— In April, Xu Xiaodong,
an MMA teacher on a personal quest to expose, quote, “fake martial arts” in China,
was challenged to a fight by a Tai Chi Master—
who he beat up in about 12 seconds.
And the video went viral almost as fast.
But many in China saw Xu’s victory as an attack
on Chinese traditions by a Western-style fighter,
and Xu was pummeled in the press.
Then, he disappeared.
VICE News tracked him down to a gym in Beijing,
where he’s preparing to face off against another Tai Chi master on Monday.
— Xu Xiaodong first became a professional MMA fighter in 1999.
But nowadays, he’s more of a businessman: He’s opened up several gyms across China,
and spends his time organizing and promoting fights.
— Why do you think people are so upset about this fight, then?
— The Chinese Wushu Association, a government-run organization,
issued a statement condemning the fight,
saying that it violated the morals of martial arts.
That fight touched a nerve in China.
A lot of people took it as a humiliation of traditional Chinese culture
by a more violent, Western import.
Tai Chi used to be known for its use on the battlefield.
Now, it’s mostly known as an exercise to keep people fit.
— Xu seems to think otherwise.
— He’s not afraid to get what he wants.
He even stole our producer’s lunch out of the fridge and ate it.
— I mean, the fight was pretty brutal, right?
I mean, at the very end you…
kept going, you didn’t stop.
What was that like?
— After the initial fight, Xu was forced into hiding.
He announced back in May that all of his social media accounts were allegedly taken down
from the government-monitored social media platform, Weibo.
— But that's not exactly what he told us when we met in person.
— For a while, talking about you or the fight on the internet, period, was blocked.
Is that over yet?
— But, whatever actually went down,
Xu’s back in action and committed to his mission.
As he gears up for Monday’s big fight,
he might not want to talk about the government,
but he’s happy to express his opinions about everything else.