On May 20th, 2006, with the approval of the State Council, Cuju was listed as the first batch of national intangible cultural heritage.
Introduction to cuju
Cuju has been circulated for more than 2300 years. It originated from Linzi, the ancient capital of Qi during the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period. The Tang and Song Dynasties were the most prosperous, and there were often scenes of "the ball never falls in one day" and "the ball never leaves the foot, and the foot never leaves the ball, and the Huating watched it and thousands of people watched it".
China's traditional culture with Confucianism as its core emphasizes harmony and moderation, while social and cultural psychology emphasizes "cultural governance" and ignores "martial morality" in most cases. People admire the gentleness of a modest gentleman, but despise Confucius' aggressive spirit and martial arts. In this social and cultural background, Cuju gradually evolved from an antagonistic competition to a performance competition.
Qi state
Historical Records and the Warring States Policy first recorded the situation of football. According to Records of Historical Records and Warring States Policy, cuju has developed into a mature form of entertainment, which was widely popular among the people in Linzi, the ancient capital of Qi at that time. Qi Xuanwang was in power from 3 19 BC to 30 1 year BC, so it can be concluded that football activities had been widely carried out in Linzi City, the old capital of Qi State, more than 2,300 years ago or earlier. Cuju has developed into a popular sports and entertainment activity.
Han Dynasty
After Qin unified the six countries, Cuju movement was once silent. After the establishment of the Western Han Dynasty, it was revived. People in the Han Dynasty regarded cuju as a way of "governing the country and practicing martial arts", which was not only widely circulated in the army, but also popular among the court nobles. "Miscellanies of Xijing" records that after Liu Bang proclaimed himself emperor, he took his father Liu Taigong to the Weiyang Palace in Chang 'an for the elderly, and he was extremely extravagant in food and clothing and watched kabuki music all day. But he was not satisfied and moped all day. Originally, Liu Taigong lived in the lower level of the city since childhood, and was closely related to ordinary people who killed dogs and cows. After work, his leisure activities were also inseparable from cockfighting and cuju. So, Liu Bang wrote a letter to build a new town in Chang 'an East, and modeled on the original scale of Fengyi in Pei County, moved all the residents of Fengyi to the new town, and Liu Taigong and Liu Wen also moved there. I started fighting cocks and cuju for fun again, which was satisfactory. From this story, we can know that in the Warring States period, football was a favorite entertainment activity of the urban underclass, and in the early years of the Western Han Dynasty, football was also loved by the aristocratic class. Huan Kuan's "On Salt and Iron" said that for a long time in the Western Han Dynasty, "Cuju and chicken fighting were the home of the nobles" and ordinary people also "chased the bustling Cuju in poor lanes", which was an essential entertainment for ancient people to travel at home.
Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty is very talented and likes to watch cuju. According to Hanshu, Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty often held a "chicken bow meeting" with cockfighting and cuju competitions in his palace, and Dong Xian, a favorite, also kept a "bow bow" that could play football at home (similar to today's stars). It can be seen that during the Western Han Dynasty, the social level of football activities was further expanded.
Due to the prosperity of Cuju, there was a monograph on this sport in Han Dynasty. In the Han Dynasty, someone wrote Twenty-five Cuju Articles, which is the earliest professional sports book in China and the first professional sports book in the world. When Ban Gu was writing the Annals of Han Shu Literature and Art, he once listed Twenty-five Cuju as a military book, which belongs to the category of military skills in military training, but it was later lost. Xiang Chu of the Western Han Dynasty was the first person to go down in history because of football, but his experience was unfortunate. According to Records of the Historian Biography of Bian Que and Cang Gong, Chunyu Kun, a famous doctor, treated Xiang and told him not to be overworked, but Xiang didn't listen and went out to play football. As a result, he vomited blood and died, which made Xiang Chu the first fanatical "fan" in the world.
the Tang Dynasty
With the development of social productive forces, football production technology is also improving. In the Tang Dynasty, there were two major improvements in ball-making technology: one was to change the spherical shell made of two pieces of leather into a spherical shell made of eight pieces of pointed leather. The shape of the ball is more round. The second is to put an animal urine bubble in the ball shell instead of stuffing it, and "blow it with closed breath" to become an inflatable ball, which is also the first invention in the world. According to the history of world sports, Britain invented inflatable balls in the 1 1 century, three or four hundred years later than the Tang Dynasty in China.
The sphere in the Tang Dynasty was very light and could be kicked very high. The goal is set on two bamboo poles three feet high, which is called "netting the ball for the door". In the way of playing football, the Han Dynasty was a team game of direct confrontation, "isolated and helpless, covered with elephants and soldiers." Physical contact between players on both sides is like fighting. In the Tang dynasty, the team competition was no longer a direct confrontation, but a goal was set in the middle, and both sides were on one side to shoot "more wins." Football technology is development; In terms of physical training, indirect confrontation is the retrogression of football.
Because the ball is light and there is no fierce running and competition, women's football began to appear in the Tang Dynasty. Women's football is not played with the goal, but by kicking high and playing tricks, which is called "beating in vain". Wang Jian, a poet in the Tang Dynasty, wrote a poem "Gong Ci", saying that prostitutes in Yichun Academy enjoyed playing football on the Cold Food Festival. Both Tang Taizong and Tang Xuanzong like watching football. At that time, the goal was "two trees and two bamboos, netting online and measuring the door as a ball". The ball is divided into friends and friends, and the angle wins. "In the Tang Dynasty, there were not only women's soccer, but also some women's soccer with superb skills.
Not only the emperor's palace has such custom activities, but also the people. The poet Wang Wei's poem "Cold Food in the East of the City" says, "Cuju flies over birds many times and swings out weeping willows", which shows the height of playing football. Du Fu's poem "Qingming Festival" also said, "Cuju is a teenager for ten years, and Wan Li is also a vulgar", which also shows the universality of the custom of playing football. This custom continued until the Southern Song Dynasty. The poet Lu You described this scene in his poem "The Pavilion of the Spring Festival Evening": "Liangzhou has a cold food of 100,000, and the swing is still luxurious." In the poem "The Last Chapter of Feeling for Old Four", there is a poem "The road into Liangzhou is flat, and the cuju is clear".
Where there are games, there are stars. Who are those people who are famous for playing football? If you have read many ancient books, you have probably guessed: evil teenagers. What is more striking is that some emperors in the Tang Dynasty, such as Tang Wenzong, often climbed a "Qinlou" to watch people's cuju and wrestling from a height. This scene is really ironic. Compared with the ancestors, the market is much heavier. Of course, he's not the only one. Several generations later, Tang Xizong became an evil teenager, playing cuju and fighting cocks himself, while Zhao Zong, the last emperor of the Tang Dynasty, was forced by Zhu Wen to move from Chang 'an to Luoyang, and all six armies ran away, leaving only a group of Ce Shen troops or "playing games" from the evil teenager to follow him, which shows the deep feelings. After the mid-Tang Dynasty, many of the troops were evil teenagers who gambled in the streets on weekdays.
Song dynasty
Cuju got great development in Song Dynasty. In Shi Naian's "Water Margin", Gao Qiu, who made his fortune by playing football, was written. Although the stories and characters in the novel are somewhat exaggerated, they are basically facts of the Song Dynasty. Gao Qiu's skill is superb. Because he played football with Song Huizong, he was promoted to be the commander-in-chief in front of the temple, and he was one of the earliest famous players.
Gao Qiu's success in playing football tells us two things: First, emperors and bureaucrats in the Song Dynasty loved playing football, some of them loved playing football, and some loved watching it. Song Huizong Evonne, a football fan, wrote a poem after watching the ladies-in-waiting playing football: "It's Qingming, young and romantic, so you can hold a banquet in Mu Qing. Almost the secret was announced, and two friends won or lost in court. " "Wen Tong Kao" introduced: "The female disciple team in the Song Dynasty has a total of 153 people, dressed in four colors, embroidered Luo Kuan shirts, tied ribbons, kicked hydrangeas, never left the ball, watched the war in Huating, and ten thousand people watched it." There is a painting of Song Taizu Cuju in Shanghai Museum, which depicts the scene at that time.
There were also football artists who played football for a living in the Song Dynasty. According to records, Su Shu, Zhang Jun and other famous players played football at court banquets in Bianliang City in the Northern Song Dynasty and Lin 'an City in the Southern Song Dynasty. The actors in Street Tiles include Huang Ruyi, Fan, Zhang Ming and Cai Run.
Football in the Song Dynasty, like the kicking method in the Tang Dynasty, used indirect games with goals and "beating in vain" without goals, but most of the books talked about kicking in vain. The so-called "further progress" refers to the mode of kicking the ball and a set of actions composed of several modes, that is, using a set of kicking skills such as head, shoulders, back, chest, knees, legs and feet to keep the ball from falling all day. From this point of view, the football in Song Dynasty has developed from the accuracy of shooting to dexterity and ball control technology.
The ball-making technology in Song Dynasty was improved compared with that in Tang Dynasty, and the ball shell developed from eight-pointed skin to "twelve-fragrant skin". The raw material is "cooked nitrate yellow skin, the real material is lightly cut". This process is "tightly laid and stitched, with no exposed corners". The weight of the ball made should be "12 Liang". Football specifications should be "broken". The ball made in this way is of course of high quality. At that time, there were forty different kinds of balls made by manual workshops, each with its own advantages and disadvantages. The progress of ball-making technology promotes the development of kicking technology; The development of player industry reflects the increase of social demand.
In order to safeguard their own interests and promote mutual assistance, at least in the Southern Song Dynasty, the chess players in the Song Dynasty also 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. It is the earliest single sports association in China, similar to today's football club. In other words, it is the earliest football club in the world.
the Yuan Dynasty
In Yuan Dynasty, Guan Hanqing and others recorded the scenes of men and women playing football in Sanqu. However, this kind of men's and women's kicking method is not for both sides to seek entertainment, but for women to play football as a skill for others to appreciate. Saduchi's Sanqu "Cuju for Prostitutes" said: "After singing and dancing, the banquet ended before the flowers, and the students became a harmonious world." It can be seen that playing football, like singing and dancing, is a geisha at a banquet. Most of the women who "occupy the field to accompany the hero" are "Xie Qin Guan Lou" and "Mingke Lane", which shows that playing football has become a means for prostitutes to entertain guests. The sociality of playing football is greatly reduced. It is no longer a festival activity or banquet program, but entertainment related to wine and color.
tomorrow
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 playing football has been associated with lewd music. Therefore, after Zhu Yuanzhang proclaimed himself emperor, he issued an imperial edict prohibiting soldiers from playing football. Zhu Yuanzhang's imperial edict can only prohibit soldiers from playing football, but it cannot change the entertainment nature of football. In the novel Jin Ping Mei, which is known as the social encyclopedia of Ming Dynasty, there is a story about Ximen Qing watching Li Guijie, a prostitute, play football in Lichun Garden: Ximen Qing once drank wine, first went out to play in the yard, and then taught Cassia to play with two round sticks. "A kowtow, a roadblock, punching and kicking, without exception." The above description can also show the entertainment of playing football in Ming Dynasty. Manchu people once combined it with skating, and a form of "cuju on the ice" appeared. After the middle of Qing Dynasty, with the introduction of modern western football, the traditional cuju activity in China was replaced by modern football.
Ching Dynasty
In the Qing Dynasty, there were few records about football activities in history books. Cuju in ancient China has experienced thousands of years since the Warring States Period, and it once shone like a comet in the Han, Tang and Song Dynasties. Later, it was put into the water of Qing society, leaving only a little bubble, and finally it faded.
Modern Times
Zhu Bingren, a master of arts and crafts in China, said: "At present, Hangzhou Yun Qi Club, the earliest cuju group in China, was born 800 years earlier than Manchester United Football Club, that is, 13 1 year old." During the Southern Song Dynasty, Yun Qi Club was established in Lin 'an (Hangzhou), also known as "Round Club", which was responsible for organizing and promoting the competition of Cuju activities. This is the earliest single sports association in China, similar to today's football clubs; In other words, it is the earliest football club in the world. Cuju professional books in Song and Yuan Dynasties mentioned Yun Qi society many times. There are records about Yun Qi society in many historical documents, including Water Margin. However, many historical facts about Yun Qi society have yet to be verified. Zhu Bingren said, "The specific address of Yun Qi Society has been impossible to verify, but it can be concluded from historical facts that Yun Qi Society was in Yujie, which is now Zhongshan Middle Road." In July 2009, Manchester United went to Hangzhou to participate in the competition, and Zhu Bingren presented Manchester United with a commemorative album introducing Yun Qi society. The Manchester United player said: "This is a wonderful collision between the best modern football club in the world and the earliest ancient football club in the world."