Even Bruce Lee Would Laugh! Duck Moves Win an International Title—Chinese Kung Fu Turn Fake?

An international martial arts competition was held in Beijing on November 6. Tang Buonie, a 32-year-old competitor from Beijing, won a championship with his duck-style boxing routine. Video from the event shows Tang moving back and forth across the competition floor in a half squat throughout his routine. His arms head and footwork all mimic a duck at times he flaps both arms while crouching imitating a duck flapping its wings at others he moves his hands as if a duck were swimming he also walks in a half squat stretching his head forward and pulling it back to imitate a duck waddling or searching for food the movements look comical Some people online joked that duck-style boxing looked more like dancing than a martial art. Others called it undignified. Others questioned whether duck-style boxing would work in a real fight. One said, this must be a form of exercise for your health. You can tell just by looking that it's not for actual fighting. Another wrote, I watched the whole thing from start to finish, and I still want to know whether even one of those moves could hurt anyone. Tang said in an interview that duck-style boxing may look funny, but completing a full routine is exhausting. He said it can also be used for self-defense if practiced well. Tang said he has practiced martial arts for 21 years and is also trained under teachers in crab-style boxing and other styles. Publicly available information describes duck-style boxing as one of China's rare martial arts styles. It belongs to a group of styles that imitates animals. Historical accounts say a Taoist known as Green Duck created it on Mount Emei in Sichuan toward the end of the Tang Dynasty. Practitioners remain in a half-squat throughout, which requires very strong legs. In April 2023, duck-style boxing was included in the fifth group of district-level intangible cultural heritage listings in Zhuhai, Guangdong province. Wang Zun also made duck-style boxing popular online, with people uploading videos of the style. I graduated from a martial arts school. Today, I'm going to demonstrate a duck-style boxing routine. Another person posted a video, saying, An elderly man is demonstrating duck-style boxing, imitating the way ducks walk and fight. This is a rare sight. On a social media platform outside China, writer Cui Changhao said he thought practicing the routine for exercise and entertainment was fine, but seeing it labeled as a first-place winner at an international martial arts competition made him question the scoring. He wondered whether the championship went to whoever looked most like a duck. He said a martial arts competition should judge fighting ability rather than mime, and that such performances risked making Chinese martial arts a laughingstock among practitioners of karate, taekwondo, and muay thai. Daniel Fong, a blogger on X, said duck-style boxing probably would not last even three seconds in a real fight. He compared it to China Today, saying CCP General Secretary Xi Jinping's initiatives may sound impressive, but fail when put to the test. Fong said that since taking office, Xi has accomplished nothing successfully other than locking down Wuhan, and said every initiative had wasted public money and exhausted the population. Duck-style boxing is one of the most unusual Chinese martial arts styles. People online have compiled some clips. A person using the name Xiaowang Fenghua wrote, Duck-style boxing really exists. So do eagle claw, praying mantis, and crane boxing, along with tiger crane boxing and five animal exercises. They were all created by imitating animal movements. Some techniques developed into practical fighting methods. Influenced by martial arts movies and novels, adults and children alike enjoyed practicing them in the 1980s and 90s. I've never heard of chicken-style boxing, though. Unfortunately, without a scientific foundation in modern anatomy, mechanics, and the study of movement, have drifted further and further from modern combat and become purely entertainment and exercise. Another person called Tang, a second Ma Baoguo, who was a Tai Chi master and MMA fighter. They said Chinese martial arts these days seem to focus on body performance, physical exertion, and how much the audience could bear to watch it, rather than punching and kicking skills. Ma Baoguo is a prominent martial arts figure who has drawn persistent criticism in recent years. He is seen as one of the figures associated with the decline of Chinese martial arts. Ma was born in Nanyang, Henan Province in 1952. He calls himself the head of Hunyuan Xingyi Tai Chi, but this supposed school has not received official recognition. At a martial arts match in Zibo, Shandong Province in 2020, Ma, aged 68, faced Wang Qiming, a 50-year-old amateur combat sports enthusiast. Ma was knocked down three times soon after the fight began. He first went down just four seconds into the match. The fight resumed after he got up, but at the 18-second mark, another punch knocked him down again. Shortly after he rose for a second time, Wang landed a heavy punch that left Ma unconscious on the floor. His students and medical staff rushed forward in alarm and gave him emergency treatment. Fortunately, he regained consciousness a few minutes later. The incident also sparked debate over traditional Chinese martial arts. Some people said they were ineffective in real fights. Others said authentic martial arts were highly effective, but many had been lost. Ma attended the opening of a martial arts school in August 2020. On stage, he made a series of hand gestures that he called a special Hunyuan Xingyi Tai Chi technique for receiving redirecting and releasing force. He even slowed the movements down, saying he wanted the audience to appreciate the breadth and depth of Chinese martial arts. Ma then said he would demonstrate his special technique in actual combat, and sparred with an elderly monk wearing a Buddhist robe. Ma struck the monk in the face several times at the outset, but the monk quickly fought back, swinging his palms and landing several blows to Ma's face. After the exhibition match, Ma took the microphone and declared that sparring should stop short of causing injury. He emphasized that traditional kung fu would hurt people if used for real. After the footage circulated online, people in China mocked Ma, calling his shamelessness unbelievable. A scene at the Asian Games martial arts venue in Hangzhou also drew laughter on September 25, 2023. Wearing a gray and white Chinese-style outfit, Ma suddenly began demonstrating what he called kung fu in the stands. He twisted his body rigorously and clawed at the air with both hands. The scene left many people online stunned. Ma later made frequent public appearances at commercial shows, becoming an internet personality willing to embarrass himself for online attention. In August 2023, Ma was invited to perform as an internet personality at what was described as a cultural exhibition in Taizhou, Zhejiang province. The footage shows Ma performing indoors in May 2020. Wearing a blue and white striped polo shirt and khaki pants, he makes a series of exaggerated rhythmic movements in a room with a wooden floor. His broad movements look like dancing. People online jokingly called it a street dance. On June 19th, 2024, Ma even performed on a nightclub stage while wearing a traditional white martial arts uniform. Purple lights and smoke filled the venue, with a DJ booth behind him and young people watching below. His exaggerated martial arts moves made him look like a comedian. Thank you again. China analyst Yang Bo, who is familiar with Chinese traditional culture, said martial arts are part of China's heritage, and Chinese kung fu is also popular with many foreigners. Bruce Lee's screen performances won admiration abroad. The American animated film Kung Fu Panda was released in 2008. Hong Kong writer Jing Yong's novels also embody the spirit of chivalry cherished by Chinese people. Yet traditional martial arts are now rarely seen in China. Yang said that more than 70 years of Chinese Communist Party rule had devastated traditional culture. Authentic Tai Chi lineages are extremely rare, he said, and those that survive are not passed on openly. Yang said people in today's martial arts world, such as Ma, lack both personal cultivation and skill. He said Ma had turned martial arts into a spectacle and shown them no respect. Given Ma's age, Yang said, it was hardly surprising that a young adult combat sports enthusiast could easily knock him down. There are many similar examples. On April 27, 2017, Chinese mixed martial arts coach Xu Xiaodong faced Wei Lei, founder of Lei Gong Tai Chi. They met in a private match in a martial arts school in Chengdu's Sichuan province. About four to ten seconds after the fight began, Xu knocked Wei down with a series of heavy punches, leaving his face bloodied. The referee then stopped the match and declared Xu the winner. The incident sent shockwaves to the martial arts community and triggered a debate over the relative strengths of Eastern and Western martial arts. Blogger Daniel Fong said the reason China no longer had martial arts effective in real combat was simple. He said that after the CCP unlawfully seized power, it removed everything useful for fighting for martial arts and everything that encouraged logical thinking from culture. That left martial arts with only performance, and culture with only submissiveness. He said the party believed this would make its rule unshakable. A shopping mall in Dongguan, Guangdong Province, hosted a boxing championship in April 2023. 23. Organizers invited combat sports and martial arts enthusiasts to participate. One match featured Shi Yongjun, who called himself a Shaolin warrior monk. He fought against amateur boxer Ah Jun. Shi jumped around the ring, shouting. He had barely struck a showy pose before his opponent knocked him down with just one punch. The commentator offered an excuse. That was probably just a small mistake. Shi then got up and started fighting. This time, he tried monkey style and drunken boxing, and even tripped himself. But he failed to land a blow and was knocked down several more times, drawing laughter from the audience. After taking blows for nearly two minutes, Shi went down again. This time, he stayed on the floor, pretending to be unconscious. The commentator asked, What's going on? The audience burst out laughing, and even Shi could not suppress a smile. The host asked him, Can you keep fighting? Shu waved his hand and conceded, Let us leave it there. People online found that Shi Yongjun was the abbot of Zhijing Temple in Shaoxing, Zhejiang province. He was also the executive vice president of the local Buddhist association and a member of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, making him a politically connected monk. He was a senior fellow disciple of Shi Yongxin, who was Shaolin Temple's abbot at the time. Shi Yongxin, the abbot who fell from power last year, was widely regarded as a political monk and Business Monk, cultivated by the CCP. With local government support, he quickly commercialized and promoted the temple. It had once been a place for quiet Buddhist practice, but repeated scandals involving intimate relationships and money in recent years offered the public a glimpse into how the CCP had undermined Buddhism. Other videos circulating online show so-called Chinese Kung Fu masters being exposed. This master channels his qi, or internal energy, and tries to break a brick with But someone has switched it for a solid brick. He cannot break it on the first try. He tries again and again, but it still wouldn't break. Next, this Kung Fu master demonstrates his Tai Chi push hands with a performer he hired for 200 yuan. With a light wave of the master's hand, the performer falls off the stage. People online joked that the 200 yuan was money well spent. It showcased both the master's supposedly profound skills and the performer's acting. The two seemed perfectly in sync. An audience member, impressed by the master's apparent skill, then goes on stage to try push hands for himself. This time, the master pushes hard, but the young man does not go flying several feet. Feeling he can handle it, the young man tries again. The master seems determined to teach him a lesson and pushes him, but fails to move him. Instead, the master is pushed backward. The young man tries once more, and the master pushes him a third time, again without moving him. Finally, the disappointed young man leaves, saying, what was that supposed to be? This man's martial arts performance has also drawn questions online. Wearing a black t-shirt, jeans, and a yellow cloth tied around his waist, he throws punches, takes horse stances, turns, and swings his arms on a red carpet. His movements are stiff and exaggerated, and they don't look particularly fluid or professional. Chinese martial arts were, in fact, an important part of traditional Chinese culture. They helped cultivate moral character and were regarded as an embodiment of the culture's finest qualities, earning them the description of a national treasure. Chinese martial arts can be divided into two broad schools, internal and external. China's three major internal styles are Tai Chi, Xingyi, and Bagua, with Tai Chi occupying a prominent spot. Other styles, including Mount Wudang's Taiyi Wuxing Boxing and Liuhe Bafa Boxing, can also be classified as internal Both internal and external schools require martial virtue, but internal styles demand a higher and more comprehensive moral standard because they include spiritual cultivation. They involve both physical movements and methods for training the mind, a major distinction from external styles. During the Cultural Revolution, however, many valuable records of traditional Chinese martial arts were destroyed, and martial artists were persecuted and suppressed. In recent decades, CCP authorities have treated martial arts as a competitive sport, investing heavily in promoting and reshaping traditional styles. The apparent goal was to bring this new form of wushu to audiences in China and abroad. But without the profound moral teachings of traditional martial martial arts, this new wushu has instead blurred their meaning and historical value. Some accounts say Ma Baoguo came from a martial arts family, but as Tai Chi entered the modern era, successive generations made different changes based on their own interpretations and understanding. The forms of Tai Chi popular today have gradually lost their original purpose and become a kind of exercise dance. Ma appears to fall into this category, practicing a distorted and undisciplined version. For more than a decade, the US-based broadcaster New Tang Dynasty Television has held its International Traditional Chinese Martial Arts Competition. The international event has contributed substantially to promoting traditional Chinese martial arts. The competition has been held periodically since its launch in 2008. Its ninth edition concluded in New York in August 2026. It aims to preserve the spirit of traditional martial arts and promote martial virtue. It has two main categories, empty hand forms and weapons, with divisions including youth and adults. Each competition draws skilled practitioners. Renowned Chinese martial arts master Li Youfu chairs the competition's judging panel. By the 1980s and 90s, Li was already a leading figure in traditional Chinese medicine and Qigong. His ability to diagnose patients remotely, along with unusual treatment methods such as examining a patient's condition through his palm, drew many senior CCP officials, and even the country's president, to seek him out. But success and fame did not bring him true inner peace. After moving to the United States, Li explored different spiritual schools in search of a true teaching. A close friend, Guan Guiming, once known as China's King of Song, later introduced him to the meditation exercise Falun Gong. Li began practicing in May 1996. He willingly went from master back to student and has continued practicing for 30 years. Traditional Chinese martial arts have a long history. Over time, they developed complete systems, theories, and routines. But successive CCP political campaigns devastated them. Li spoke from personal experience about this destruction in an interview with NTD Television. So那时候那个武当啊，少林呐 When I was in mainland China, there was nobody left at Wudang or Shaolin. Those places were empty. After the Cultural Revolution, they were all empty. The people who moved in later, He said modern Wushu amounts to brawling, while every movement in traditional martial arts carries deeper wisdom and meaning. Practitioners of internal martial arts, especially tai chi, wudang internal training, or the advanced Taoist cultivation methods of the past that used martial arts for spiritual practice would not compete. They had withdrawn from worldly life. As for where competitions came from, consider the top graduates of the ancient imperial military examinations. Their goal was to cultivate themselves, bring order to their families, govern the country, and bring peace to the world. They wanted to serve their country loyally, go to war, and defeat the enemy. Their martial virtue had to be demonstrated. He emphasized that traditional martial arts do not focus on speed or striking power. Instead, they uphold martial virtue rooted in stopping evil and promoting good. Martial arts, of course, remain a competitive sport in China. Here, Chinese athlete Gao Jiushang demonstrates a nimble monkey-style staff routine after winning gold in Wushu at the 2025 World Games in Chengdu. But these performances may not represent authentic kung fu. Writer Danfeng Cheng said in an interview that after the CCP established its regime in 1949, people began systematically modifying traditional martial arts at Chairman Mao's urging. They created standardized routines and organized nationwide competitions. Competitors stopped making kung fu skill their top priority and instead pursued attractive, novel, and fluid movements. The writer described this as the fundamental reason traditional martial arts fell into a faster and more complete decline. In fact, In fact, many talented people remain overlooked under the CCP's corrupt system, and ordinary people have little chance of reaching these martial arts competition venues. A vlogger recently filmed a video in Kunming, Yunnan Province. He saw a performer playing Sun Wukong, the Monkey King. He was working hard on the street to attract customers for businesses, even though no one was watching. The performer is a local college student, He Lingduo. He is 22 and has taught himself monkey-style performance since childhood, for more than 14 years. Because his family is poor, he planned to perform there for three days to earn enough money to travel to Tianjin. There, he will participate in an audition for the well-known Chinese comedy and performing arts troupe, De Yunshe. Shortly after the vlogger posted the video, he received notice that he had passed the audition with De Yunshe. He later said in an interview that without someone bringing attention to his situation, he didn't know whether he would have had a chance. Many people say China's true masters are found among ordinary people. This video shows a physical education teacher demonstrating martial arts after class. He begins with acrobatic moves, including flips and handstands, then swings a nine-section whip in a continuous fluid sequence. His jumps, spins, and other skilled moves draw sustained applause. Another PE teacher set out to show his students what he could do, only to discover that one of the first graders had even better kung fu skills. The person who posted this video said, the man had formal training in Foshan. His lion dance movements and footwork flow effortlessly. Director of the Qingdao Martial Arts School, Lin Changxiang, has practiced martial arts in Taiwan for more than 30 years. He said Chinese martial arts have produced masters in every generation. But China is vast and populous, and the quality of its practitioners varies widely. As martial arts have become increasingly commercialized in recent years, people seeking attention with flashy performances have become commonplace. Lin cited an unnamed martial arts master, who frequently exchanges views with practitioners in China. The decade-long devastation of the Cultural Revolution left most schools with major breaks in their traditions that are difficult to repair. Most techniques, mental training methods, and school rules have either been lost or no longer meet past standards. Many Chinese martial artists today do not understand the foundations of their practice and have forgotten the qualities a practitioner should possess. Their standards of martial virtue have also declined. He said this has led to many problems, including practitioners passing off false skills as genuine to obtain money. Lin said the saying that true masters live among ordinary people refers to exceptional practitioners who withdraw from worldly life and live in remote mountains and wilderness. Lin said, advanced Kung Fu is built through strong practice, one punch and one kick at a time. It cannot come from nowhere. It takes tremendous hard work and determination. Such people are few and far between.