Page 1

Chapter 2

Recreation and sport in

Ancient China

Primitive society to AD 960

Mike Speak

INTRODUCTION

For convenience, this historical introduction is divided into three periods.

Ancient China is considered by historians to be that period of Chinese history

stretching from the neolithic period to the middle of the nineteenth century

or the end of the Qing dynasty in 1840. This chapter describes physical activity

and forms of sport up to AD 960. Chapter 3 investigates the second millennium

as far as 1840. Chapter 4 follows China into the modern era up to 1949.

Britain came to be regarded, rightly or wrongly, as the cradle of modern

sports, in the same way that Greece was identified with the ancient and later

modern Olympic Games. Yet the universality of play and recreation does not

allow a single country, or even continent, to lay claim to the parenthood of

sport. Gernet (1982:3) has made the point that Chinese civilization has been

the guiding spirit for a large section of humanity, and that ‘the West which

has borrowed from China right down to our day without realising it, is far

from recognising its sizeable debt to her’.

Recent progress in international sport by China has sharpened the interest

of western observers, but there is a long and respected history of physical

culture, recreation and sport in Ancient China which has remained largely

unrevealed outside China and even within its borders, but which, in the

complex pattern of the history of world sport and recreation, deserves serious

attention. The period of history under consideration spawned a wide range

of activities, many of which withstand serious scrutiny as the forerunners of

modern sport and carried marks of sophistication well in advance of similar

activities in the West.

THE DEVELOPMENT OF RECREATIONAL AND

SPORTING ACTIVITY IN ANCIENT CHINA

Political and economic influences

One of the problems facing the sport historian in this context is the vastness

of the time period involved in the spread of Chinese history, the range of

Recreation and sport in Ancient China 21

climatic differences and influences, from the cold wastes of Siberia to the

tropical heat of the South China Sea, the diversity of peoples inhabiting the

vast land mass known as China and the variety of individual cultures and

languages involved.

Four cultures have been identified by demographic and anthropological

historians, namely: sedentary populations with a highly developed agriculture,

nomadic cattle-raisers of the grasslands and deserts, mountain peoples of the

huge Himalayan Tibetan complex, and mixed cultures of the tropical zones.

The recreational lives of these populations generally reflected the basic

background culture. The nomadic peoples enjoyed a lifestyle which was almost

permanent training for war, incorporating horse training, hunting and

horseback exercises. Mountain peoples endured a hardy lifestyle and were

equally warlike in their habits, whereas the sedentary and coastal plain cultures

tended to be less aggressive in their approaches to life and recreation.

Chinese civilization, like other great civilizations throughout history, has

been a perpetual, dynamic creation, occasionally absorbing external influences

from distant civilizations. Time periods are so vast that whole periods of

history are often referred to as a homogeneous whole, for example the Ming

Dynasty (1368–1644), yet there are variations within each time period and

certainly within each region which ensure that a simple treatment is impossible.

Political, economic and social systems are living organisms which continually

adapt to change and the religious, warrior monarchy of archaic times (1600–

900 BC) has nothing in common with the centralized empire administered by

paid civil servants established in the third century AD. The political system

of the Sung period (AD 960–1279) and the authoritarianism of the Ming

dynasty are worlds apart.

The Chinese economy tended towards decentralization. The major river

valleys which absorbed the bulk of the population offered ideal conditions

for crop cultivation, and China rapidly developed into a major agrarian society,

relying on large-scale production of food to support political, economic and

social developments. There tended to be a division of labour between males,

who tilled the soil, and females, who wove cloth, highlighting the division

between physical effort and sedentary role accepted for millennia. The mode

of production isolated small groups of people in self-sufficiency, and social

intercourse, particularly in large groups, became the exception. This may

partly explain the obvious pleasure of social gatherings during festivals. Major

mass gatherings were the exception rather than the norm.

Self-sufficiency also curtailed the need for urban-centred economies and

substantial commercial trading, and during certain periods of Chinese history,

central governments sought to actively confine commercial trade. The reasons

were simple: commerce and manufacturing production would compete with

agriculture for a labour force and the primary occupation should be protected.

Small farmers also provided the backbone of military forces and corvée

labour, and their conversion to an industrial or commercial workforce would

22 Michael Speak

compete with this. Change and competition would challenge the traditional

authority of the feudal rulers and this was to be prevented. The Han

government (206 BC-AD 220) lowered the social status of merchants, forbade

them to become officials, increased trading taxes, changed the monetary system

to prevent accumulated wealth and monopolized key commodities such as

iron and salt.

In summary, even in a highly centralized political system, decentralized

economies persisted and were encouraged. No opportunity was offered for

national cohesion, festivals retained a fairly local character, and traditional

Chinese recreations demonstrated great diversity.

Military, medical, philosophical and social factors

A further factor influencing the nature of physical activity and recreation

was the need for military preparation. In most societies, there has been a

clear link between military training and physical fitness and there are

substantiated interactions in Ancient China. Horsemanship and archery were

basic military skills, and both developed social forms. Charioteering and

archery were both included in the curriculum of educational establishments

for young aristocrats, together with propriety, music, writing and arithmetic.

Running, throwing and jumping also evolved from military exercises, and

wushu, or Chinese martial arts, is an early and inseparable component of

Chinese culture. Exercises were performed naturally or with implements and,

as cavalry and chariots became supplemented by infantry, a variety of forms

of wushu were employed for training artisans and foot soldiers. Forms also

developed for personal fitness training and for entertainment purposes.

A further major influence on the nature of recreational activity in Ancient

China was the development and direction of medical theory. A key element

was Qi (air) which had an abstract and broader meaning than simply air or

oxygen, and whose precise nature is still debatable. The theory of Qi emanated

from Taoism, which proposed that, in the universe, all was interconnected

and interacted, and Qi became all-important as the material forming the

human body, having responsibility for the physical functions of human beings

and connecting the human body to its external environment. Human life

depended on the constant interchange between the internal body and the

external environment, and breathing came to hold a predominant position in

Chinese exercise.

The concept of Yin and Yang which appeared in the late Western Zhou

period (eleventh century BC-771 BC), but was refined and developed in I

Zhuan (Book of Changes) in the Warring States period (475–221 BC) was

also an influential factor. The theory was that all things in the universe possess

the nature of Yin (a negative, female, cosmic force) and Yang (a positive,

male force), embodied in natural phenomena such as heaven, earth, wind,

water and fire, but also in human society as master and subject, father and

Recreation and sport in Ancient China 23

son, husband and wife, even and odd numbers, softness and hardness in

personality, and virtue and evil in behaviour. The basis of the theory is that

all is well when Yin and Yang are balanced and mutually harmonious.

The medical theory was that good health will result from the balancing of

these two agents, yet balance and harmony are not easily achieved. Jingluo,

or the network of Qi, is the channel through which Qi flows, connecting all

parts of the human body. Where the flow is smooth and uninterrupted, bodily

functions will be good, but if stagnation, or blockage, occurs, pain and disease

would be likely to follow. Acupuncture is based on the theory of re-opening

blocked pathways. Chinese traditional exercises, such as Dao Yin, seek to

cultivate the Qi by the intake of breath and undertaking certain physical

exercises to ensure smooth circulation of Qi in the network. Methods of

breathing are emphasized, but emotional states involving anger, joy, sorrow,

likes and dislikes will affect the balance of Yin and Yang, so that a calm,

relaxed state is an essential concomitant of breathing and exercise. A mental

approach was inseparably linked to physical exercise, and Chinese physicians

recommended gentle, non-vigorous exercise, since vigorous exercise would

make it impossible to achieve the harmony of breathing, movement and mood.

Activities associated with the maintenance of health and fitness in China

emphasized a harmony of movement, consciousness and breathing to stimulate

vital energy. Muscular development was not the primary purpose, and again,

reflecting the rural nature of society, many of the movements imitated the

motions of animals. Muscular development and beauty was never highly

valued by Taoism and Confucianism. External appearance was less important

than moral virtue, and virtue and mental health in turn were likely to play a

fundamental part in achieving good health and longevity, respected goals.

The Shang Shu (Book of History), which records affairs in the Xia, Shang

and Western Zhou dynasties (2100–771 BC) claims ‘of the five happinesses:

the first is long life; the second is riches; the third is soundness of body and

serenity of mind; the fourth is love of virtue; the fifth an end crowning the

life’. There were several schools of exercise, but whatever the variations, all

were concerned with longevity and achieving mental and physical harmony,

and were more concerned with internal organic function than musculature,

strength and vigour.

The simple agricultural life of the sedentary populations allowed

experiences of natural life to be absorbed into recreational activity. Imitation

of animals occurred in early forms of dance, and also became part of Dao

Yin and Wushu through forms of traditional exercise. Early medicine also

reflected the proximity of humans and nature, and in Shan Hai Jing, written

before 221 BC, sixty-two species of animals and forty-two species of plants

are recorded and recommended for medicinal purposes. Exercises were

described according to the behaviour of animals, affording a vivid picture to

the exponent of how movements should be performed. Taoism also

recommended a return to nature, and regarded all creatures as equal, since

24 Michael Speak

all had Qi and Yin and Yang, and there should be no discrimination between

all living forms. Man was required to live in harmony with nature, according

to natural laws and in tune with a natural rhythm. Neo-Taoism, however,

moved from a passive acceptance of the need to follow nature’s way to a

more dynamic reflection of the vigour and freedom of animals. After the

Western Han period (206–24 BC), physical exercises took on a greater

imitation of wild animals, evidence of which is available in the Dao Yin silk

painting in the Han tomb of Ma Wang Duai.

Ren (1988) draws attention to certain philosophical factors which helped to

shape the nature of sport and physical recreation in Ancient China, and contrasts

them with very different ideals and purposes within Greek civilization. Since

the nature of sport in a society is likely to reflect the value system of that

society, consideration has to be given to the moral, philosophical and social

attitudes towards physical activity in Chinese society. Competition in Chinese

society was invariably discouraged, and emphasis was placed on harmony.

The most influential philosophical schools, Confucianism, from 500 BC, and

Taoism, from 100 BC, totally opposed competition. The former had benevolence

at its core and strove to maintain a harmonious patriarchal social structure.

Conflict, rivalry and competition were likely to damage this harmony. Political

life consisted of a complicated hierarchical structure of administration, in which

people were ranked according to their socioeconomic status. The Empire was

divided into thirty-six Jin (commanderies), each comprising several Xian (sub-

prefectures), all with a variety of officials whose duties involved agriculture,

taxation, ceremonials, the law, tribute, militia and education. Inequality was

universal, between and within classes, and was reinforced to preserve the feudal

hierarchy by clothing, residences and ceremonies. There were also three ‘cardinal

guides’ which first appeared in the works of Xun Zi (313–238 BC) and Han

Fei Zi (280–233 BC) to regulate social behaviour. These stated that ruler guides

subject, father guides son and husband guides wife. These social and moral

precepts and hierarchical structures gave little room for competition, and both

society and its recreational forms tended to emphasize the cultivation of virtue,

self-improvement and recreational pleasure.

The sedentary cultures, rooted in agriculture and politically and

commercially estranged from competitive practices, tended towards non-

competitive forms of recreation. The process of physical activity was

emphasized rather than the outcome. Some activities were associated with

health and general physical fitness, others remained co-operative in nature.

Activities such as archery often identified and reinforced a hierarchical social

order, and many activities concentrated on the cultivation of virtue as a priority.

In archery and touhu for example, participants were required to demonstrate

moral virtue in addition to skill, so that winner and loser equally could gain

respect. Indeed Zhou (1991:71) suggests that, because of the special emphasis

placed on moral education and ethics in traditional Chinese society, ancient

Chinese sports were overburdened with moral principles.

Recreation and sport in Ancient China 25

The emphasis on thoughtful recreation is also revealed in a nine-level

hierarchy of competence in board games, with Wei Qi (Go), a game

played with black and white pieces on a board of a hundred squares,

representing the highest form of Chinese wisdom, being fully developed

by the Warring States period. Xiang Qi was played with sixteen pieces on

each side, and both games were attempts to represent forms of complex

military strategy.

As in most agricultural societies, festivals had a seasonal nature, often

integrated with crop production and seasonal rhythms. There were often

religious and contained superstitious undertones, particularly arising from

folk legends. Whatever the reason for festivals, however, they became a vital

ingredient in the social life of rural communities, and developed, according

to Gramet (1932:180), into ‘festivals of union in which people became aware

of the bonds which unite them and, at the same time, of their oneness with

their natural environment’. Many of the festivals incorporated forms of

physical expression. Dragon and Lion dances were both symbolic and

physically demanding, and were performed at certain festivals. Dragon boat

racing was the major activity on the fifth day of the fifth lunar month and

mountain climbing has been associated with the Double Ninth Festival since

the Eastern Han period (AD 25–220).

Dance forms are common in most early societies, and in Ancient China

served purposes in religious rites, recreation, education, health and fitness.

By the Western Han period (206 BC—AD 24) a variety of secular dances for

recreational purposes had emerged and involved all social classes. There was

a mimicking in early dance forms of animal behaviour, but gradually dance

as entertainment emerged, and dancers employed long sleeves, weapons and

musical instruments to accompany the dance to entertain audiences. The

Han court set up a special institution, Yue Fu (Department of Music), and

employed the finest artistes from the whole country as professional

entertainers.

Summary

This introduction has attempted to offer information on the nature of sport

and recreational activity in Ancient China. There are obviously major

differences in the nature of sport and recreation during different periods of

Chinese history, and in their availability in certain forms to different sections

of the population, aspects which need to be further explored. There appears

to be evidence, however, that the nature of sport and recreation was often a

product of philosophical directions, which stressed co-operation and harmony

at the expense of competition. Equally, religious and medical proponents

who stressed the therapeutic nature of exercise, breathing and mental state

as opposed to the development of strength, musculature and vigour had an

important effect on the direction of Chinese physical recreation.

26 Michael Speak

The variety of ethnic groups, geographic locations and traditional

occupations also influenced the range and natures of sports practised. In the

nomadic and mountainous peoples, more vigorous forms of physical activity

were adopted, often linked with horsemanship and preparation for warfare.

Conversely, in the agricultural and coastal populations, gentler forms of

recreation were practised, and co-operation was the watchword. Festivals

provided an opportunity for mass celebration and the practice of communal

forms of physical activity and entertainment.

The process of physical activity was often stressed at the expense of

outcome, and some activities reinforced the social hierarchy and concentrated

on the cultivation of virtue and good behaviour. The relationship between

recreation and mental stimulation should also be stressed and was evident in

a variety of board games and exercises which evolved. Dance and acrobatic

entertainment were prominent in a variety of forms throughout Chinese

history, in early times as a form of social expression, but later for the

entertainment of imperial courts and the aristocracy. These forms of physical

recreation and sport will be illustrated in subsequent descriptions, together

with commentary on the significance of activities undertaken.

PHYSICAL ACTIVITIES IN PRIMITIVE CHINESE

SOCIETY (3,000–476 BC)

The Neolithic stage of culture in China (8,000–2,000 BC) marked the end of

the mesolithic, hunting and gathering phase of history, and saw the start of

settled societies, the building of villages, farming, horticulture and the use of

pottery. By the eleventh century BC, the surge in social organization was

accompanied by sophisticated knowledge and techniques, bronzes,

architectural design, the chariot and forms of writing. Excavations of the

Shang civilization (sixteenth to eleventh centuries BC) have revealed royal

palaces, walled cities, chariots and bronzes reflecting an organized society

with a developed aristocracy. The Shang were replaced in power by the Zhou

(eleventh century to 771 BC) and evidence of the nature of this society is

provided by a chronicle added to the Annals of Lu, called Traditions of Tso.

Society was based on a hierarchy of domains and families who owed their

authority to the number of chariots owned, their religious privileges including

the right to dance, links with the royal household and possession of treasures.

During this period emerged the ideal of the noble warrior and the ethic of

honour.

Throughout history, the development of man’s physical skills and capacities

has served a number of purposes—military, social, educational and health.

There were strong links with military preparation during this period, and

charioteering, the most sophisticated form of warfare, formed part of the

education curriculum for young aristocrats. They were required to drive

skilfully, and the primitive design of the chariot and difficulties presented by

Recreation and sport in Ancient China 27

the terrain required great skill. According to Shi Jing, the Book of Songs,

chariot races were held amongst the nobility and gambling was involved.

During the Zhou period, the emperor ordered his leaders and commanders

to give instruction in military operations, and exercise soldiers in archery,

charioteering and wrestling in the first month of the winter. Other natural

activities used for military purposes were running, jumping and throwing,

which increased in value with the decline of charioteering and the emergence

of the infantry soldier. In the state of Wu (sixth century BC), soldiers were

trained for seven years, and were required to run the equivalent of 300 Li in

full armour, carrying weapons, without resting. This form of endurance

training appears to have contributed to the Wu’s successful attack on the

Chu capital in 506 BC. In the state of Lu, a general selected 300 soldiers by

placing a jumping hurdle in front of his residence, selection being achieved

by those who cleared it three times.

There is also evidence during this period of the emergence of tug-of-war

as a military and social activity. This developed during the late spring and

autumn Period (770–476 BC) when, according to Jingchu suishi ji, a general

of the state of Chu taught his sailors the activity in preparation for combat.

There is a further suggestion that during the Warring States period, Gong

Shubau, a well-known engineer, designed a long rope made from the skin of

bamboo to help Chu warships in a naval battle. Gradually, the activity

developed into a recreational game, played initially in the south of China.

Two teams competed, accompanied by the beating of drums, and during the

Han period it became a custom to play the game in January.

Wrestling was yet another activity primarily used for military training.

Legend claims that when Huangdi tried to conquer Chiyou, the latter knew

how to wrestle, and wrestlers during the Zhou dynasty copied this style.

Certain styles incorporated head butting, and legendary battles between the

tribes of the yellow Emperor and the Chiyou were later synthesized into

entertainment, comprising music, dance, acrobatics, sports and magic.

During the mesolithic period, simple forms of bow and arrow existed for

hunting, and gradually refinements were made for military purposes. There

is evidence of archery 4,000 years ago in China, but by the period of the

Western Zhou, it had developed into an essential military skill and

encompassed ritual as well as martial forms. Archery was considered essential

for the strength and defence of the nation, but was also used for the selection

of feudal dignitaries and officers during the Zhou period. Ritual archery was

highly significant and was regulated by complex rules based on social rank.

There were several different forms of archery. Great archery formed part of

ceremonies to worship divinities and ancestors, and success was based not

only on accuracy but physical demeanour and harmony with music. Guest

archery was performed when kings paid respect to the emperor and recreation

archery took place when the emperor feasted his senior officers. District-

drinking archery took place during festivals, whenever the head of a district

28 Michael Speak

led people in archery practice, or every three years on the graduation of

aristocratic students. Boys of 15 years of age were required to learn

charioteering and archery.

Archery also served social and moral purposes. There was an element of

competition involved, although this was not regarded as important, and

winners were awarded a banner, but targets, bows, arrows and conditions

varied according to social status. Ritual archery was accompanied by music

and dance and served to confirm the social status and virtue of the archer.

Confucius claimed, ‘There is no contention between gentlemen. The nearest

to it is perhaps archery. In archery they bow and make way for one another

as they go up, and on coming down they drink together. Even the way they

contend is gentlemanly’ (Radice 1979:68). Also recognized in ritual shooting

was the archer’s propriety, good character, filial love and love of learning. In

Sheyi (The Definition of Archery) it is claimed that ‘archery can make people

virtuous…all the wise kings like it’.

Gradually, during the Zhou dynasty, as archery became more ritualized

and associated with ceremonies, constraints of space led to the creation of a

similar activity, held indoors or outdoors, called touhu. The game, which

consisted of throwing arrows into a pitcher, soon became popular and detailed

rules were drawn up. Confucius noted the changed nature of archery when

he claimed, ‘In archery, the point lies not in piercing the hide (equivalent to

the bull’s eye) for the reason that strength varies from man to man. This was

the way of antiquity’ (Radice 1979:70).

Outside privileged social circles, and forming part of everyday or festival

life, there existed a number of recreational activities. There is evidence of

swimming in a pictograph character inscribed on bones and tortoiseshells in

the Shang dynasty and, in Shi Jing (Book of Songs), there is a hint that women

were swimming in this period. Boating is referred to as a recreational activity,

and according to Tan (1987:2) there is evidence in the Book of Songs that

women enjoyed fishing, boating, singing and dancing, and certain activities

were engaged in beside the river in March, and linked directly or indirectly to

the concept of marriage and reproduction.

The period also saw the emergence of board games, which reflected the

frequency and complexity of warfare in Ancient China. Two popular forms

were developed, complex board strategies were involved, and these eventually

developed into forms of chess.

It is doubtful if football emerged during this period, but a popular outdoor

game was ‘board hitting’, consisting of a board being placed in the ground

and serving, at a distance of 30–40 paces, as a target for players with sticks.

It was traditionally a game for older country people, but was also played by

boys during the December festival.

Finally, and almost universally, dance was part of the fabric of social life.

A painted bowl dating back to 1,000 BC depicts dancing figures, and a cliff

carving in Yunnan Province, which is 3,000 years old, provides evidence of

Recreation and sport in Ancient China 29

dance, running and pyramid acrobatics. In Shang Shu (Book of History), it is

claimed that people in primitive society danced in imitation of animal

movements, accompanied by the beating of a stone drum. Dance was divided

into several forms. The gentle dance praised virtue and kindness, whereas the

violent dance praised bravery and military achievement. The great dance,

popular during the Huangdi and Zhou dynasties, consisted of seven types of

dance, only available to those over 20 years of age. Younger people learned

the little dance, which consisted of six forms. During the Zhou dynasty, all

gentlemen and learned people danced, and dance served many purposes. Yoshi,

a scholar, suggested that the purpose of dance was to train the body and

regulate the spirit, to achieve peace of mind, quicken the senses and support

social harmony. It served as a means of recreation, as an accompaniment to

religious and ceremonial rites, and as a contributor to good health.

There is clear evidence during this early period of Chinese history of a

wealth of physical activity, linked often with military or courtly life, but

serving ceremonial, educational and recreational functions also. Many of

these early forms of activity were to grow more sophisticated and functional

as time passed.

PHYSICAL ACTIVITY IN CHINESE FEUDAL SOCIETY

(476 BC-AD 220)

A changing society

The age of the Warring States (476–221 BC) was one of transformation in

society, economy and culture. There was rapid movement towards a

centralized state, a clear division between civil and military functions, and

the emergence of a civil service. Uniform rules and laws replaced the rights,

privileges and customs of former regimes, and state institutions, reward,

punishment and collective responsibility characterized the new state.

There was further evolutionary change from 206 BC to AD 220 during

the Han dynasties. The first Chinese Empire was founded by armed unification,

and consolidated by the education of princes of other kingdoms at the Chinese

court. The administrative system in use in China was extended to the Empire,

which was divided into thirty-six, later forty-eight commandcries. Society

grew increasingly hierarchical and the whole population was classified into

twenty-four degrees of dignity. Measures of length and capacity were

standardized, new standard characters devised, common coinage agreed, a

network of imperial roads and canals constructed under harsh corvée, and a

Great Wall erected on the northern frontier. Scientific and mechanical

developments contributed to the increasing wealth of Han society. Steel

replaced bronze, progress was made in agricultural techniques and production,

the water mill and the wheelbarrow made their appearance, and some families

grew rich in the ownership of iron and steelworks.

30 Michael Speak

The period also witnessed the emergence of princely courts. After the

initial harshness of the Han and its opposition to learned enemies of the

state, culminating in the burning of books in 216 BC and the execution

of 400 opponents of the state, the princely courts became centres of

intellectual, literary, scientific and artistic activity. Information on the

social life of the earlier periods was available in a number of classical

documents produced by scribes and annalists. These include the Shu

(writings) from the Shang court, the Shih (poems or odes) sung at ritual

ceremonies, sacrifices and banquets, the Annals, which recorded events

announced in the temple, and the Analects produced by the disciples of

Confucius. The courts retained retinues of jugglers, acrobats and

musicians, and the fu describe in great detail and in rhythmic and grand

style the palaces, parks, hunts and entertainments of the courts.

The emergence of Taoism also gave rise to a change in life habits. Its

emphasis on longevity through various techniques of breathing, diet and

exercise known as the yang-sheng (nourishing the ritual principle), aimed

at refining the body to render it invulnerable and able to delay the ageing

process.

Physical activity in the military field

As society changed, so did its military organization. In previous eras, the

possession of chariots was restricted to a small privileged group, who took

part in battles and tournaments in open country to test the courage of

conflicting noble houses. In the expansion of the Empire, however, bravery

and ritual gave way to the serious business of conquering territory. The decline

of chariots and promotion of the infantry saw a growth in importance of the

sword, the crossbow and the cavalry. Social change also resulted in the

disappearance of the Shih, a noble fighting knight, and his remodelling as an

educated, politically aware citizen.

Ritual archery declined and the activity took on greater military importance.

The state of Wei issued an act which encouraged archery training. Legal

cases were decided by archery skills, with the consequence that people practised

regularly and the state military machine benefited. There were also major

technical developments. Several texts appeared on archery and an official in

charge of archery training was appointed. Skill was high at this time and it

was claimed that to miss a small target once in a 100 shots would have

prevented an archer from being classed as expert.

As charioteering declined, equestrianism increased in importance, and

by 307 BC, King Wu Ling of the State of Zhao developed the first

cavalry from the northern, barbaric tribes. By 119 BC, the Han put

100,000 cavalry and 140,000 private horses into the field in one

campaign, and in 111 BC, the emperor’s victory parade incorporated

180,000 cavalry. Training of the cavalry led to recreational offshoots, and

Recreation and sport in Ancient China 31

polo, which is supposed to have begun during the Eastern Han dynasty,

proved popular as did acrobatics and archery on horseback. During the

Western Han dynasty (206 BC-AD 24) hunting became a recreational

activity for emperors and the nobility, and Liu Che (140–88 BC), the Han

emperor, opened a forest hunting park west of Xian which measured

hundreds of kilometres in circumference.

A number of sports appeared consisting of physical challenge. Fighting

with bare hands and feet emerged, and a form developed which allowed

kicking and striking but no holding. The development must have been

extensive, as there are references to six texts on hand fighting, which in turn

referred to 199 works of thirteen different schools on training hands and

feet. Quart (boxing) and Wushu (martial arts) were more representative of

individual forms of challenge, and their separation from collective military

training later allowed Wushu to incorporate elements from daoyin and

acrobatics and become a multi-functional activity for health, fitness, self-

defence and entertainment.

After the Qin dynasty (221–206 BC), wrestling, which had enjoyed some

popularity, lost much of its value and became an entertainment, but tug-of-

war and weightlifting grew in popularity. The latter has a long history in

China, and during the spring and autumn period (770–476 BC) and the

Warring States period (475–221 BC), kangding (tripod lifting) and tuoguan

(lifting a city gate bolt) were popular as demonstrations of strength. During

the Western Han dynasty (206 BC-AD 24), when a thriving economy and

stable political situation encouraged recreational activity, the court appointed

an official to be in charge of kangding, and contestants who were victorious

in a major competition would be granted an honorary title. Some kings

promoted strong men to positions as high officials, an early example of social

mobility through sport, and professional weightlifters thrived and

demonstrated a wide variety of feats of strength. Other forms of weightlifting

during this period were turning and lifting heavy stones and lifting a large

wheel.

Fencing and swordplay became increasingly popular and emperors and

officers alike carried swords. There were different schools of fencing in

different regions, and in the Han Shu there were thirty-eight chapters on

sword skills. Several physical activities which originated in military form

later assumed recreational or entertainment functions. This applied

particularly to the Jiao Di games which during the Han period became a

synthesis of music, dancing, acrobatics, sports and magic. These games were

held on various occasions, particularly on holidays and special celebrations,

and served to demonstrate to visitor and trade delegations the cultural

superiority of the Han. The games included feats of strength, acrobatics,

horseriding, pole climbing, balancing, juggling and dance and feats of hardship,

like sword swallowing, together with shuttlecock kicking, kite-flying and

dragon dances.

32 Michael Speak

Other forms of social recreational physical activity which added

sophistication to earlier raw forms were dance, touhu and board games. The

Han court greatly encouraged dance, and established a special institute, Yue

Fu, with eighty-three employees to entertain the court. Social forms of dance

emerged which involved all classes of people. In the separation of military

and civic authorities, touhu began to take on increasing importance for

celebrations and special occasions. A symbolic form of archery, it was mainly

played by the upper classes and adopted a complex system of rules and

behaviour. Lessons in virtuous behaviour, character development and social

skills were incorporated, and notions of respect for rank and elders, filial

piety, deference, reverence and purity encouraged. Another form of the game

was played by professional players and performed as an entertainment.

A rather more curious form of exercise and recreation emerged during this

period. The swing was originally used by northern tribes for agility. The

standard swing was introduced into central China between 770–476 BC,

and the rotating swing had appeared by 475–221 BC. During the Han period,

the swing grew more sophisticated and was introduced into the emperor’s

palace to be used by imperial concubines and their maids. The meaning of

swing resembles long life in Chinese pronunciation, and it became symbolic

to swing to please the emperor and encourage his long life.

It may be, however, that for western readers the most remarkable

development of the whole period was football. There are suggestions in the

literature that football may have been played in some form as early as 5,000

BC, but as cuju it first appears in historical literature in Sima Qian’s Shi Ji

(Historical Records) in the Han period. There is some doubt as to the precise

origins of the game, some historians claiming that the yellow emperor devised

the game for the purpose of military training, others that it emerged during

the Warring States period, when warfare grew increasingly important to settle

political conflict. The game was certainly in existence during this period as

both Shi Ji and Zhan Guo Ce (History of the Warring States) record that the

citizens of Linzi, a wealthy city, all enjoyed playing musical instruments, cock-

fighting, dog hounds, chess and cuju.

Reference has already been made to the increasing demand for cavalry

and infantry during this period. Conflict with the northern, nomadic Xiongnu

required the Han to improve both cavalry and infantry and, in addition to

training in both horseriding and archery, the military used cuju as a means of

fitness training and identification of talented athletes. The historian Pan Gu

(AD 32–92) recorded that when Huo Qubing, a general in the Han army, led

his soldiers to the northern borders, he allowed his soldiers to construct a

field to play cuju. The forms of cuju developed in the army had strong

competitive characteristics in which teams attacked and defended their goals.

There were various forms of cuju, some involving goals such as are used

today, others involving holes in the ground as the targets. The game was

controlled by referees who were expected to be completely impartial. The

Recreation and sport in Ancient China 33

game is described in the Ju Cheng Ming of the poet Li You (AD 50–130) of

the later Han dynasty:

A round ball and a square wall,

Just like the Yin and Yang.

Moon-shaped goals are opposite each other,

Each side has six in equal number.

Select the captains and appoint the referee(s),

Based on the unchangeable regulations.

Don’t regard relatives and friends,

Keep away from partiality.

Maintain fairness and peace

Don’t complain of other’s faults,

Such is the matter of cuju.

If all this is necessary for cuju.

How much more for the business of life.

Li Yen, in an article called Cushiming, also describes the nature of the pitch,

surrounded by walls on all four sides. There were six goalkeepers on each

team, but the total number of players is unknown. The team who scored

most goals was the winner. The game was not only used for military training

but also for entertainment purposes. The emperor Gaozu built a huge football

pitch (cujong) in his palace, and in the preface of Luji’s Cugehang he mentions

that football pitches were not only built at the imperial court, but that the

nobles and wealthy citizens also had private pitches.

Festival recreations

A number of physical activities related to seasonal festivals also appear to have

originated or evolved during this period. With origins often integrated with

legend, and with growing multicultural influences in the Chinese empire, these

festivals became an important feature of social life. The Lantern Festival dates

from this period and brought the lunar new year holidays to an end. Among

the activities associated with the festival, some were of a physical recreation

nature, including the dragon dance, in which ten people take on the form of a

dragon and cause it to move in different directions. Physically demanding, the

activity is still popular in Chinese culture, and a variety of dragon dances can

be seen on formal and festival occasions. A dance of similar nature is the lion

dance, which required a high level of physical fitness among participants, and

which reputedly originated from combining two dances from the western regions

of the Han empire. The dragon boat festival, which takes place on the fifth day

of the fifth lunar month is supposed to have originated in the Warring States

era, when Qu Yuan (340–278 BC), a minister of the State of Chu, urged reforms

34 Michael Speak

on a despotic prince. His counsel refused, he wrote a famous poem, Li Sao,

which expressed his anxieties, and then committed suicide by drowning in the

Milo river. Local fishermen tried unsuccessfully to save him or recover the

body, and the day has been commemorated by the staging of dragon boat

ceremonies and rituals since that period.

The festival of the double ninth, held on the ninth day of the ninth lunar

month, originated during the Eastern Han period (AD 25–220), when Huan

Jing and his family were advised by his teacher to escape disaster by going into

the mountains and drinking chrysanthemum wine. On his return, he found that

all his dogs and poultry had been killed. The festival was thereafter celebrated by

climbing mountains on that date. The activity of kite flying, which became

extremely popular during the Tang dynasty (AD 618–907), can be traced to the

Warring States period when, according to Han Fei Ji, Mo Zi constructed a wooden

kite which took him three years to complete, to fly for one day.

Health and exercise

There were also important developments in exercise and health during this

period. Reliable literary evidence, according to Ren Hai (1991), began to

appear about the nature of Dao yin,

To pant, to puff, to hail, to sip, to spit out the old breath and draw in the

new, practising bear-hangings and bird-stretchings, longevity his only

concern—such is the life favoured by the scholar who practises Dao Yin,

the man who nourishes his body, who hopes to live to be as old as Pen-Zu.

(Ren 1991:70)

It was believed that Dao Yin and massage came from central areas in China,

but exactly what the exercises comprised was uncertain. In 1973, however,

archaeologists discovered a painting on silk in a tomb in Changsha, Hunan

Province. The painting, measuring 50 cm×100 cm, was dated to the early

Han dynasty, according to the burial date of the tomb occupant (168 BC).

From the forty-four figures in the painting, several categories could be

identified; movements for the treatment of disease, movements imitating the

movement of animals, and movements with instruments. It is also worth

noting that half of the figures are female, and the variety of dress suggests

that figures are from a range of social groups. Exercises were not only

characterized by an emphasis on breathing and imitation of animals, but by

the harmony of mental and physical effort.

Summary

There is little doubt that the Han period was particularly influential in the

proliferation and sophistication of recreational, physical and sporting activities

Recreation and sport in Ancient China 35

in Ancient China. The changing requirements of both civil and military life

led to the evolution of forms of physical activity to serve increased demands.

In the military field, these were provided by new and improved forms of

activity and training; horseriding, archery, tug-of-war, strength training,

martial arts and cuju, which aimed to increase the fitness of both cavalry and

infantry. In the civil field, recreational forms grew more sophisticated, with

touhu establishing itself, archery serving social as well as military needs, and

dance and a wide variety of entertainments becoming firmly established as

part of court and social life. Board games were resurrected and many of the

forms of physical recreation also adopted behavioural requirements which

were the forerunners of rules, regulations and fair play.

This period, however, was to make its most significant contribution to the

future of world sport and physical recreation by the establishment and

formalizing of many activities which in modified forms are now part and

parcel either of everyday life or competitive sport. Activities which now form

part of the Olympic Games or world championship programmes were clearly

evolving during this period—fencing, gymnastics, martial arts, archery (which

underwent major technical advances), polo, arising from the increased

demands for competence in cavalry, weightlifting, boxing, wrestling and

football. Other activities which have become part of Asian or world culture,

such as tug-of-war, dragon boat racing and board games, were also introduced

during this rich period.

THE CHINESE MIDDLE AGES (AD 220–589)

Introduction

The period from the end of the Han dynasty to the period of the aristocratic

empires of the Sui and Tang was marked by the decline of the state,

dismemberment of Empire and collapse of urban economies. The Chin

withdrew to the Yangtse valley, centralization disappeared with the emergence

of an hierarchical aristocracy, which held the real power both at court and in

the provinces, and state military strength was replaced by half-official, half-

private armies of mercenaries recruited by local officials and aristocratic

families.

By the fourth century, there were profound differences between warlike,

populist, almost illiterate North China and aristocratic, refined, Yangtse China,

with its court life, coteries and hermitages. The arrival of Buddhism, from

AD 200, brought with it a deep and general transformation in sensibility,

and a taste for sumptuousness and ornamentation. The Taoist interest in

nature, and its search for procedures capable of prolonging life and sublimating

the body, continued alongside the new layman’s religion of Buddhism, with

its own yoga practices of breathing, contemplation and visualization.

36 Michael Speak

The period was marked also by frequent wars and social unrest, which

were to have an effect on the continued development of sport and

recreation. No less stifling was the affirmation, according to Gernet

(1982:202), of a sort of literary and artistic dilettantism, a pursuit of

aesthetic pleasure for its own sake, which was in complete contradiction

to the classical tradition. This emphasis adversely affected the pursuit of

the physical in Chinese life.

Physical activity in military life

Archery remained an essential component of military training, and during

the period of the Northern Zhou (AD 557–581), archery ceremonies were

held during troop reviews. One of the most remarkable persons of the period

was the Chongwa, the empress dowager of Emperor Su Zong of the Northern

Wei (AD 386–534). The daughter of an army officer, she practised archery as

well as the classics, was summoned to the palace to teach Buddhism, became

a concubine and, as mother to Su Zong, was proclaimed Empress Dowager

in AD 515. She took an interest in the affairs of state but continued to practise

archery, and during a hunting expedition, she set up an archery contest and

required all officials, whether civil or military, to participate. Some officials

apparently were unable to even draw the bow and, after rewarding or

punishing officials according to their results, she demonstrated her own skill

as an exceptional archer.

There was general antagonism to the martial arts from the literati and

officialdom, belittlement affected their development, and there is evidence of

literati who enjoyed military exercises being derided for their interest.

Religious and social influences

One of the benefits of the arrival of Buddhism into China for the sports

historian is its tradition of depicting scenes from everyday life. Some of the

finest examples are in the Mogao Grottoes in Gansu Province, which contain

paintings, sculptures and works of decorative and architectural art from AD

386 to 1368. Amongst the various scenes depicted can be identified

horseriding, archery, wrestling, wushu, swimming, boating, weiqi and qigong.

According to Xie Yunxin (1989:45), many of the murals depict events in the

life of Satyamuni, the prince of Nepal, who founded Buddhism and was fond

of sports as a child and young man.

Exercise and Health

The spread of Buddhism and ideas of fatalism, according to Ba (1987a:47),

appear to have had a negative influence on people’s faith in the value of

health-oriented physical exercise. Many of the writings on health during this

Recreation and sport in Ancient China 37

period advocated physical immobility and showed a disdain for strenuous

activity. There was a shift in emphasis from daoyin to medication, and the

new belief in medicine led people to put faith in medicaments rather than

exercise to bring longevity.

Despite opposition however, daoyin still had several advocates. Tao

Hou-jung (AD 452–536) reviewed the work of his predecessors, and

advocated six different ways of practising daoyin. In a book entitled

Records On Ways to Keep Fit and Prolong Life, he introduced a wide

range of health maintenance theories and practices handed down through

the centuries, including exercises devised by the celebrated physician Hua

Tuo (AD 208). A further significant development in the field of exercise

occurred with the arrival in China in AD 527 of an Indian monk called

Budhidharma. After a stay of nine years at the Shaolin Temple in Wei, he

grew to realize how physically weak and spiritually dejected his fellow

monks were. He recommended morning exercise daily, and taught them a

drill consisting of the eighteen exercises of Arhat, which was eventually

incorporated into the book Boxing of the School of Shaolin.

The influence of the literati can be noted in the strengthening of intellectual

games and refined physical activity. Both weiqi and touhu grew in popularity

among scholars while they enjoyed luxurious feasts and idle talk. Weiqi,

supported by the emperors, grew popular in all social classes. Contests were

frequently arranged for well-known players and games were recorded to

provide entertainment. Public appraisals were made, sometimes of as many

as several hundred contestants, and players were divided into nine grades,

according to level of performance, no doubt like today’s gradings in the martial

arts.

The division between the military and the scholars and their respective

attitudes to physical activity is confirmed by Wu (1975), who has described

how archery contests during this period served only military purposes. In the

preface to a military archery tract, it claims:

As literary men call themselves scholars, so we should call ourselves

military men. On account of this division, later, scholars…will all be

womanish.

According to Wu, this division, similar to the division between courtly life

and monastic life in the West, may have accounted for centuries of Chinese

attitudes towards physical fitness, and in turn have affected attitudes towards

competition and preparation for physical challenge. Spectatorism grew in

popularity at the expense of participation, and the pursuit of pleasure for its

own sake, artistic and literary dilettantism, and the religious fervour which

characterized the period, led to a sublimation of the physical.