"Kick" means kick, kick and kick. "Bow" is originally a ball wrapped in leather and filled with rice bran. Therefore, "Cuju" refers to the activities that the ancients kicked, kicked and kicked with their feet, similar to today's football. According to historical records, as early as the Warring States period, the recreational cuju game was popular among the Han people and became a method of military training from the Han Dynasty. Cuju organizations and artists appeared in the Song Dynasty and became popular in the Qing Dynasty. Therefore, it can be said that Cuju is a wonderful flower with a long history and great influence in ancient China.
On May 20th, 2006, with the approval of the State Council, Cuju was listed as the first batch of national intangible cultural heritage.
The bow used in cuju can be traced back to the stone ball. Shiqiu was first unearthed in Ding Cun cultural site about 10 million years ago, and a large number of Xu Jiayao cultural sites appeared about 40 thousand years ago. Stone balls were originally used as hunting tools. In the late primitive society, stone balls kicked by feet and hollow pottery balls appeared. The legend of Cuju was written by the Yellow Emperor: "Cuju is said to have been made by the Yellow Emperor (recorded by Liu Xiang)". The Ming Dynasty's "Taiping Huaqing" also recorded that "stepping on the bow began after the porch, and the martial arts dramas in the army took leather as the yuan capsule, and they actually took hair." In other words, cuju began in the Yellow Emperor and was used for military training. The bow is made of leather, round and filled with hair. It is recorded in the Silk Book of the Warring States that after the Yellow Emperor killed Chiyou, he "filled his belly with a bow, so that people can hold it, and many people will be rewarded".
Cuju first appeared in Historical Records Biography of Bian Que and Cang Gong. It is recorded in the book that in the Western Han Dynasty, he was infatuated with cuju as an "Anling Hanligong Rider", but even though he was seriously ill, he refused to go out to play cuju according to the doctor's advice and died. Later, the word Cuju appeared many times in Hanshu. However, the Warring States before the Han Dynasty called ancient football "indigenous residence". When Qi Ce recorded the life of the people in Linzi, the capital of Qi State, he said: "There are 70,000 people in Linzi ... They are very rich and practical, and they are all people who play flute, drum, percussion, piano, cockfighting, walking dogs, playing six blogs and squatting." This passage later appeared in Historical Records and Biography of Su Qin. It means that the wealthy citizens in Linzi have many cultural and sports activities, such as playing, playing musical instruments, cockfighting, dog racing, playing chess and football. These historical data show that Linzi and Cuju, the capitals of Qi during the Warring States period, have developed into a popular folk entertainment.
During the Han and Three Kingdoms periods, cuju developed rapidly. First of all, recreational cuju can be inherited. There are records that "the prosperous road rushes forward, and the poor lane steps on the bow" and "bow the horse to serve the world and learn cuju at home". Secondly, the performance of cuju appeared. Performing Cuju is a performance of ball control skills with feet, knees, shoulders and head combined with drum music. Judging from the cuju performance depicted on the stone reliefs in the Han Dynasty, one person 1 bow, one person with two bows, and two people play cuju when playing drums. There are some technical movements, such as kicking, knee jacking, Qi Fei of both legs, stopping the bow with one foot, leaping back hook, etc. Some people call it "Cuju Dance", which is an important program in hundreds of plays.
Third, there is competitive cuju. This kind of cuju is generally equipped with a bow court, which is rectangular and generally runs east-west. It is equipped with a main hall to sit in the south and north, surrounded by walls, and is called "Cheng Ju". The specific method of cuju is explained in Cheng Juming by Li You in the Eastern Han Dynasty: "The square wall is like yin and yang with a round bow. French month. Yes, 26 is equal to. The building is long and flat, and there are many examples: no intimacy, no privacy; Calm down and don't blame it. Juzheng is still alive, and the situation is similar! "
Fourthly, Cuju began to be used in military training. Liu Xiang said in "Don't Record": "When kneeling, the military situation is also. Therefore, practicing samurai and knowing talents is all because of playing. " Cuju not only symbolizes the "military situation" and has the function of training soldiers, but also is used to enrich military life and keep soldiers in good physical strength and mood. "This army has nothing to do, pretending to play cuju" is the reflection of the latter. In the Han Dynasty, Ban Gu listed ancient football as a skill category of military strategists, and said: "The victory of attack and defense is also." Yan Shigu in the Tang Dynasty wrote: "Cuju and Chen Li are attached to the art of war."
If Han Dynasty is the climax of Cuju culture development, then Tang and Song Dynasties are the second climax of Cuju culture development. First, the emergence of inflatable balls. Cuju first used solid balls filled with hair, and inflatable balls appeared after the Tang Dynasty (inflatable balls appeared after the Southern Dynasties). "Balloon Fu" written by Zhong Wupo in Tang Dynasty: "Qi is the ball, and combination is the quality. Make a profit by jumping, blow your own horn, and tell the truth. Sticking to the rules begins with the party circle; The prosthetic hand is sealed and will eventually be full but not overflowing. If you are full of convenience, you will know how to get started without necessity. It is also a spring night in Shi Ye Square, and it is a cold food scene. Competition and competition, rushing and screaming. Or take a pill, a full moon in the sky. " Second, the emergence of goals. Ma Duanlin said in "Twenty Tests of Wentong Kaolekao": "Cuqiu Gai began in the Tang Dynasty, with two bamboos planted, several feet high, taking the net as the door and measuring the ball. The ball is divided into friends and friends, and the corner kick wins. " Cuju games with goals are generally single goals, which are mostly held at court banquets. This is a step back from the previous direct confrontation, but it requires higher accuracy. When making the ball, two three-foot-high clubs are erected in the center of the court, and the diameter of the goal above is about one foot, which is called "eye of the wind". There are 12 or 16 people on both sides of the left and right army (two teams) substations, and their clothes are different in color, which are called ball head, small ball, forearm, head arm, left rod net, right rod net and scattered stand respectively. The ball head is also slightly different from the player's hat. In the game, the players of the left army will kick off first and then pass it to the vice captain several times. The vice captain will count until the ball is correct and stable before passing it to the captain. The captain will kick the ball to the eye of the wind, and the winner will be king. So does the right team with the ball. At the end of the game, the winner will be rewarded and the loser will be punished. The captain will eat a whip and put white powder on his face. [2]
Third, cuju activities are more popular. In the Song Dynasty, people from the inner court of the palace to civilian families liked cuju. Song Taizu Cuju Map painted by Qian Xuan in Yuan Dynasty depicts Song Taizu, Zhao Kuangyin playing football with Zhao Huan, Zhao Pu and others. Citizens often play cuju in Yujie and Hengjie. : "Look up and smile on the swing, and you will be crazy when you touch it."
There are also cuju activities among women, and many bronze mirrors in the Song Dynasty have decorative patterns of men and women playing football. The pottery pillow in Song Dynasty also depicts the scene of folk girls playing football.
Fourth, the goal-free kicking method is gradually standardized. This kind of kicking is called beating for nothing. From one-man field to ten-man field. "One-man field" is performed by the participants in turn, which is called "well wheel". In addition to playing football, you can catch the ball in the head, shoulders, hips, chest, abdomen, knees and other parts. Call "fly" to make the ball rise and fall, and call "roll" to make the ball fluctuate on the body. It depends on the number of performances and skill level. When two or more people arrive at 10, they are called two-person field, flower branch, shooting stars and chasing the moon, small sharp, big sharp, out of the water, crossing the sea by the Eight Immortals, kicking the flower heart and the whole court respectively, and each has its own rules to kick the line. Touching the ball with the upper body is called the upper intercept, touching the ball above the knee is called the middle intercept, and kicking the ball with the calf is called the lower intercept. There are many kinds of kicking methods, so Cuju says "a hundred kicks and a hundred solutions". Fifth, there are cuju organization and social rules. In order to safeguard their own interests and promote mutual assistance, at least in the Southern Song Dynasty, Cuju artists in the Song Dynasty organized their own groups, called Yun Qi Club, also known as Round Club. This is a specialized Cuju organization, which is responsible for organizing and promoting the competitions of Cuju activities. The Yun Qi Institution also formulated the Constitution of the Yun Qi Institution. Among them, there are "Ten Essentials": to be kind, trustworthy, sincere, gentle, have friends, respect, humble, polite and spiritual. "Ten prohibitions": abstain from talking, gambling, fighting, right and wrong, arrogance, deception, madness, litigation, frivolous and abstinence. Song people talked about the value of cuju, praising "the merits of cuju are beyond words, which can help you sleep soundly." Originally, I followed the fairy method, and this wonderful girl is not easy to pass on. " He added: "A skilled craftsman can sew different flowers round, but he is smart, light and healthy. It can make the spirit of the son cool and induce the king to add righteousness. " It can not only make people healthy and happy, but also help to understand etiquette, which reflects the development and change of Cuju concept.
Cuju in Liao, Jin and Yuan Dynasties is one of the programs of royal festivals. "The emperor's birthday is a happy moment. ..... six lines of wine, playing the zither alone, and building the ball. " Guan Hanqing, a great dramatist in Jin and Yuan Dynasties, said in his Sanqu "Farewell to the Old" that he loved it all his life: "I can also walk, cuju, embrace ..." The anonymous Sanqu in Yuan Dynasty said: "You see a traveler fighting with horses and chariots, and Wang Sun fights for cuju." It shows that cuju was very popular at that time. It was also common for men and women to kick each other in the Song and Yuan Dynasties. Yuanqu said: "There are never many female captains like this, and the round club often throws cuju to occupy the field and accompany some heroes. That's money, enchanting ... "This scene is also reflected in cultural relics. Tibet History Museum and Hunan Museum have two bronze mirrors with football patterns. The relief on the back of the mirror shows a man and a woman kicking each other. But these women are geisha who play football with others, not ordinary women.
Cuju was still popular in the Ming Dynasty. According to the Ming History, Zhang Shixin, the younger brother of Zhang Shicheng, the king of Wu, supported the army and said that the army was divided. "Every time something happens, you need to take Pu (a gambling tool) and Cuju and hold a banquet for women." It can be seen that cuju has been associated with lewd music. Therefore, after Zhu Yuanzhang proclaimed himself emperor, he issued an imperial edict prohibiting soldiers from cuju. Zhu Yuanzhang's imperial edict can only prohibit soldiers, but it cannot change the entertainment nature of cuju, nor can it prohibit folk cuju activities. In the Ming Dynasty, handicraft workshops specializing in bow production appeared, selling all kinds of bows (sometimes called "arrows"). There are 24 kinds of "healthy color names" recorded in Cuju Atlas (some people call them "brand commodity bows"), while there are 40 kinds of "healthy color names" recorded in Cuju Manual. The prosperity of handicrafts and commerce in the Ming Dynasty also brought about the vigorous development of civil society, and jargon became popular. In the early Ming Dynasty, Cuju Atlas had 45 social inscriptions, and in the middle and late Ming Dynasty, Cuju Atlas had 45 social inscriptions 130.
In the Qing Dynasty, there were few records about football activities in history books. Manchu people once combined it with skating, and a form of "squatting on the ice" appeared. In the early Qing Dynasty, a skating ceremony of "learning and rewarding merits, performing simple martial arts and practicing national customs" was held in Taiyechi (now Beihai) every winter. Every year in October of the lunar calendar, "200 skaters are selected from each flag according to a fixed number, and the Ministry of Internal Affairs prepares skates, costumes, bows and arrows, and ball racks". On the ninth day after the winter solstice, the Emperor "used Yingtai and other places to set up ice dances and shoot celestial balls ...". The content of skating also includes frowning on ice, skating tarts, acrobatics on ice, skating bed (ling bed), speed skating and so on.
After the mid-Qing Dynasty, with the introduction of western modern football, China's traditional cuju activities were basically replaced by European modern football, and kicking shuttlecock as a "cuju legacy" (Song Gaocheng's Things) was inherited and developed.