Xu and Wei’s fight came after the pair argued over Chinese social media platform Weibo regarding the merits of traditional martial arts. Xu’s stance is that Tai Chi, and martial arts like it, are a ‘sham’ and not adequate systems of self defense or unarmed combat.
After Xu beat up Wei, he issued a challenge over Weibo to all traditional martial artists; saying if they could beat him he would give them 1.2 million yuan ($174,000). Many martial artists took up the challenge, including Tai Chi master Lu Xing, and ‘China’s strongest Shaolin monk’ Yi Long. Chen Sheng, owner of popular juice brand Tiandi, reportedly offered an additional 10 million yuan ($1.4 million) to any martial artist who could stop Xu.
