My Path to Becoming: The Life of Italy’s Kung-Fu Master

Born in Genoa in 1960, Paolo Cangelosi began the practice of Ju Jitsu at the age of eight and two years after that met Master Fu Han Tong, a fascinating and charismatic Kung Fu master who practiced his art alone in a workshop in the center of Genoa. The young Cangelosi responded to the harsh teachings and training of his early master by devoting himself even more fully to his training. Fu Han Tong delayed his departure from Italy for 7 years so he could dedicate himself to his promising young student.

Cangelosi continued his study of Kung Fu, along the way earning a black belt in Karate and Judo, and trained in Western Boxing and Kendo. At 16, against his family’s wishes, he left school to devote himself exclusively to martial arts. In 1977, before returning to China, Fu Han Tong bestowed the rank of Sifu on Cangelosi, who then decided to open a school, becoming one of the pioneers in Italy.

At the age of 20, shortly after opening his school, Sifu Cangelosi left for China and Hong Kong hoping to find his Master, Fu Han Tong, from whom he had heard nothing. His adventures in the East are worthy of a film; they were a true quest, full of strife, beauty, encounters with extraordinary people and noble healers, and endless questing.

In this passionately told biography, one of Cangelosi’s followers and alumni, Nathalie Tocci, tells her own and Paolo Cangelosi’s gripping stories.