 Xu has also come to the defense of Fang Fang, a Chinese author living in Wuhan who published the "Wuhan Diary" which related the experiences of people living under lock down in the city by the Chinese government.Fang Fang received widespread criticism from Chinese nationalists, including Tai Chi practitioner Wei Lei, who was defeated by Xu in 2017.Wei called for martial artists in Wuhan to assault Fang for her work while Xu defended the author who he claims was mild in criticism and was being truthful in her accounts.