What has happened to Chinese martial arts? Where did they grow wrong? There have been many contests recently between traditional Chinese (TCMA) martial artists and modern combat sports athletes and practitioners. Without fail, all of them have been rather one-sided contests with rather quick and humiliating defeats for the TCMA.As evidenced by this clip of Xu Xiaodong fighting a Taji exponent.
Having been in China for the last seven years I feel that sharing some of my experiences will be of benefit. Perhaps the biggest problems for Traditional Chinese martial arts (TCMA) are that there can be overlapping aims when practicing such as fighting prowess, health and longevity, cultural transmission and sometimes even the spiritual aspect. This means that the average practitioner can seem rather wishy-washy in comparison with the focused combat athlete.
The continued practice of ineffective training methods allows the student to develop a false sense of confidence. If the martial art you are studying has these faults then perhaps it is time to reevaluate.
1. Predictable and unchallenging drills with attacks provided by the partner: with little resistance or variation
2. Static and slow footwork:
3. No comprehension of grappling or groundwork
4. No sparring of any kind.
5. Ineffective power generation with much talk of ‘internal power’
But there is hope! With the rise of functional martial arts here in China along with the promotion of combat sports by the government, there could be a renaissance for traditional arts where they are forced to confront the problems and issues holding back their arts.
