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I think the CCP angle is interesting because they want to project this image of 'perfection' in the rest of the world. The only problem is that almost everybody
by Quekid5 7y ago
I think the CCP angle is interesting because they want to project this image of 'perfection' in the rest of the world. The only problem is that almost everybody knows it's BS. So are the powers themselves ignorant of what the "West" thinks of them? What gives?
EDIT: I suppose I should add a little thing here for people who take the more practical angle: The point during these fights is that there's an idea (in how the announcers set it up) of Western vs. Eastern/Chinese. He's just demonstrating that there's 'it works' and 'ineffectual'. Aka: Science!
- agota 7y agoI think you are overestimating the percentage of the general population that understand that traditional martial arts are BS (with obvious exceptions such as Muay Thai). A regular person with no previous martial arts training is easy prey for the "masters". That's why these traditional martial arts gyms still exist.
- slothtrop 7y agoYou can argue they're still an art even if they're less effective in a match, though they should be more upfront about it.
- _bxg1 7y agoI think the takeaway is not that "traditional martial arts are BS", but that the CCP cares only about appearances, and so has funded legions of false masters in an attempt to project cultural superiority, and this guy is calling them out on it. It's a microcosm of their entire propaganda-state and the corruption that it's rife with. Even their finance reporting follows the same pattern.
- Quekid5 7y agoYou absolutely nailed it. Thank you.
- rscho 7y agoTraditional martial arts practiced in a modern way are BS. Ancient practitioners were no jokes.
- kofejnik 7y agothere's no evidence of that whatsoever somewhere on youtube, there's a clip of two grandmasters fighting in front of a large audience, in the 1950s I think? It's bw and terrible quality, but it's quite obvious that either one of them would've been whooped in a bar fight on Friday night
- achenatx 7y agochina outlawed wushu fighting (lei tan) in the 1920s. Before that point masters would maim/kill each other and take over each other's schools. We know of kung fu in the united states, but there is also sanda/sanshou which actually fight. Shaolin is more about art than the martial.
- hash872 7y agoI don't think a high % of Chinese- or really any culture where MMA isn't big- know that their traditional martial arts are BS. It took a couple of decades here in the US for people to realize that TMAs are mostly nonsense. From what I've heard, the CCP wants to preserve & promote traditional Chinese culture, which includes their native martial arts. They view MMA as a Western influence, so they want to keep it out
- trenning 7y agoThe UFC just had an event in Shenzhen in August. In fact a Chinese MMA fighter (Zhang Weili) beat the then current champion to become strawweight division champ. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zhang_Weili https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zhang_Weili
- hash872 7y agoI'm aware. In general the Party has not been very enthusiastic about MMA/western martial arts- they see it as a cultural influence thing. I agree that they're not outright banned
- Quekid5 7y agoI hate to be cynical, but once you get a winner you're probably going to want to keep on winning, right...? Btw, that's what I think the CCP is: Cynical to the utmost extreme. If they sense that the wind is changing they'll adapt. There are limits to how far they'll adapt, obviously[0], but for something like this (cultural heritage vs. whatever), I don't doubt they'll do it soonish. Except for pictures of Winnie the Pooh juxtaposed on the Leader's head. (I mean... how petty can you get?) [0] Self-preservation would be a top-priority, I imagine. Maybe for the party, but not necessarily.
- ncmncm 7y agoThat event is cited in the article.
- gist 7y ago> It took a couple of decades here in the US for people to realize that TMAs are mostly nonsense. How are they mostly nonsense? A typical case might be use in an unavoidable situation where some kind of defense is needed. Most people would probably want some kind of 'training' to be able to call on. That is if you can't walk away or avoid which would be the first choice. [1] Most people are probably not training thinking they are going to fight a determined adversary in a real battle. Saying it is 'mostly nonsense' is the same as saying locks are of no value. [1] That said I do think that training people for a night or a few lessons 'women learn how to defend yourself if attacked!' is for sure going to cause more harm than good very generally.
- mikelyons 7y agoIt seems to me that, similar to DPRK, they don't care so much about what the rest of the world thinks, they care more about what their own population thinks the rest of the world thinks ...