Don't anybody take offense to this. It's just some questions.

Did Shaolin and WuDan practices exist as martial arts before the popularization of TouDi? Or were they simply exercise sequences?

Did the Chinese develop "martial arts" after seeing what Kamo and Funakoshi were up to?

Allen Pittman has observed that there are similarities between BaGua and some Orissa Dances from India.

Patrick McCarthy referes to Boxing, Wrestling, forms (I'm assuming animal frolics or Yoga) and arresting holds as parent disciplines of TouDi.

It makes me wonder if the Chinese forms before the 20th century had any practical hand to hand combat content or if they were simply exercises and dances that were repackaged to compete with karate and judo.