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Comment by horsecaptin | Hacker News Reader

If you think the Chinese are so sensitive that one youtube fight has suddenly hurt their pride, then you're a fool.

It's about money. The movie industry, the tourism industry, the martial arts training industry.. they'd all be heavily affected if Chinese martial arts were suddenly shown to be just a gimmick, especially if the person proving a point was in-fact Chinese.

It's about power and respect, which in China (and everywhere else) translates to one's ability to make money. "Don't rock the boat". When so much seniority has been earned by so many people, naturally they'll try to maintain their place.

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What I don't get is how Chinese people don't already know this. I know nothing about fighting at all but from the article and the comments on the NYTimes site it seems it's common knowledge in the west that MMA fighters always win against other styles, it's practically scientific fact. Does the government censor information about martial arts too, or what's going on here? How can so many Chinese people be ignorant of the basic facts of fighting that seeing a fight of the kind that has been happening for decades causes some scandal?

That's the thing we should be discussing here. Not martial arts, but how such an asymmetry in information came about.

First to reply the parent claim: the majority of Chinese reactions come from people who receive zero money from the fame of martial arts. Therefore, money cannot account for the overwhelming reaction. To check, who do you think receive money from the kung fu mystery?

Now to answer your question: it is not about the amount of information, it is about one's belief. Belief has to be shaken from within; otherwise, opposite information from outside often only compound one's belief.

The belief in the traditional martial arts is a zen that to most it is an ultimate goal, not a reality. Defeating kung fu practitioners does not mean that true kung fu masters who obtained the zen can be similarly defeated.

Beliefs, culture, and faith are not in the scientific domain. And philosophically, it is questionable that currently accepted scientific domain is superior to beliefs, culture, and faith.

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