Across thousands of years, let's see how the ancients "played" sports competitions

Ancient Chinese polo game. Image courtesy of Visual China

The Hangzhou Asian Games has opened. It is not only the largest comprehensive sports event in Asia, but also an important event for China to showcase its sports, science and technology, and cultural strength to the world.

Before modern times, there was no word for "sports" in my country. There was only a distinction between "civil and martial arts". "Martial arts" in a broad sense already included many forms of sports and was an important part of ancient Chinese civilization. So, what sports were there in ancient my country?

Archery: Archery Masters Emerge from Generation to Generation

As early as 10,000 years ago in the Middle Stone Age, humans invented bows and arrows for hunting and fishing. For a long time afterwards, bows and arrows not only became weapons of war, but archery also survived as a competitive sport, namely archery.

There are many stories about archery masters in ancient my country that have been passed down to this day. For example, during the Warring States Period, there was a man named Yang Youji in the State of Chu who was good at archery and could shoot a willow leaf at a distance of 100 steps. The idiom "shooting a willow leaf through a willow leaf at a distance of 100 steps" came from this. Another example is recorded in "Records of the Grand Historian": Li Guang, a general of the Western Han Dynasty, was hunting at night and mistakenly thought there was a tiger in the bushes, so he shot it with an arrow. When he went to look for it during the day, he found that the arrow had shot into a huge rock, and the arrow was so deep that it could not be pulled out. During the Three Kingdoms period, Yuan Shu wanted to attack Liu Bei. Lu Bu persuaded the two sides to make peace. He erected a Fangtian painted halberd 150 steps away from the camp gate and claimed that if an arrow shot into the small branch on the halberd, the two sides would stop fighting. As a result, the arrow hit the target and calmed down a war. This incident is recorded in "Romance of the Three Kingdoms" and "Records of the Three Kingdoms: Biography of Lu Bu".

Cuju: Gao Qiu was awarded the title of Grand Commandant for his skill in playing the game

Cuju can be said to be the predecessor of football. In ancient times, "Ju" was a ball covered with leather and filled with rice bran. "Cuju" means to kick or step on something with your feet. "Cuju" refers to the activity of ancient people kicking a ball with their feet, which is similar to the current football game.

As early as the Warring States Period, the game of Cuju was popular among the Chinese people. In the Qing Dynasty, Cuju even appeared on ice.

The Song Dynasty was a high point in the history of Cuju development. From the inner court of the imperial palace to the common people, Cuju was enjoyed, and Cuju organizations and Cuju artists such as Qiyun Society emerged. Gao Qiu, the treacherous minister who forced Lin Chong to Liangshan in "Water Margin", was originally a minor official under Su Dongpo. Because of his superb Cuju skills, he was later appreciated by Emperor Song Huizong and was promoted step by step until he became the Grand Marshal. The second chapter of "Water Margin" describes in detail the process of Gao Qiu's rise to fame due to Cuju. From this, we can imagine the popularity of Cuju in the Northern Song Dynasty.

Polo: A polo match killed two emperors

Polo is a sport in which players hit a ball with a stick while riding on horseback. It originated in Persia (present-day Iran) in 525 BC and was introduced to my country around the Western Han Dynasty. It was popular during the Tang, Song and Yuan dynasties, mainly among the military and court nobles.

The ball used in polo is as small as a fist and is made of wood with a hollow middle. The stick is several feet long and has a crescent-shaped top, which is a bit like today's ice hockey stick. Polo is a team competition. The Tang Dynasty "Polo Picture" unearthed from the tomb of Prince Zhang Huai in the Qianling Mausoleum of the Tang Dynasty vividly reproduces the panoramic view of the polo game. In 1156 AD, the Jin Dynasty Emperor Wanyan Liang held a very special polo match in Yanjing, forcing the Song Dynasty Emperor Qinzong and the Liao Dynasty Emperor Yelu Yanxi, who were captured by the Jin Dynasty, to participate. During the game, Song Qinzong and Yelu Yanxi fell off their horses one after another and were trampled to death by crazy horses. This is of course a humiliating and tragic history, but it also reflects that polo was very popular in the Northern Song Dynasty and neighboring countries at that time.

Horse riding: Tian Ji won a thousand-dollar reward for horse racing

In ancient times, horse riding was called "Yu", which includes horse riding, horse taming and horse-drawn carriage driving techniques. It was one of the six arts of ancient gentlemen. Its main form was horse racing, which was very popular in the Spring and Autumn Period and became an important sport.

"Records of the Grand Historian: Biographies of Sun Tzu and Wu Qi" records that King Wei of Qi and his minister Tian Ji had a horse race. They each had horses of three grades: upper, middle and lower. During the race, the upper horses competed against the upper horses, the middle horses competed against the middle horses, and the lower horses competed against the lower horses. As a result, Tian Ji lost three races. Later, Tian Ji followed the advice of the military strategist Sun Bin and adjusted the order of the horses. He competed with his upper horses against King Wei of Qi's middle horses, the middle horses against the lower horses, and the lower horses against the upper horses. As a result, he won a reward of a thousand gold coins from King Wei of Qi with two wins and one loss. This story shows that the activities and skills of horse racing were very mature during the Warring States Period.

Wrestling: The Song Dynasty emperor was obsessed with watching sumo

Wrestling is the ancient wrestling sport, which is one of the earliest sports activities of mankind. In "Water Margin", it is mentioned that Liangshan heroes Lu Junyi, Yan Qing and others are good sumo wrestlers, which shows the popularity of sumo in the Song Dynasty. Women's sumo in the Song Dynasty was also very popular, and Song Renzong was very obsessed with watching it. Sima Guang also wrote a letter "On the Shangyuan Order Women's Sumo" to persuade Renzong to cancel women's sumo. Renzong listened to some of Sima Guang's suggestions and did not hold women's sumo performances in front of Xuande Gate, but women's sumo has always existed among the people. In the Qing Dynasty, wrestling gradually became a folk sport. The Qing government once set up an agency specifically for managing wrestling activities, called "Shanpuying", which was responsible for guarding the palace.

In addition to the above-mentioned events, there were many other sports activities in ancient my country, such as lion dancing, dragon boat racing, chess, diabolo, shuttlecock kicking, etc., which can be said to be colorful and varied.

(The author is a member of the China Science Writers Association and a member of the Beijing Writers Association)