Shang-Chi works as a valet with his best friend Katy Chen at the Fairmont San Francisco.

Shang-Chi's father founded the Ten Rings during the Middle Ages as a clandestine criminal organization. By the 21st Century, the Ten Rings have become involved in terrorist activities across the globe.

Ta Lo is a dimension within the Multiverse only accessible through a portal, protected by a constantly moving bamboo maze forest.

SHANG-CHI: Right before he's about to throw the first punch, Katy comes out of nowhere, steps right between us and starts screaming the lyrics to "Hotel California".
KATY: It's the art of confusion. Works great on stupid people.

He is attacked on a bus by the Ten Rings, who steal a pendant that Shang-Chi's mother gave to him shortly before her death.

Xialing lives in Macau, where she runs an underground fight ring, which she founded after escaping from Wenwu at a young age.

After the death of his mother, Shang-Chi trained to be an assassin for the Ten Rings. Xialing watched from the shadows and trained herself, specializing in the Rope Dart. During the Battle of Ta Lo, she switched out the dart for a Dragon Scale so it would be able to kill the Soul Eaters.

Wong and Abomination are apparently in cahoots, putting on a show for the crowd at the Golden Daggers Club before going on to collect their winnings.

WENWU: Some years ago, a terrorist from America needed a Boogeyman to bring your country to its knees. So he appropriated the ten rings. My ten rings. But because he didn't know my actual name, he invented a new one. Do you know the name he chose? The Mandarin. He gave his figurehead the name of a chicken dish.

He believes the guardians of Ta Lo are holding his dead wife prisoner behind the Dark Gate--but the voice calling to him isn't really his wife.