more on the case of Xu Xiaodong (Chinese MMA guy) and implications

[KangTsai]

I would just like to follow through on some details of the Xu Xiaodong incidents which Bill and Xue Sheng have posted on. This man, following a short, completely one-sided challenge match against tai chi "master" Wei Lei, came out with this televised interview:

TL-DW: Xu first addresses the criticism he received over the viral spreading of the challenge video. Xu claims that a lot of so called "masters" of kung fu are brainwashed beyond recovery and how only a small percentage of them have actual fighting ability, whom he hopes to challenge. He talks about blatant corruption in Chinese combat sports, and how China glorifies kung fu exaggeratedly, and fixes fights in ways that preserves this image.

So, I don't subscribe to any conspiracies. However, considering this is China, this interview was without a question, a gigantic hit to his standing with authorities and public. He has been reported to have been in hiding - he has had his school closed down and demoted etc. He also was seen in this video:

As sad as it is, the government threatening the likes of you and your family is extremely common in China (It also used to be common in Korea, hopefully changing with the new president, which is looking great) to shut you up. They forced him to apologise, as there is no way he would have come out like this. His blogs have immediately become censored since the incident. Not to mention the genuine anger and threats he was faced with on social media.

Coming to this forum, I was under the illusion that all martial artists were open minded individuals like you beautiful people. Not the case at all. Especially in Asia. Most are delusionally attached to their dogma of the perfect martial art. Xiaodong, before all the censorship, but shortly after winning the fight, challenged all tai chi practitioners to a fight, with money on the line. How went down, refer to Bill's post.

I feel that kung fu is on a downhill as of this incident thanks to the sheer volume of delusional individuals that plague the traditional arts. It's sad that somebody proclaiming what we all take for granted about martial arts is being this harshly punished by the Chinese government of all things. For something as petty as "maybe if you stopped believing your martial art was the best and trained to fight, you would be able to fight." I'm also hoping everyone already knows about the terrible match fixing practices of Chinese combat sports events.
For once those complete MMA fanboys seem miles more rational than the hyper-traditionals to me. At least they understand what true, effective training methods look like, even if they obnoxiously and redundantly trash talk everything else without thought.

 

[JowGaWolf]

I would just like to follow through on some details of the Xu Xiaodong incidents which Bill and Xue Sheng have posted on. This man, following a short, completely one-sided challenge match against tai chi "master" Wei Lei, came out with this televised interview:

TL-DW: Xu first addresses the criticism he received over the viral spreading of the challenge video. Xu claims that a lot of so called "masters" of kung fu are brainwashed beyond recovery and how only a small percentage of them have actual fighting ability, whom he hopes to challenge. He talks about blatant corruption in Chinese combat sports, and how China glorifies kung fu exaggeratedly, and fixes fights in ways that preserves this image.

So, I don't subscribe to any conspiracies. However, considering this is China, this interview was without a question, a gigantic hit to his standing with authorities and public. He has been reported to have been in hiding - he has had his school closed down and demoted etc. He also was seen in this video:

As sad as it is, the government threatening the likes of you and your family is extremely common in China (It also used to be common in Korea, hopefully changing with the new president, which is looking great) to shut you up. They forced him to apologise, as there is no way he would have come out like this. His blogs have immediately become censored since the incident. Not to mention the genuine anger and threats he was faced with on social media.

Coming to this forum, I was under the illusion that all martial artists were open minded individuals like you beautiful people. Not the case at all. Especially in Asia. Most are delusionally attached to their dogma of the perfect martial art. Xiaodong, before all the censorship, but shortly after winning the fight, challenged all tai chi practitioners to a fight, with money on the line. How went down, refer to Bill's post.

I feel that kung fu is on a downhill as of this incident thanks to the sheer volume of delusional individuals that plague the traditional arts. It's sad that somebody proclaiming what we all take for granted about martial arts is being this harshly punished by the Chinese government of all things. For something as petty as "maybe if you stopped believing your martial art was the best and trained to fight, you would be able to fight." I'm also hoping everyone already knows about the terrible match fixing practices of Chinese combat sports events.
For once those complete MMA fanboys seem miles more rational than the hyper-traditionals to me. At least they understand what true, effective training methods look like, even if they obnoxiously and redundantly trash talk everything else without thought.

China's crackdown was more disappointing than the fight. I knew people would care about how the fight turned out. I knew people would be offended. But I didn't think China's ego would be so fragile that the Government felt the need to step in and enforce such rules. I think that action did more to hurt kung fu than the Tai Chi guy losing. China's actions actually validates what Xu was claiming and the government and kung associations said as much. "kung fu isn't about fighting."

 

[Xue Sheng]

Martial arts has become BIG business in China, Shaolin, Wudang, Chenjiagou, etc. And the government is heavily invested in these 3 so you don't mess with the money. I do not like what happened to Xu, and frankly I think it should have been taken as a wake up call and used to improve Chinese Martial Arts in China. But anyone in China knows you can do virtually anything you want, just as long as you don't do something that makes the government have to respond and messing with their money will get their attention.

I have talked with several people about this in the last few days, all from China and most from Beijing and the response so far has been the same, "Of course he got in trouble, what did you expect!". None are happy about it but none are surprised either.

I hope it gets better for Xu, and I agree with what he is saying, but he should have known better. Challenge all you want, just don't make it so public.