In the Golden Palace of cockfighting, beside the Cuju Yao stage. The action shakes the day, and the command returns to the sky. ——Li Bai's "Ancient Style One Hundred and Forty Years"
Cuju flies over the flying birds many times. The swings are racing out of the weeping poplar trees. ——Wang Wei (Tang Dynasty) "Hanshi City East Event"
Thousands of people watch Cuju on the sidelines, and the spring is busy under the swing. ——Lu You (Song Dynasty) "Feelings of Late Spring" (Part 4)
On the February day of Cuju, the fragrant wind blew down two Chan Juans. ——Qian Fu (Ming Dynasty) "Cuju"
1. In 307 BC, during the Warring States Period, King Wuling of Zhao reformed and implemented "Hufu riding and archery". The people of Zhao learned how to ride horses and archery. King Zhao often took his cronies to ride out of the city for a stroll, which was very majestic. One day, he came to a forest and saw several hares in the forest. The king opened his mouth and said, "catch them alive." Then he divided his troops into four groups and caught them together. Unexpectedly, in the fright, the hares ran rampant. , fled from the cracks of the horses one after another, finding nothing, everyone shook their heads and sighed. Suddenly a counselor's eyesight lit up and he stepped forward to propose a plan: "Your Majesty, this kind of siege is very interesting. We might as well use balls instead of rabbits. We can play with them every day without leaving the palace." "What a good idea." King Zhao praised it "This is a good idea." I'll leave it to you to take full responsibility." Thus, football was born in China. But at that time, it was still a sport played on horseback, and it was called "Cuju".
Two.
Many people know that there was a sports game called Cuju in ancient times, and some good people claim that this art is the originator of modern football. In fact, it can only be said that Cuju is very similar to football. Judging from the composition of the ball itself and the rules of the game, they are not the same thing. Guo Pu, a native of Jin Dynasty, said in "San Cang Jie Ji" that Cuju is a kind of hair ball that can be played. Liu Xiang of the Han Dynasty believed that Cuju was created by the Yellow Emperor and was a military game at that time. Of course, Liu Xiang's words are not to be believed. Cuju probably originated during the Warring States Period. "Historical Records" once recorded that Cuju was popular in Linzi, Shandong Province during the Warring States Period.
The father of Liu Bang, the emperor of the Han Dynasty, was a master of football in his early years. After Liu Bang became emperor, his father was very depressed because he could not play football all day long. "Miscellaneous Notes of Xijing" records: "The great ancestor, Liu Bang's father, was interested in butchering and selling young men, and enjoyed cockfighting and cuju. None of these are available today, so he is not happy." Liu Bang was not a street person back then. He was so confused that he couldn't let go of his pretense as Emperor Gao. There were too few good players in the palace, so it was naturally difficult for him to organize a royal team to entertain his father. In contrast, Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty was more liberal. Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty was on a hunting tour in the east and after being enshrined in Mount Tai, he also liked to play Cuju and asked civil servants to write poems to praise him. It is said that after Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty pacified the Western Regions (probably the Western Regions under the Xiongnu vassal), he captured a Hu captive who was good at jumping and very good at Cuju. Advice. "It seems that this Hu man is very capable of Van Basten. He may be the first foreign player to be introduced in history.
Cao Cao is also a good football player, or at least a super football fan. "Wei Lue" said that there was a man named Kong Gui who played Cuju very well, "so Taizu loved him and was always around." Cuju was also very popular during the Three Kingdoms period. "Kuiji Dianlu" once said: "The Three Kingdoms stand at the same level. The Jinge was mutually prosperous. The scholar's profession was bowing and horsemanship, and the family's profession was Cuju. "So, if someone makes a big claim about history and claims that Zhang Fei, who was born as a rural landowner, is a top-notch striker, it is not groundless.
The football scene in Tang Dynasty is very popular. In the Tang Dynasty, Zhong Wuyan wrote an article called "Qi Zhen Fu", which said, "Spring is coming to the square, cold food and scenery are studied, people are competing with each other, and they are racing and noisy." From this text, we can see that at the turn of winter and spring, everything is renewed. It's a good time for the Tang people to play football, with fierce confrontation and fast pace. The poem also says that "sometimes the ball is shot slightly on the ground, and the moon is full in the air." It seems that the people of the Tang Dynasty were very familiar with the control skills of low and high balls.
In the first chapter of "Water Margin", it is mentioned that Gao Qi, a street gangster, was appreciated by King Duan and later Huizong of Song Dynasty for his good football playing. When Duan Wang was playing Cuju, the ball fell in front of Gao Qi. Seeing Gao Qi, he cheered up and used a beautiful "Mandarin Duck Guai" to kick the ball back to Duan Wang. A master will know if there is one as soon as he takes action. With this mandarin duck crutch, Gao Qi suddenly stunned everyone in the audience. If Gao Qi lived today, Li Yi would never be famous. Gao Qi will be revered as "Gao Qi the Great" by fans, and a sports reporter wrote "The Chronicles of Gao Qi" for him. Ronaldo would also say sincerely at the press conference: "My ball protection is very similar to that of Chinese Gao Qi." Football is popular in the Song Dynasty, and people with low football skills will inevitably be excluded. Take Lin Chong, the coach of the 800,000-strong Forbidden Army, for example. Although he has a good gun and stick, he can only play bad football. No wonder gangster Gao Qi was still in charge of the White Tiger Hall, but Lin Chong ended up with his family ruined and forced to go to Liangshan. It is estimated that Wu Song and Lu Zhishen were not good at playing football. They could not stop the ball with just three or five kicks, and they would even kick a few Cuju balls into pieces after a game. The golf course was unsatisfactory and there was no hope for the future, so these people had no choice but to go to Liangshan. This is true: the moon crescents over Kyushu, some people are playing football and some are worried. As long as your golf skills are top-notch, you will be considered a great player in front of the emperor.
"Water Margin" is a literary work after all, and the characters and plots are fictitious. However, in history, there were indeed people like Gao Qi who were admired by the emperor for their superb Cuju skills and were promoted and made a fortune. "The Biography of Wang Rong in the History of the Song Dynasty" once mentioned that Song Taizong said in a conversation: "Zhang Ming started from a lowly position and served me with Cuju. He was careful about himself and was seen in generations.
"It can be seen that Cuju is not an inferior acrobatic skill. As long as the opportunity is good and the skill of Cuju is superb, it is like having the art of climbing a dragon, and the future is limitless.
In Chinese history, since the Warring States Period, the Han, Tang, and In the Song, Yuan, Ming and other dynasties, many people participated in Cuju activities, and there were many masters. Later, in the Qing Dynasty, it was completely lost. Westerners refuse to admit that Cuju is the ancestor of modern football. Therefore, in modern times, Chinese football is very weak and has not been able to compete with Xiongqi for many years. , The starting point is too low, the acquired efforts are not enough, and the natural skills are not as good as others. (Qin Dalu)
The "Old Book of Tang" records that the Koreans are good at playing football, that is to say, in ancient times. In Korea, basically everyone can play football. Although Cuju was very popular in ancient China, it was not so popular.