Beijing has profound ice and snow cultural resources and a long tradition of ice and snow sports, dating back more than a thousand years.
This preference for outdoor ice and snow activities is closely related to the climate characteristics of northern my country and the customs and habits of various ethnic groups. As early as the Liao and Jin Dynasties, ice and snow sports had been widely popular. When Nurhachi established the Houjin regime, large-scale ice sports games were held for both men and women. The royal family of the Qing Dynasty practiced ice sports in Taiye Lake (Xiyuan Sanhai) all year round, and Emperor Qianlong pushed ice and snow sports to a climax. He not only designed the "ice bed" himself, but also regularly held Taiye Ice and Snow Festivals. Nowadays, the "Picture of Playing with Ice" hidden in the Palace Museum reproduces the grand scene of that year for us with realistic brushwork.
Volume "Playing with Ice" painted by Jin Kun and others in the Qing Dynasty (detail)
From Baishan Heishui to the hometown of Youyan
During the Liao and Jin Dynasties, ice and snow sports It has been widely popular in Xijin Prefecture, Nanjing, Liaoning, and later in the surrounding areas of Jinzhongdu. Every midwinter, there is no shortage of people skating and playing in the snow.
The popularity of ice and snow culture is inseparable from the social environment at that time. On the one hand, the Khitan people who founded the Liao Dynasty and the Jurchen people who founded the Jin Dynasty both originated from the northeastern region of my country. In winter, the climate between the white mountains and black waters is extremely cold, with knee-deep snow. Living and hunting in this natural environment for a long time has made the Khitan, Jurchen and other ethnic groups develop national characteristics that are good at skiing and ice running, and they are even more familiar with ice and snow transportation tools such as sledges. What's more important is that the Khitans may be the earliest nation in the history of the world to play ice hockey. The "ice balls" unearthed from the Liao Dynasty archaeological objects were made of iron and were shaped like steamed buns; the "ice balls" of later generations actually originated from this.
On the other hand, the Han people living in and around Beijing also have a special liking for ice and snow entertainment. Every winter, "Ling Beds" are made, similar to today's ice carts, which are pulled by manpower and dragged forward on the ice, traveling as fast as flying. Therefore, when the Khitan and Jurchen regimes established their capitals and capitals in Beijing, they naturally brought the ice and snow characteristics that were originally popular in Liaohe, Nenjiang, Heilongjiang, and Changbai Mountains into Beijing, and integrated them with the local ice and snow entertainment to maintain the ice and snow. While playing the role of transportation equipment, entertainment and competition projects that meet the needs of the people are gradually developed. The ice and snow culture in Beijing actually originated here.
"Sun and Moon Together with Five Stars and Pearls" (detail) painted by Xu Yang of the Qing Dynasty, showing the ice bed in the moat
Although it is very old, the existing records of ice and snow movements in the Liao and Jin Dynasties are relatively Blurred and relatively difficult to mine. However, the Qing Dynasty, which also established the Central Plains from the Northeast, has more complete relevant writings than the Liao and Jin Dynasties, providing us with space to dig deeper into historical materials. The Manchus of the Qing Dynasty, who followed the Jurchens of the Jin Dynasty, mainly lived by hunting. Every winter when the mountains are covered with heavy snow, both humans and horses struggle, making hunting extremely difficult. Therefore, they learned the sliding technique from Ewenki, Hezhe and other ethnic groups who are good at ice and snow sports, and evolved into their own ice and snow culture.
2. Ice Games by the Taizi River
After Nurhaci established the post-Jin regime, he paid special attention to the ice and snow quality of the Eight Banners soldiers. Against this background, a grand ice event officially opened on the second day of the first lunar month of the tenth year of Tianming (February 8, 1625). Nurhachi led many Fujin, Manmengbeile and Han official family members to the Taizi River outside Tokyo City (Liaoyang) and held an unprecedented grand gathering on the ice. The specific items included the traditional Manchu "kicking head" (ice hockey). )", "ice running", etc. This incident was recorded in "Manwen Old Documents". Due to translation, sentence reading and other reasons, some scholars have misunderstood: they believe that in the Destiny Ten Year Ice Games, kicking is a "men's event" and ice running is a "men's event". Women’s Project” is not the case.
"Manwen Old Documents" gave a detailed description of this ice event: "After Zhu Beile led his entourage to play ball for the second time, Khan and Zhong Fujin sat in the middle of the ice, and ordered The two sides will run at equal distances, and the first class will be rewarded with twenty taels of gold and silver. Each of the second class will be rewarded with ten taels of silver. The wives of the Han officials will run to get them. The women did not get any silver, so each of them was rewarded with three taels of silver. Then, each of the twenty taels of silver was placed in eight places, and the eight wives of Xiao Taiji from Mongolia were ordered to run to get it. Then, place twenty taels of silver and one tael of gold in twelve places, and have the daughters, the wives of Xiao Tai Ji, the Fu Jins of Mongolia, etc. run away, and the daughters, and the Baile. His wife and Fujin and others came first to take it, but the Mongolian brothers and sisters lagged behind, so they rewarded each of the twelve daughters with one tael of gold and five taels of silver."
"Bing" painted by Jin Kun and others in the Qing Dynasty. The various skating postures in "Happy Pictures"
It is not difficult to find out after careful reading: Zhu Beile and his attendants did not quit the ice hockey game, but also participated in ice running. "Twenty taels each for the first class "Twelve taels each for the second class" is the reward. Some scholars mistakenly believe that "Twenty taels each for the first class and ten taels for each second class" is the bounty for the "Han official's wife" below. They have a misunderstanding of the context and do not understand the political environment of Hou Jin Dynasty at that time. . The wives of Han officials, the wives of Mongolian Xiao Taiji, and the final appearance of the Khan's daughters, the wives of Beile, Fujin, and the Mongolian Fujin belong to three progressive groups, and the differences in status are also Reflected in the amount of bounty.
Among them, the winner of the second group of "Wives of Mongolian Xiaotaiji" was only rewarded with twenty taels of silver; as a reward for the wife of a Han official, the reward should obviously be less than twenty taels. Of course, no matter how much the reward is, it does not affect everyone's enthusiasm for participating in ice sports, especially the ice running sports of women. Sometimes someone slips on the ice, causing Nurhachi to "watch and laugh." However, just two months later, in March of the tenth year of Tianming (1625), Nurhaci left Liaoyang, where the capital had been established for less than four years, and moved the capital to Shenyang. Although the officials who participated in the ice games did not know it at the time, Nurhaci actually used this unprecedented ice event as the curtain call for his rule in Liaoyang, which shows the importance of ice and snow culture in the heart of the great Khan.
After moving the capital to Shengjing, the Manchu monarchs still maintained the tradition of holding the January Ice Festival. In the seventh year of Chongde (1642), Huang Taiji held two ice events with the theme of "Cuju Opera" on the ice of the Hun River on the eighth and fifteenth days of the first lunar month respectively to enhance the Ice sports skills of Eight Banners soldiers.
3. Emperor Qianlong designated the "national custom" ice fun event to last for a hundred years
During the Ming and Qing Dynasties, the Manchu people brought the ice and snow cultural traditions from outside the customs into the Central Plains, and gradually strengthened them. The place where the royal family of the Qing Dynasty performed ice and snow sports was mainly in Taiye Pool (Xiyuan Sanhai), which is the collective name of Beihai and Zhongnanhai today. The Kangxi Dynasty held the "Ice Throwing Show" here. According to Gao Shiqi's description in "Jin'ao's Retirement Notes": "Each team has dozens of people, each with a leader, standing in separate groups. They use skins to make kicks and throw them in the air. When they are about to fall, the group rises up to fight for them. The one who wins is the winner. Or if one of the people in this team is about to win, then one of the other team will be far away, laughing and chasing each other, and the shoes they wear are all missing teeth, and they will not slip on the ice. . ”
By the Qianlong Dynasty, ice and snow culture reached a new climax. On the one hand, Hongli himself was very fond of ice sports. Not only did he often ride on the "ice bed", he also innovated and designed a "warm ice bed" equipped with a charcoal fire. In the winter of the 16th year of Qianlong's reign (1751), when the Empress Dowager Niu Hulu of Chongqing returned to Beijing from Changchun Garden in the western suburbs, she took a warm ice bed to return to Beijing, which alleviated the cold along the way. She changed sedan chairs outside Xizhimen and returned to Luan. . On the other hand, Emperor Qianlong decreed that Taiye Ice Play Ceremony should be held regularly, and ordered the court painters Jin Kun, Zhang Weibang, Yao Wenhan and others to draw "Ice Play Pictures" many times. What’s more important is: Hongli, Emperor Gaozong of the Qing Dynasty, elevated “ice play” to a “national custom” for the first time in “Ode to the Royal Ice Makers”. "Timely entertainment" has reached a level alongside Qingyu (Manchu), riding and shooting, and wrestling, and relevant etiquette regulations have been formulated to institutionalize it.
In the 10th year of the Qianlong reign of the Qing Dynasty (1745), the "Ode to the Imperial Bingxi" was engraved in red ink by Wuying Palace
In order to make the "Taiye Bingxi" more standardized, Emperor Qianlong stipulated Every October, special personnel select 200 people who are good at walking on the ice from the Eight Banners, the forward commanders, and the guard commanders according to a fixed number for each banner, and conduct ice training to prepare for the ice fun ceremony. As for skates, clothing, bows and arrows, ladles and other equipment, they are all prepared by the Ministry of Internal Affairs. The Palace Museum has the "Ice Play Picture" painted by Jin Kun, Cheng Zhidao, Fucha Fulongan and others on orders. It is ink and color on silk, 35 cm in length and 578.8 cm in width. This picture basically restores the grand occasion of "turning the dragon and shooting the ball" at that time. On the Zhonghai ice surface south of the Jin'ao Yuju Bridge, there are three gates with "celestial balls" suspended. The skaters, carrying eight-color flags representing the Eight Flags on their backs, lined up and passed through the door, like a spinning dragon on the wide ice surface. During the sliding process, they had to make the golden rooster stand alone, the purple swallow cross the wave, and Difficult ice moves such as Nezha making waves and kite flipping. When approaching the gate, it is still necessary to set up a bow and shoot in autumn. Set up a gate and hang a ball on it. The one who hits the mark will be rewarded.
In the volume "Ice Play" painted by Jin Kun and others in the Qing Dynasty, players are preparing to shoot arrows in front of the gate
According to the "General Examination of Qing Documents", it can be seen that Emperor Qianlong treated those who participated in the Ice Play The rewards were generous: "The three first-class soldiers were each rewarded with ten taels of silver. The three second-class soldiers were each rewarded with eight taels of silver. The three third-class soldiers were each rewarded with six taels of silver. The remaining soldiers were each rewarded with four taels of silver. "Based on the previous estimates of the number of soldiers participating in the "Grand Parade Skate", plus various expenses such as clothing and skates during the early training period, the public funds consumed by the annual ice event should be tens of thousands. Two, which shows that Emperor Qianlong attached great importance to the ice play movement. From around the 10th year of Qianlong to the 22nd year of Daoguang, "Taiye Bingxi" lasted for more than a hundred years.
(Author’s unit: National Museum of China)