For those styles that emphasize the centre line (and bridging)

[SPJ]

a lot of people are thinking about your and the opponent's centerline

you may make your center line disappear by using your one side to face the opponent

some of the real WC theory is actually about occupation of the center route/road

WC want to take up the road to the opponent's center line, qu zhong lu

Ba gua, on the other hand is to walk away to the side but approach the centerline from the side

xie chu zhen ru.

tai chi is about circling with forearms and controlling the opponent's arms

may take up the center of the opponent's position, but not necessarily strike the center line

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[Golden Arms]

As I learned in my hung training, bridging covers situations and ranges from the intangible (feints/ghost bridging), all the way into the clinch (the bread and butter of many of our bridge methods takes place while disrupting the structure of a clinching opponent for example).

Perhaps the issue is not with the arts, but with the "teachers" that are not fighters teaching people how to fight. In my view that is unethical, but I don't speak for anyone except for myself.