495, the Shaolin temple is perched on the west side of the forested Mount Songshan, one of ChinaвЂ™s so-called five Sacred Mountains.ДЄccording to legend, the monasteryвЂ™s fighting prowess evolved from perfecting household chores like sweeping, fetching buckets of river water and collecting firewood. The supposedly 4,000-year-old roots of kung fu can still be glimpsed in ChinaвЂ™s Henan province, home of the fearsome fighting monks of Shaolin Buddhism. вЂњIвЂ™m trying to wake them up and let them know what real traditional kung fu actually is.вЂќ вЂњA lot of people have been brainwashed by these fake kung fu masters,вЂќ says Xu, who broke his silence to talk to TIME. Now, here was a man apparently dedicated to exposing it as a fraud. President Xi Jinping has made reviving traditional Chinese culture a signature policy, deploying kung fu to boost the nationвЂ™s вЂњsoft powerвЂќ overseas. But his efforts were framed by his critics as placing the Western culture of MMA above cherished Eastern traditionsвЂ“a perfidious sin in an increasingly nationalist China. Xu insists his aim was not to disparage Chinese martial arts, but to show that what is often sold as a powerful fighting skill is useless in actual close combat situations. Some brazenly wandered in to pick fights. Other tai chi practitioners began challenging Xu both online and in person, setting up camp outside the MMA gym in Beijing that he manages. One aggrieved Chinese entrepreneur offered $1.45 million to any fighter who could defeat Xu.

The Chinese Wushu Association condemned the вЂњsuspected illegal actions that violate the morals of martial arts.вЂќ He and his family received death threats. Online trolls accused Xu of humiliating traditional Chinese culture, and he found he was banned from social media. The video quickly became a viral sensation on ChinaвЂ™s social-media platforms. The bout left Xu with barely a scratch but a life in tatters. Xu leaps forward and rains down blows on his opponent until the referee stops the fight. The tai chi master instantly tumbles onto the checkerboard matting. After sizing each other up for a few seconds, Xu advances, furiously hurling punches at WeiвЂ™s head. Wei shuffles to and fro with both arms raised like a praying mantis. In the video of the April 27, 2017, bout that later went viral on social media, Xu takes a standard MMA striking pose. West, the master of a hallowed tradition vs. Xu says he only wanted to open peopleвЂ™s eyes, but the bout was billed as East vs. The online quarrel escalated, and before long Xu and Wei were facing off in a basement in the central Chinese city of Chengdu for a bare-knuckle match. Xu believes this вЂњfake kung fuвЂќ sullies true martial arts. The idea that masters of kung fu achieve mystical skills is widely accepted in China Wei is just one of many making such claims. Wei boasted of using an invisible force field to keep a dove on his hand, and pulverizing a watermelonвЂ™s innards without damaging its skin. Xu wanted Wei Lei, a kung fu master in the discipline of tai chi, to account for the outlandish powers he claimed to possess.

The dispute started with an argument on social media.

Best kung fu fighter in history