The Fall of the Southern Shaolin Temple and the Rise of the Ten Tigers of Canton tells the legendary story of the Southern Shaolin Temples in Fukien Provence, China, and of the renowned Shaolin Kung Fu masters who trained there.

Events and betrayals led to the destruction of these Southern Shaolin Temples. The survivors fled from the Ch'ing/Qing army and dispersed around Kwangtung/Guangdong Province. Many of these eventually settled in or around the provincial capital city of Canton. They, in turn, taught their kung fu among the general population, which led to the rise of several eminent kung fu masters.

The ten best were chosen and from then on would be known as the Ten Tigers of Canton.