Nick Hurst was working in London when he threw in his job in advertising to train for four years in Malaysia and China with a kung fu grandmaster, Sugong. This book is a mix of Nick's experiences in South-East Asia and the story of Sugong's extraordinary life.
Initiated into kung fu by an opium-addicted master, Sugong was expelled from school, kidnapped, and nearly killed in a family feud. All by the age of sixteen.
He fled army conscription in China, only to be engulfed in a world of gangsters and blood-brothers in Singapore.
Saved by a Shaolin warrior monk, his penance was eight years of fiercely-enforced temple training.
A near-fatal fall-out with his master, love affairs, race riots and gangland vendettas all followed as he travelled through South-East Asia.
Throughout, he struggled to adhere to martial arts ethics in an imperfect world.
His story spanned fascinating periods of history of four Asian countries in Asia: war-torn 1930s China; instability in post-war Singapore; racial tension in the newly independent Malaysia; and a gangster-led Taiwan in the aftermath of its Chinese breakaway.
The origins of Shaolin kung fu and triad organised crime are explored to provide a context to his life.