At 15:00 on 11 February 2022, the cross-country skiing - men's 15 km (traditional technique) competition began at the National Cross-Country Ski Center. Of the many events of the Winter Olympics, cross-country skiing may be the least varied. After all, one of the original purposes of human mastery of skiing technology was to be able to move quickly through the dense forest covered with ice and snow to hunt down prey.
When it comes to hunting, the emperors of ancient China probably couldn't stop talking about it. Although the main body of China is an agricultural civilization, the emperors of the past have not experienced hunting. From the Yin merchants to the Qing court, from the emperors to the princes, the stories of hunting in ancient times are too many to count.
1. Field hunting witnessed by oracle bones
In the Yin Shang generation, the major events and small things of the emperors were recorded by the bones of the tortoise shells and beasts, and the story of their field hunting was naturally handed down. Among the monarchs of the Shang Dynasty, Cheng Tang, Shang Yi and Lu were undoubtedly the most fond of hunting. According to the Huainan Zi Tai Clan Training, Cheng Tang was the first known monarch to use the yuan (similar to the garden but without walls, used to keep animals in captivity).
Hunting is an important human production activity, and its main purpose is nothing more than to obtain meat, fur and animal bones. However, as far as Yin Shang was concerned, hunting developed into a "field hunting" with military training significance, and became an important means to improve the combat skills of soldiers. Therefore, the monarchs attached great importance to it, and often even personally led the crowd to carry out field hunting, which also developed a set of procedures and rituals.
Judging from the recognized oracle bones, the hunting places are generally selected in the deserted mountains. Because of the certain danger of hunting activities and the concern about whether the weather is suitable, the Shang king would sue the previous king before leaving, ask for blessings, and divinate the weather. In terms of material preparation, the Shang King will prepare the carriage and horse as if he were about to go on a campaign, and will also prepare hounds and "dog people" (guides familiar with the destination environment and beasts of prey) for hunting.
When the large troops are ready to go, the horse breeders will act as forwards to explore the real-time road conditions. However, because the destinations were mostly undeveloped and the beasts roamed in the wilderness, even if the Shang King made sufficient preparations, he still needed to follow him all the way to "open the way to the mountains and build bridges in the water". Occasionally, in the event of some accidents, the Shang King had to divinate immediately to ask the gods for protection.
Therefore, although Yin Shang's field hunting is no longer a simple production activity, it still retains a large number of more primitive elements. Compared with the hunting enjoyed by later emperors, the happiness of the Shang kings was simpler.
Second, the chaotic hunting
After replacing Yin Shang, Western Zhou inherited Tian Hunting and further developed it. Hunting became a popular sport in the upper class, and court confinement was more common. Some monarchs were also criticized for indulging in hunting. For example, the "Confucius Family Language" records that the monarch of the State of Qi was once evaluated by Confucius for his "obscenity".
By the Qin Dynasty, strong national strength supported larger royal hunting activities. The official positions of Shanglin Yuan Cheng and Yichun Forbidden Cheng who were responsible for managing the Yuan Yuan were basically stereotyped. In the Qin Law, there is also a clause such as "the people's dogs enter the forbidden garden and do not pursue the beasts and the trappers, do not dare to kill; their beasts and trappers, kill them". The "High for the Terrace, the Great for the Yuan, and the Far For the Chi Dao" contained in the Huainan Zi is also a depiction of the grandeur of the Qin Dynasty.
During the Han Dynasty, Tian Hunting developed into a "school hunting" that paid more attention to training and confrontation. "School" has the meaning of assessment and competition. School hunting was used by the Han as a major means of assessing soldiers. Its own hunting significance or ceremonial nature is significantly diluted.
However, in the Han Dynasty, there were still some hunting activities that focused on amusement. These hunting activities recorded in historical records are called "safari", "hunting", "shooting hunting", etc., which are less confrontational and pay more attention to etiquette and procedures. And it is precisely this kind of hunting, which is more suitable for pleasure and advocating the authority of the ruling class, that has become the ancient admiration of later generations, especially the Tang people.
Third, the drunken rush of the prosperous world
If you want to ask what Li Tangshengshi looks like, few people may think of hunting. But if you ask a Tang dynasty, especially a nobleman from the royal family, what sport he likes the most, many people may take hunting as the answer.
Of the more than twenty male emperors of Li Tang, nearly half of them have left records of participating in hunting. At the beginning of the Tang Dynasty, Tang Gaozu participated in several hunts a year when he was in high spirits; during the reign of Tang Taizong, there were more than twenty hunts recorded in the history books. And Tang Taizong also believed that there are three pleasures in a person's life, and the second is hunting. Among the princes, King Qi, the son of Tang Gaozu, declared that he would rather not eat for three days than go a day without hunting; King Teng, son of Tang Gaozu, because he often hunted all night, the gates of his ruling land were also closed all night; King Qi, King Xue, and so on, the sons of Tang Xuanzong, met on weekdays to "hunt in the suburbs and enjoy villas"...
Because of the pursuit of the royal family, hunting has become an important activity for the whole country to participate in. The central government has also formulated a relatively perfect hunting system "hunting ceremony" for this purpose, and organized a hunting ceremony that ordinary people can also participate in before midwinter every year... Even Li Bai, who has always been reluctant to pursue the powerful, participated in the hunt and wrote the "Great Hunting Gift".
It is true that hunting activities in which kings have participated since ancient times have more or less political or military implications. But as a sport with a certain danger, people shuttle through the mountains and forests, gallop on the field, and eventually exercise their physique and strengthen their spirits - just like today's cross-country skiing, although it is no longer for production activities, it has not given up the beautiful pursuit of "going to the future together".