Jingwu Taichi
I would be so ****ed if I was part of Jingwu. That being said, I’d kind of like a Jingwu Taichi t-shirt. I’d wear it for my next fb guest pic. 
Chinese Kung Fu: myth or deceitful trick?
(People’s Daily Online)
14:47, September 18, 2012
Recently, a video titled “Jingwu Taichi master demonstrates pushing hands at graduation ceremony for apprentices” became very popular on the Internet.
Some said that the event just shows the tip of the iceberg on the ills of Chinese Kung Fu. In addition to fraud, a series of phenomena including “being pleasant to the eye but of no use” have been plaguing Chinese Kung Fu. Even more terribly, various films and television programs excessively deify Chinese Kung Fu and many people directly link it with patriotism and national self-confidence. It seems that Chinese Kung Fu cannot afford to fail.
Today, in the tide of commercial culture and health maintenance, this kind of untraceable Kung Fu has brought lucrative profits to the gainers.
There have been numerous discussions about whether Chinese Kung Fu is powerful and some news perhaps can disclose the truth.
First, when the boxing champion Evander Holyfield came to China to participate in a commercial activity and was asked his views on Bruce Lee, Jackie Chan and Jet Li, Holyfield, who had been harassed by such questions for many times, no longer answered politely but said directly that they were actors and he did not care to deal with the three of them.
Second, some competitions such as “Chinese Kung Fu versus Japanese Karate,” “Chinese Kung Fu versus U.S. Professional Boxing,” “Chinese Kung Fu versus Russian Free Combat” and “Chinese Kung Fu versus Thai Boxing Champion,” have been organized with Chinese Kung Fu always winning due to the advantages in the rules made by its sponsors. All of these competitions are commercial performances. Real martial artists say that the martial arts itself is modest and unobtrusive while martial arts novels are exaggerated and deified.
There are three inevitable reasons for the fascination with Chinese Kung Fu. Firstly, it is the worship of superpower. China was born out of a society with long feudal history, which had weak legal system and contractual relationship, so people fancied more humanized superpowers that can clean up social order and maintain basic ethics. Secondly, it has the influence of culture. Chinese Kung Fu was often attached to the historical figures and legends and became a spiritual ballast of reacting against imperial authority. Thirdly, it is a blend of skills and arts. Martial arts belong to skills while martial art novels are fantasy art. As the blend of skills and arts became a tradition, coupled with the practical or theoretical promotion of “militarized martial arts,” the worship of Kung Fu became a realistic totem.
In 2010, when “Ip Man 2” was released in China, “Iron Man 2” was also released in the United States at the same time. Both films were themed around power and salvation, with the Chinese movie resorting to a false legend while the U.S. movie resorted to technology and machinery. Some netizens joked at the time that Ye Wen, the main character in “Ip Man 2” should duel with Iron Man to see whether Chinese Kung Fu is invincible. Zhuangzi, an influential philosopher from ancient China, had dreamed of him turning into a butterfly but after waking up, he realized he had to continue his original life. The story of Zhuangzi tells us that the invincibility of Chinese Kung Fu is only a fantasy of the Chinese people in the 21st century.
The more deified Chinese Kung Fu is, the clearer it is. If it is arbitrarily exaggerated, the reputation of Chinese Kung Fu will eventually be destroyed. It sounds a little cruel but we have to admit, “Chinese Kung Fu is not really a technology, but a way of life. It is not offensive and the so-called myth of Chinese Kung Fu is more like a deceitful trick.”
