The Chinese government has identified martial arts schools as a source of soft power, and has plans to foster the opening of some 15,000 academies. However, a snag in the plan recently emerged – very much of what is taught in Chinese martial arts is far more art than martial. There is nothing wrong with that; Yoga was warrior origins, and does just fine in the international marketplace by marketing itself with integrity, as a means for increased health and wellness.

Unfortunately, while some Chinese martial arts like Sanda are among the most effective on Earth, many others, the vast majority in fact, have little practical use in an actual fight. The way you know this is that they don’t actually fight, and on the few occasions when they do, they fight poorly, and without using the actual techniques that define the style.

Here are two of the world’s leading exponents of Wing Chun fighting each other. It shows all the technique of angry eight-year-olds needing a time out.

Boztepe’s students argue that he is among the world’s greatest fighters, and regularly defeats multiple skinheads with weapons, etc. Somehow, despite the near complete ubiquity of cameras, there is 0 seconds of Boztepe actually making Wing Chun work. Instead, there is a lifetime of demonstration, often with a shirt off – Sifu has glistening muscles, waves his hands around fast, uses Asian words, and makes angry faces so he HAS to be very dangerous. Thus it is with the majority of teachers of Chinese martial arts. And again, this is not a blanket rule, there are CMA schools whose lineage is kickboxing with bag gloves and jump boots. Google lifelong Chinese stylist Paul Vizzio, to give just one example. Unfortunately, these actual masters of martial arts do not define the discipline.

Earlier this year, Xu Xiaodong, a self-taught MMA fighter, coach, and promoter in Chengdu, Sichuan province, China issued a fighting challenge to Tai Chi masters, using the Chinese social network Weibo. Tai Chi master Wei Lei was brave enough to step up. It is also possible that Lei was not brave, but deluded to the point it would be accurate to say really stupid.

The “fight” lasted 10 seconds, with the traditional martial arts master faring notably worse than would the average person. This is not unexpected because human beings enjoy instincts that while not optimal are reasonably effective. Unfortunately, these instincts (keep your hands up, dig for an underhook, etc) can be drilled away by a sufficiently deluded martial arts system.

It’s bad to be in a fight if you don’t know how to fight. But it is worse by far to be in a fight, not know how to fight, and not know it. Lei didn’t even know enough to run.

Afterward, in a series of interviews, Lei offered a variety of explanations for his absurd showing. He said he wore shoes with rubber soles, and the mat was rubber, so he slipped.

“He never touched me when I was standing up,” said Lei. “I only got hit when I fell on the floor. Do I need to explain any more?”

Lei apparently did indeed need to explain more. He later said he didn’t want to win, as it would have led to “disharmony” in his life. And in yet another interview, Lei said that he had held back so as not to kill his opponent with his true power.

The exposure of Lei’s delusion is not an attack on Tai Chi, in any way. Tai Chi is a remarkable cultural tradition, with notable health and wellness benefits. But its techniques have something less than nothing to do with a real fight – trying Tai Chi in a real fight is worse than reacting instinctively.

Xiaodong apparently angered the government and went into hiding for a time. His microblogging account was shut down, and a second account he opened was shut down as well. The fight spurred on a huge debate on Chinese social networks about the relative effectiveness of traditional Chinese martial arts and MMA. Sarah Zheng for the South China Morning Post reports that the public was largely supportive of the MMA coach. This is not surprising – people aren’t stupid. However, a pitifully large number of traditional Chinese martial arts experts are.

Xiaodong recently emerged again, in Shanghai, as the head of a team that was to fight a Tai Chi team at 3:00 p.m. on Monday. The event was broken up by police before reality could commence.

Now Xu charges that the Tai Chi team deliberately sabotaged the event by alerting the police; he alleges that tai chi master Ma Baoguo had asked his nephew to call the police. Xu said he was eagerly awaiting the match and that June 26 is now a shameful day for martial arts. Xu says he learned the identity of the whistleblower from police, and dared Ma to sue him if the accusation is untrue.

This would be in keeping with Baoguo’s utterly disgraceful character, who hired MMA fighter Peter Irving to appear in a movie, and then tried to pass it off as a real fight.

Xu said he was not detained, but remained speaking with police until 8:00 p.m. at which point there was nowhere open to fight.

I have left Shanghai!” he wrote Your martial arts centers and organizations can finally breathe a sigh of relief.”

Xu said he is considering arranging a behind-closed-doors fight at some point soon for release on video. Of course, in order for a fight to take place, someone has to step up. So far, only one man has, and what happened to him may have a chilling effect on the others. That is contemptibly sad, as rather than being chilling, what happened could be illuminating.

In the meantime, Xu’s popularity grows.

These ‘fake’ career martial artists cannot keep lying to people,” wrote a fan online. “Brother Xu is awesome, no one can push him around.”