A Quote from Jet Li
Jet Li used to have an interesting website with a forum, a blog and essays he has written. This quote from one of his essays sums up his concerns that the way in which Tai Chi (and other martial arts loosely classed as Wushu) appeared to have been affected by the requirements of competitions and the desire to impress the judges with gymnastic prowess, leading to a neglect of the development of real internal power.
"...I believe that deep inside, wushu is much worse than before. I'm talking about the inside knowledge, the part of wushu that does not involve the physical body. Inner cultivation is the most important part, and it's definitely lacking nowadays. It could be because of the rules. Judges who work by the newer rules will prefer a certain type of performance and reward it with a higher score. As a result, the athletes start training by those rules, and who can blame them? Both the external and internal demonstration of skill are important, but the modern rules don't protect the latter. The most beautiful things in martial arts are not about sport, and they're not about speed. What wushu practitioners need to do is to concentrate more on the internal. They've got to take the time to bring their whole energy together with their mind to finish every movement. The speed nowadays is so fast and the jumps are so high...and yet, the details in between are not perfected at all."