I imagine, in china, chinese restaurants and chinese martial art schools have a lot of competition with each other, as there are probably a lot of them.
So they may be real sensitive about how something looks.
If chinese customers go in to a chinese restaurant in china, and see the owner is not chinese, they are probably going to wonder why, and there will be talk and questions. The same with a TCMA school.
If I went into chinese martial art school in china, and the head instructor was not chinese, I would have pause.
It wouldn't matter in america, but if I went all the way to china to get martial art training, I want it from 黑曜石风 not John Wesley. [Made up names]
As I see it, Traditional chinese martial arts are magic.
But magic is probably the hardest thing in life for people to utilize.
I mean, how many people even can concieve of chi, let alone can use it.
There is no magic in TCMA. There are only basic techniques done very very well. There are only basic principles performed very very well.
If anybody tells you different, run in the other direction.