a ch, so the city of Zheng Zhou is pronounced Jh eng Jh oe.

July 1993

A poor chess player can still make a remarkable move.

WANG YINGGUI, LIU NAN SUI BI

I t had been a calm night at the Shaolin Temple before the fight started.

A French photojournalist named Pierre was throwing a small banquet at the Shaolin Wushu Centers restaurant for several of the martial monks and Shaolins expat community, which consisted of two Norwegians who were visiting for the week and Shaolins two American students, John Lee and myself. Pierre had been assigned to take photos of the Shaolin monks for a French magazine, and I had arranged for my friends and instructors Monk Deqing, Monk Cheng Hao, and Coach Yan to pose for him. The session had gone so well that Pierre had invited us all to dinner.

We were seated around a large table in the middle of the restaurant, which was built by the government and reflected the Communist Partys taste in architecture: oversize, poorly constructed, and rectangular. Maoist aesthetics are a tyranny of straight lines. The restaurant had the dimensions of a high school basketball gymnasium and was only three years old, but already rundown. It was usually only filled at lunch when droves of tourists made day-trips to visit the Shaolin Temple, famous throughout the world as the birthplace of both Zen Buddhism and the martial arts. The only other guests that night were a group of six Chinese men sitting at a banquet table a hundred feet away. A dozen waitresses were lounging around arguing with each other about who had breakfast duty the next morning.

We had finished the toasting phase of the banquet, where much thanks is given and much baijiu is choked down. ( Baijiu is Chinese rice liquor that tastes and affects the digestive system like a combination of sake, moonshine, and Liquid Drano.) We were just settling into the main course when the waitress who was serving the other table came over and whispered something to Deqing and Coach Yan.

Deqings face immediately went red with rage. He and I had become close friends over the last nine months of my stay, so I was used to his mood swings. But I had never before seen him this angry.

He really said he wants a qie cuo ? Deqing asked, gripping his glass so tightly I though he might shatter it. Challenge match?

Which one is he? Coach Yan asked.

The waitress pointed to the other table. One of the men raised his cup in a toast. He was big for a Chinese man, maybe six feet tall and 180 pounds. He was wearing thick spectacles, which was also unusual in rural China.

His name is Master Wu, the waitress said. He says he is a kungfu master from Tianjin. Those are his disciples with him.

Tai bu gei women mianzi , Deqing said with disdain. So not giving us face.

As Deqing continued to rant, Pierre, who did not speak Chinese, asked me in English, What is happening?

The man at the other table, Master Wu, has requested a qie cuo a challenge match, I said. He wants to fight Shaolins champion to see whose style and skill is superior.