Human entertainment is very different from today. Most of today's situations are related to electricity, such as electronic games, computer games, and mobile games. Even outdoor activities and playground facilities are still inseparable from electricity. As for the ancients, most of them were related to sports. For example, hut throwing, shooting, Cuju, polo, outing, dragon boat racing, swing, kite flying, cricket fighting, watching social operas, playing Go, etc.
Here is a detailed explanation of the characteristics of ancient entertainment activities.
First of all, due to productivity limitations, ordinary people work long hours, and their entertainment time is relatively short and simple. For example, due to limited means of transportation, great poets such as Li Bai cannot focus on poetry and distant places willfully. Go to town, catch a fair, watch a sideshow, watch a play, and eat some delicious food, that's all. The economic conditions in the Song Dynasty were good, and the hotels, teahouses, and tile shops depicted in the "Along the River During the Qingming Festival" were all very lively.
Second, in ancient times there was a curfew most of the time, so there were naturally fewer entertainment activities at night. Only during the Lantern Festival were restrictions relaxed. People watched lanterns, guessed riddles, enjoyed delicious food, and young people fell in love. Therefore, many poems have left records of the Lantern Festival, such as Xin Qiji's "The Sapphire Case on Lantern Festival." This is also the reason why the ancient Lantern Festival is called the largest festival.
Thirdly, there are many entertainment projects among nobles and literati. Because they had time and money, they would meet for outings and mountain climbing, reciting poems and poems, or drinking tea and admiring flowers. It is often recorded in books that literati enjoyed chrysanthemums and the moon in autumn, and snow and plum blossoms in winter. Even when drinking, one also pays attention to culture. For example, in Dream of Red Mansions, drinking orders are mentioned many times. Furthermore, many celebrities have experienced changes in their lives due to entertainment activities. Gao Qiu became famous because he could play football and was admired by the emperor. Wang Bo, one of the four heroes of the early Tang Dynasty, was expelled from the palace for writing a cockfighting essay. So many and so many.
Fourth, entertainment activities are mostly related to festivals. For example, outings during the Qingming Festival, dragon boat races during the Dragon Boat Festival, and mountain climbing during the Double Ninth Festival. Therefore, in ancient times, there was a sense of ritual and festivals were celebrated in a unique way. Although we modern people have no worries about eating and drinking and have many entertainment projects, in this regard, we are not as good as the ancients.
In short, the ancients had the entertainment they had in their time, and these activities provided rich nutrition for the accumulation of traditional culture.