Where do martial arts reside?

I've always thought that real martial arts lived in people, not in countries.

For example, I've never had a burning desire to run off to China to study Tai Chi in its birthplace. Interestingly, I always find a big discrepancy between people's misty-eyed views of what it must be like to study "real deal" martial arts in China, with the somewhat more down-to-earth views of people who have actually really been to China to study martial arts. Several people I know have done this. They always ended up finding 'one guy' who was amazing, eventually. I mean really amazing. However, they always had to go through a lot who weren't to find that one guy.

It's true the really good stuff is there in China, but there's also a lot of really bad stuff too, just like in the West. Most people only want to study Tai Chi to 'feel the energy flow' or to improve their health when they can't do more vigourous forms of exercise. Nothing wrong with that at all - it's a noble cause - but it's equally true of Easterners as it is of Westerners, so if you're after 'martial' Tai Chi then you still have the same problem of finding it, whether you are in the East or the West.

Still, some people do go off to China to train, and have an amazing time doing so.  Here's a clip of what looks to be a very well made film of Tai Chi training in Chen village.

All the big names are there, including 19th generation Grand Master Chen Xiaowang.