Long-distance call Mixed martial arts fighter Adrian Pang talks to Yvonne Lai about Bruce Lee and growing up tough in Papua New Guinea.

Mixed martial arts (MMA) fighter Adrian “The Hunter” Pang-is reluctant to remove his sun–glasses. “I don’t want to scare anyone,” the reigning Australian lightweight champion explains. Pang recently headlined the Legend Fighting Championship,Hong Kong’s first MMA event, with Nam Yui-chul from Korea,”Nam landed some good shots early that swelled my eye up.” Pang might have managed to hide most of the bruising on his face but a large scar on his forearm – from a spear wound sustained during a “friendly”childhood skirmish – warrants further inspection. Pang, 29, is second-generation Chinese-Papua New Guinean on his father’s side and Australian on his mother’s, His Chinese great grandparents migrated to Papua New Guinea as traders. “I grew up half an hour from Kokopo town, near the former capital of Rabaul [in East New Britain province], My father owned and ran a general store selling dried goods,rice, meats,materials and petrol to the natives. We lived in our shop right on the beach and there was not any other Chinese or white community around, “The only one who really knows[about Pang's roots in China] is my grandmother. We are really close but I think she went through quite a bit of hardship during the second world war and there are things she wants to shut out We’ve tried to ask her what province we come from but she won’t say, “My first language was Tok Pisin [pidgin], which is spoken throughout Papua New Guinea; but then there are over 800 tribes, languages and dialects. Geographically, it would be like people [in Causeway Bay] speaking a different language to those in Admiralty, and constantly fighting each other. Tribes have a pay-back system where whatever ill you do, there’s always a retaliation; that’s the way it’s always been. “We were lucky in that the Tolai people in my area were gentle. But they still fought [in accordance with] old customs. My [younger] brother and I had a great childhood; we grew up the way [my father] did -not babied too much and learning to be independent very young. For playtime, my father would send us out to the bush to invent our own fun – we’d make huts or spears. When you hang with native kids, everything is about survival. “In 1994, the eruptions of volcanoes Tavurvur and Vulcano destroyed Rabaul and the provincial capital was relocated to Kokopo. It was around that time that Pang flew to Brisbane, Australia, to train in martial arts. ”I’d always been partial to kung fu because of my Chinese heritage; and I can’t remember the time in my life before [I watched]Bruce Lee films.”Pang chose to specialise in the Chow Gar Tong Long (southern praying mantis) style of kung fu and, in 1998, was brought to Hong Kong to train with sifo Yip Shui (1912-2004).”We lived at the master’s house in Kowloon and every morning, we’d get up and train on the rooftop.”Pang switched to MMA fighting in 2000. “What Bruce Lee believed is what they are teaching now – that no one school of kung fu is exactly right for anyone. He believed in adapting and choosing the best elements in each discipline to create your own style. “Married and settled in Brisbane with a 10-month-old son, Pang fights less often these days. He runs his own carpentry business and visits his father, who now lives in Port Moresby,as often as he can. “Back home, they consider me New Guinean. I’m in the newspapers all the time – they love contact sport. Because it’s a third world country and -gets a lot of bad press, they are glad [to]have someone lifting their name.”