Guo Lei: From the ice frolicking festival to the Winter Olympics, what kind of history has China's ice and snow sports gone through?
China News Service, Beijing, February 7 Title: From the ice frolic festival to the Winter Olympics, what kind of history has China's ice and snow sports gone through?
Author Guo Lei, expert in Olympic culture studies and sports collector
Speaking of the Summer Olympic Games, people are very familiar with athletics, balls and other sports, but the ice and snow sports are also very interesting, and the Winter Olympic Games, as a stage for these ice and snow sports, have a strong appeal to ice and snow sports fans. Although modern ice and snow sports originate from the West, especially in Europe, China itself has a long history of ice and snow sports, of which ice play is an important form. From the ancient ice frolic festival to the current Winter Olympics, the history of China's ice and snow sports has witnessed the continuous development and enrichment of ice and snow culture.
BingXiao: The grand ceremony of the Qing Dynasty, witnessing the rise and fall of the national fortune
Ice play, ice play, ice technology, is a traditional ice sports form containing a variety of sports, germinated in the winter production and life practice of the ancient Chinese northern peoples, formed in the late Ming and early Qing dynasties.
The Manchu Old Archives record that in 1625 Nurhaci held an ice sports meeting on the Prince River in Liaoyang, with events such as ice bowing and ice equal distance running, which were attended by both men and women.
In 1642, Emperor Taiji also held a large-scale ice bowing activity on the banks of the HunHe River in Shengjing, and invited Joseon Shizi to watch it together, adding a foreign exchange function.
The Kangxi Dynasty was very powerful, and historical records record that there was also an ice juju activity at that time, located in the Xiyuan Tailiu Pond (now Beihai and Zhongnanhai), and there were already ice beds in this area at that time. The ice bed can be understood as an ice vehicle, and some gentlemen will also sit on the ice bed to entertain.
In the Qianlong Dynasty, the Qianlong Emperor hoped to practice martial arts through ice frolication. There are rewards for those who participate in the Ice Festrançaise Festival, and there are additional rewards for particularly good results. In the Tenth Year of Qianlong (1745), Bing Xi was formulated as a national code. The Qianlong Emperor first proposed the term "ice frolic" and personally wrote the "Imperial Ice Frolic Endowment (Orderly)". In order to unify the minds of the courtiers, he also asked thirteen ministers to write down the assignments. Among them, Ji Huang should make the sentence "The remaining skills of this water battle, give Jia the name of Ice Play", which also confirms that the term "Ice Play" was created by Qianlong.
From the formal establishment of the ice play system in the 10th year of Qianlong to the last viewing of ice play on the 23rd day of the 19th year of Daoguang (January 27, 1840), this ice festival in Chinese history, which was personally initiated by the emperor himself, lasted for 94 years. Bingxiao was designated as a "national custom" by the Qianlong Emperor, forming a system of annual viewing of Bingxiao. The term ice play was widely accepted by the court and the people, and became a general term for ice sports in northern China.
The Qianlong Emperor also asked the painter to paint the ice scene. The Palace Museum now has a volume of "Ice Play Map" co-painted by Zhang Weibang and Yao Wenhan, and a volume of "Ice Play Map" co-painted by Jin Kun, Cheng Zhidao, and Fu Long'an.
In the exhibition area of the China International Fair for Trade in Services 2021, a participant watched the "Ice Map" displayed with digital technology at the booth of the Palace Museum. Photo by China News Service reporter Hou Yu
The biggest difference between the two "Ice Frolic Pictures" is in the "Turning Dragon Shooting Ball" project in the center of the picture: This part of Zhang Weibang's painting adds a lot of characters and tricks, but the order of the Eight Flags walking on the ice is the same as Jin Kun's "Ice Frolic Map".
In fact, from Qianlong's "Ice Frolic Endowment" and many historical records, most of the ice frolic festivals are to review the eight flags separately, and only at some important events will the eight flags be performed together. At the same time, many people do such complex performances, including handstanding, stacking arhats, playing with middle flags, dancing knives and sticks, and other kinds of folk dramas, which may be an expression of Qianlong's thought, not a real scene. From this, it may be inferred that Qianlong believes that Jin Kun's "Ice Painting" is not expressed thoroughly, and only then did he have a second painting painted by Zhang Weibang and others.
In the early years of Jiaqing, the Qianlong Emperor, as the Emperor Taishang, personally reviewed all the ice frolic ceremonies. The Jiaqing Emperor was influenced by this and almost did not interrupt this grand ceremony.
During the Daoguang years, due to the limitations of national strength, it was increasingly unable to do large-scale ice activities, but it did not dare to easily dismantle them. The Daoguang Emperor reluctantly did it for a few years, and then often did not do it on the grounds of "warm spring and thin ice", and finally the twenty-third day of the nineteenth year of Daoguang, that is, January 27, 1840. After the outbreak of the First Opium War, the ice frolic festival came to an abrupt end.
During the reign of Cixi, especially after the opening of the port of Tianjin, western modern ice sports were introduced to China. Therefore, modern ice sports were introduced to China from Tianjin and Beijing. The Guangxu Dynasty once had a "skate play", and the ice frolic festival at this time could not be compared with the Qianlong Dynasty in terms of scale and number of scenes.
In early 1894, Cixi also held an ice frolic festival in TailiuChi. After the outbreak of the Sino-Japanese War that year, the ice festival completely withdrew from the stage of history. This history fully shows that as the integrator of ancient Chinese ice sports, the development of Ice Play is closely related to the national fortune and national strength.
China has enough ice and snow culture confidence to prepare for the Beijing Winter Olympics
Understanding the time coordinates of the ice frolic festival in the world's ice and snow sports will help to have a deeper understanding of the history of Ice and Snow in China. In 1742, the first skating organization, the Edinburgh Skating Club, was founded in England, in the seventh year of Qianlong, and the emperor had already piloted ice play in the Tailiu Pool; in 1892, the International Skating Union was established in the Netherlands, at this time Empress Dowager Cixi had restarted ice playing.
Chinese and foreign ice knives in different periods Provided by respondents
From the time of the ice frolic, it can be seen that the historical coordinates of Chinese skating in the world of skating are not behind. In particular, the petroglyphs in the Altay region of Xinjiang show that China is one of the important origins of human skiing. China has enough confidence in ice and snow culture. Beijing is not only an important venue for ancient ice sports, but also the area where modern ice sports were first introduced to China, and the region with the richest variety of ice activities during the Republic of China period.
China's first monograph on the Olympic Games was published in 1930. In 1928, Song Ruhai came to the Amsterdam Olympic Games as a representative of Wang Zhengting, China's first IOC member. Based on his observations and impressions of his visits, he published the "I Can Compare To The World Games Series" through the Commercial Press in 1930. The book also opens with photographs of the Second Winter Olympics in St. Moritz in 1928.
Photo courtesy of the interviewees of the 1930 World Games Series
Song Ruhai explained the origin of "I can compare" in this way: "Olympiad was originally the name of the ancient Greek Games, and the World Sports Congress still uses it. 'I can compare' is a transliteration, but it also has great significance. Guy shows that everyone can participate in this competition. But everything requires determination and perseverance, so that you can compete with others. ”
After the founding of New China, China's ice and snow sports as a competitive activity were truly systematic. Records show that in 1954, the Youth Cultural Service Department of Beijing Department Store sold more than 2,000 pairs of skates a month, and the total area of ice rinks opened in Beihai, Shichahai, Zhongshan Park, and the Working People's Cultural Palace exceeded 100,000 square meters.
On January 22, 2022, the Shichahai Ice Rink in Beijing was full of tourists after the snow. Photo by China News Service reporter Sheng Jiapeng
In the same year, the then National Sports Commission issued instructions that ice sports should be carried out where conditions permit throughout the country, so cities in North China, Northeast China and even Northwest China had various ice games. Where there are conditions, ice rinks formed by natural lakes are used to skate, and where there are no conditions, the relevant units set aside a vacant lot, pour water, and start playing with ice on their own ice rinks.
In particular, students in northern schools are required to go to ice as much as possible in winter, and ice sports are regarded as a standard of physical exercise. Since 1953, the national ice games have been held, and every winter, some small ice games in various places are also often carried out, which has greatly promoted the development of ice sports in the country.
China's experience in participating in previous Winter Olympic Games: from participation to rise
China began participating in the Lake Placid Winter Olympics in the United States in 1980, the first time it has sent a delegation to participate in the Winter Olympics after restoring its legitimate seat on the International Olympic Committee. At the opening ceremony, former Chinese speed skater Zhao Weichang held up the five-star red flag as a flag bearer.
At that time, China had just begun to reform and open up, ice and snow sports equipment was very scarce, and a Japanese company provided clothing sponsorship for the Chinese sports delegation. Because there is no Chinese logo on the clothes, everyone chooses to put a national emblem brought from China in the transparent pocket of the left chest.
In that year, the Chinese delegation displayed the five-star red flag at the Scene of the Winter Olympics as a victory. Because of the large gap with the world level, China's ice and snow predecessors have difficulty in achieving good results in the first few Winter Olympic Games, and their goal is relatively simple, that is, to break the national record in the Olympic arena and compare themselves with themselves.
At the 16th Winter Olympic Games in Albertville, France in 1992, Ye Qiaobo achieved a breakthrough of zero medals in the history of the Winter Olympics in China. At the 19th Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City, USA, 2002, Chinese athlete Yang Yang won the gold medal in the women's short track speed skating 500 meters, becoming the first gold medalist in the history of the Chinese Winter Olympics. At the 2006 Winter Olympics in Turin, China achieved a breakthrough of zero gold medals in snow sports, and Han Xiaopeng won the championship of freestyle skiing aerial skills.
In the women's 1000m final of the speed skating at the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympics, China's Zhang Hong won the gold medal in 1 minute 14.02 seconds, which was the first speed skating gold medal in the history of the Chinese Winter Olympics. Photo by China News Service reporter Tomita
The 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics is China's current top gold medal winner, winning five gold medals, including the women's short track speed skating team winning all four gold medals. The 2014 Winter Olympics were held in Russia, China won three gold medals, the biggest breakthrough was the speed skating event, Zhang Hong won the first speed skating gold medal in the history of the Chinese Winter Olympics.
At the 2018 Pyeongchang Winter Olympics, China won only one gold medal, and Wu Dajing won the short track speed skating 500 meters event. But there is a very good phenomenon this year, the Chinese sports delegation began to blossom in the ice and snow projects, especially some of the projects in China are very young to get medals, and some projects that the public did not know much about before also began to receive medals. This has sown a good seed for the Chinese sports delegation to bring more surprises in 2022.
On February 22, 2018, China's Wu Dajing (first from right) won the gold medal in the men's 500m short track speed skating final at the Pyeongchang Winter Olympics. China News Service reporter Song Jihe photographed
What will the Beijing Winter Olympics bring? The author believes that driving more than 300 million people to participate in ice and snow sports will be the precious legacy of the Winter Olympics to the Olympic Games. In addition, there is the concept of sustainable development, and the slogan derived from Chinese civilization and containing Chinese wisdom: "Together for the future". (End)
About the Author:
Guo Lei, an expert in Olympic culture research and sports collector, is known as "Southern Zhou and Northern Guo" in the sports collection industry. He has published "Ice Frolic Examination in the Qing Dynasty", "Ice Sports in Time", "Inspiring China: A Dictionary of New Chinese Sports Propaganda Paintings", etc. CCTV "Olympic in the Arts", "Hall of Honor" and other columns guests.