A general observation that explains a lot about most martial arts is that over time they all become "watered down" to mere exercise or a strange stylised dancing. That's because you can't have people permanently maiming each other during "friendly practice". If the village parents send their kids to the local monastery (or school, or wherever) for "training" and they come back with broken bones or just one of two eye…
Indeed. One theory of Taichi is that Taichi was invented as a military martial arts back in the early Ming dynasty. Eventually it degenerated to a physical exercise.