Xinhua News Agency, Zhengzhou, January 29 Title: The ancients also played "golf"?
Xinhua News Agency reporter Ren Zhuoru
A few days ago, when the Ceramic Technology Exhibition Hall of Pingdingshan University in Henan Province was sorting out the ancient ceramic specimens in the collection, it found more than a thousand ceramic balls, as well as ball-making molds and dozens of semi-finished ceramic balls that were glued together during firing. Experts have preliminarily judged that these ceramic balls are the balls used in ancient Chinese sports to pound pills.
This is a ceramic ball photographed in the art exhibition hall of Pingdingshan University in Henan Province, and taken by Li An, a reporter from Xinhua News Agency
"The sky is clear, the wind is harmonious, and when you are full, your heart is not hindered, so you choose a good friend, and where the garden is clear, you will pound according to law." The Pill Sutra, a yuan dynasty monograph on pounding pills, recorded this popular sport. Originated from the Tang Dynasty's step play ball, it was popular in the Song, Yuan and Ming dynasties, and its rules of play for hitting the ball into the hole with a stick are very similar to golf balls. In 2005, liu bingguo and Zhang Shengping, two scholars, directly named the relevant book they compiled as "Pounding Pills: Golf in Ancient China".
So, what exactly was the "golf" played by the ancients?
These ceramic balls vary in size in shape, most of them are 5 centimeters in diameter, and there are pottery and porcelain in terms of material. The spheres are solid, sintered densely and have excellent bouncing properties. Some surfaces are also painted and engraved with decorations such as circle patterns, floral patterns, and swirls, and some use special decorative processes such as hanging tires and hanging glazes in the production. Among them, the ceramic ball decorated with pit patterns bears a striking resemblance to the shape of a modern golf ball.
This is a ceramic ball (right) and a modern golf ball photographed in the art exhibition hall of Pingdingshan College in Henan Province, and photographed by Li An, a reporter from Xinhua News Agency
After thermal emission age detection, this batch of ceramic balls involves various periods such as Tang, Song, Yuan, Ming and Qing, of which there are more than 1800 pieces in the Tang, Song and Yuan periods alone. Cui Lequan, a research librarian at the Sports Culture Development Center of the State General Administration of Sport and a distinguished professor of Zhengzhou University, said excitedly: "This is the first time in China that such a large-scale 'punching ball' type of ball has been found, which provides an important reference for discussing the origin and development of ancient Chinese pill-pounding." ”
The aforementioned book "Pill Classic" has detailed the rules of the game and the form of competition in this sport, "It is advisable to look at the dry and wet soil and the firm and the base, choose the flat and concave and convex to win, drag the elbow to carry the staff, hit the dipper and collect the nest, and the body is not low." ”
Part of the Ming Dynasty's "Xuanzong Xingle Map" (courtesy of the interviewee)
"On the special field, different terrain, terrain, and even different forms of obstacles are set up, and at the same time, there are ball bases, ball nests, and flags are planted next to the nests as markers. When competing, the ball is hit with a cane, and the rules of winning by entering the nest are adopted. Cui Lequan said that the rules of the pill beating competition recorded in the "Pill Classic", the venue facilities and the shape of the equipment used in the competition are very similar to golf. Combining the birth years of the two sports, it is not excluded that Chinese pounding pills have had mutual exchanges and influences with the prototype of modern golf. This discovery is also of great significance for the study of the history of golf in the world.
Mei Guojian, dean of the School of Ceramics of Pingdingshan University, introduced that the ceramic balls found this time were mostly excavated from the Duandian kiln in Lushan County, Pingdingshan City, the Qingliangsi kiln in Baofeng County and the Linru kiln in Ruzhou.
Cui Lequan said that combined with the developed porcelain handicraft industry in the Pingdingshan area at that time, and the unique geographical location between the two ancient capitals of Luoyang and Kaifeng, it is likely that it is a large production base for pounding balls.