Is competition necessary? The predicament of traditional Chinese martial artists in the modern competitive sport system

This work investigates the predicament faced by traditional Chinese martial artists and its underlying dynamics from the perspective of sports competition. Drawing on ethnographic fieldwork conducted at several sites from 2022 to 2025, including observation and in-depth interviews with members of various martial arts communities, this study illuminates the tension between modern sports competition and the local knowledge system of traditional martial arts. The findings are threefold. (1) Rooted in daily practice and lived experience, the local knowledge system is gradually losing its legitimacy in a sports competition framework that prioritizes verifiability, quantification, and standardization. (2) Under social scrutiny and institutional guidance, traditional martial artists come to internalize the values and norms of competition, entangling them in an inner conflict over self-justification. (3) As the purpose of martial practice shifts from self-cultivation to external recognition, the experience that once emphasized, self-directed practice and bodily awareness has weakened. This study further highlights two distinctive features of this predicament. First, the logic of competition, deeply situated within institutional sports frameworks, is closely tied to national honor, endowing it with strong institutional legitimacy and moral authority. Second, as a craft deeply woven into people's daily lives, traditional Chinese martial arts are being transformed by this logic in ways that extend far beyond technical modification, reshaping the lived experience that martial artists once embodied.