How fierce is Shandong people's card game?
Some time ago, a guy from Shandong posted a video playing cards on a certain sound.
In the video, several people sit around and play cards, you come and go, the battle is fierce, and the scene is so tense that it seems that it will fight at any time.
The comments below are hilarious:
"It will really fight, play after the fight, and then reconcile in a while."
"My grandmother played cards with the villagers two days ago!"
Another commented:
"New Year relatives get together and play cards like this!"
Indeed, whether it is during the New Year festival or in the dormitory or train, playing cards will always become the first choice for people to spend time, and are deeply loved by the masses.
Why are playing cards loved by so many people? What is its origin?
Who exactly are the characters on the cards? What are the interesting ways to play in various parts of the country?
There are several theories about the mystery of the birth of playing cards.
The Italians say they found a copy of 1376 that clearly states that gambling with playing cards is prohibited, so playing cards were invented by their ancestors;
Indians believe that playing cards come from ancient India.
It is said that a tribal chief in ancient India at that time had the bad habit of twisting his beard, and his wife invented playing cards in order to change this bad habit of the chief;
How can this kind of advantage be rare among Koreans, who say that playing cards were developed from the Goryeo divination god sign.
Similar statements, there are many others, which are nothing more than trying to take credit for the invention of playing cards.
In fact, as early as around 200 BC, there was a game similar to playing cards "Yezi Play" in the Han Dynasty in China.
It is said that Han Xin invented this card game for soldiers to have fun in their free time so that they would not feel too homesick.
At the beginning of the birth of Ye Zi Opera, there was no limit to the number of people who played games, and it was not until the Ming Dynasty that it was clearly stipulated that 4 people were required.
A deck of "leaf cards" has a total of 40 cards, divided into four suits, 100,000 guan, 10,000 guan, suozi, and wen qian.
There are nine suits each, Wanguan and Suozi, and the points are counted from the beginning to the end of nine.
The number of points for this suit starts from 100,000 to 900,000, followed by millions, tens of millions, and tens of thousands.
The suit of Wen Qian is also from one to nine, but it has one more "half-text" than Wan Guan and Suozi, which can also be called branch flowers.
It is said that the three suits of wanguan, rope and wen qian later developed into wan, strip and barrel in mahjong.
During the Song Dynasty, leaf opera began to be popularized throughout the country, from princes and ministers to ordinary people.
Song Taizu Zhao Kuangyin also asked the eunuchs and palace maids in the palace to learn to play leaf play together, so that someone could accompany him to play with him in his free time.
During the Ming Dynasty, leaf opera was further developed, not limited to daily leisure and entertainment, and began to appear in wine stores and casinos, so it was also called "liquor brand".
The gameplay of the leaf play has not changed for thousands of years, but its cards have become more and more exquisite since the Ming Dynasty.
In the early days, the leaf play cards were basically "money" stories, and later characters and animals and plants were added, and by the middle of the Wanli period, the Water Margin leaf card began to become popular again.
Chen Hongshou, a great painter of the Ming Dynasty, created a set of "Water Margin Leaves", on which the forty good men of Liangshan are lifelike, very exquisite and beautiful.
Later, he created a set of "Bogu Leaves", which is full of allusions to historical figures, from Fan Li in the Spring and Autumn period to Bai Gui in the Ming Dynasty, spanning more than 2,000 years.
In the late Qing Dynasty, a man named Ren Xiong imitated Chen Hongshou and created a set of "Liexian Wine Cards".
The cards are all famous Taoist figures, such as "Laozi", "Ge Hong", "Guan Lingyin", "Zhang Daoling" and so on.
Leaf opera developed into the Ming and Qing dynasties, and may have greater collection and ornamental value than play value.
In fact, it is not difficult to find from the suits, gameplay, appearance and other aspects of leaf play that leaf play is very similar to modern playing cards, so it is not an exaggeration to say that it is the ancestor of playing cards.
How did China's leaf opera reach Europe?
To understand this problem, one has to mention a famous foreigner, Marco Polo.
In 1271, this foreigner followed the caravan to China, and played in China for more than ten years, playing enough homesickness before returning to his hometown Italy, and took a lot of Chinese culture and goods with him before leaving, including leaf play.
After Marco Polo returned to his hometown, he spread the leaf play, which happened to be that Italy was still in the embryonic state of the Renaissance at that time, and was particularly willing to absorb the excellent culture of other countries.
Leaf opera has completely taken root in Italy and combined with local culture to form Italian solitaire.
Italian solitaire then spread to other European countries, eventually forming a variety of different solitaire cultures.
By the 15th century, Italian solitaire had blossomed in Europe, but the most representative were Italy, Spain, France, Germany, and Switzerland.
Italian solitaire has 78 cards, of which 22 are used for divination and 56 for entertainment. It is divided into four sets of 14 suits, each consisting of a sword, a star coin, a scepter, and a chalice.
Of these 14 cards, the first 10 are numeral, with points ranging from 1 to 10; The last 4 cards are court cards, with four types: king, queen, knight, and attendant.
At this time, the cards were already quite modern.
Another Spanish solitaire, which is quite representative in Europe, is slightly different from Italian solitaire.
Although they are all four suits, the pattern is different from that of Italy, which has become coins, chalices, swords and clubs.
In addition to suit patterns and card counts, there is another interesting difference between Italian and Spanish solitaire.
The characters on the Italian cards are all seated, while the characters on the Spanish cards are standing, and it is not known whether they have a relationship with their respective cultures.
The third representative of solitaire in Europe is the German solitaire, which also has its own characteristics.
The patterns on German cards are basically animals, such as deer, falcons, dogs, mallard ducks, herons, etc.
The suit of German solitaire also began to be fixed, there are four types: red heart, acorn, bell, and leaves.
This is the prototype of our modern four decors.
After German solitaire passed to France, it was derived, French solitaire.
French cards are almost identical to modern playing cards, the only difference is that there are no kings of size and size.
French solitaire is an evolution of Italian solitaire and Spanish solitaire, and the four suits are the most familiar spades, spades, spades, squares, and plum blossoms.
The number of points for French solitaire also changed further, from 1 to 10, with the addition of J (bodyguard), Q (queen) and K (king).
After the French cards passed to the United States, the Americans added kings and kings, eventually forming the current 54 playing cards.
It is said that the number of playing cards was eventually determined at 54, related to the astronomical calendar.
The 52 main cards represent the 52 weeks of the year, and 2 decks of cards, with the big king representing the sun and the small king representing the moon.
The 4 suits of playing cards represent the four seasons of the year, and each suit has 13 cards, which corresponds to exactly 13 weeks of each season.
In fact, small playing cards, there are many interesting cold knowledge.
For example, why can old K overwhelm Q and J?
Who are the archetypes of characters in K, Q, and J?
In fact, these K, Q, and J characters are very famous figures in history.
K represents the king, Q represents the queen, and J is a knight, with clear hierarchies.
The four kings on the K plate are all famous big names in Europe.
On the K of Spades is King David, the second king of the Kingdom of Israel, Michelangelo's representative work, and the prototype of the statue of David is him.
Jesus in the Bible is said to be His descendant.
On the K of Peach is Charlemagne of the Franks, who is known as the "father of European kings".
At his peak, Charlemagne controlled most of Europe and was the most powerful ruler of the Middle Ages, combining theocracy and royal power to directly promote the spread of Christianity.
The K of Peach is the only king card without an upper lip beard, and it is said that the person who carved the template accidentally shaved Charlemagne's beard off.
On the K of square K is Julius Caesar of ancient Rome, a very good military strategist and statesman.
After Julius Caesar came to power, he alone held important positions such as consul, inspector, and dictator.
This angered the senatorial nobles of the Roman Republic, who sent someone to assassinate Julius Caesar.
On square K, Julius Caesar is a side-face image, because Julius Caesar engraved on the coins of the Roman Empire is a side-face, so the playing cards also follow this feature.
On the Plum K is Alexander the Great, one of Europe's most powerful military geniuses, known as "the first of the four military commanders of the West".
Alexander the Great succeeded to the throne at the age of 20, and then went on conquests, conquering many city-state civilizations and establishing a large empire spanning Asia, Europe and Africa.
Unfortunately, his life span was too short, he was only 33 years old when he died, and the empire fell apart when he died.
The four queens on the Q card are also famous figures in Europe.
On the Q of Spades is Athena, the Greek goddess of war and wisdom, who also oversees agriculture and horticulture.
Because Athena is the goddess of war, she is also the only one of the four queens with a weapon.
On the Q of the Peach is the heroine Judith, the beautiful widow of ancient Hebrew.
When the Assyrian army invaded Hebrew, Judith took the risk of seducing the enemy general, then drunk the other party and cut off his head to save the people of the Hebrew region.
On the Q of the square is Queen Lecker, a cousin of Jacob, the ancestor of the Jews.
Jacob had a famous son, Judas, the one who betrayed Jesus. It is said that Jacob worked for his uncle for 14 years in order to marry Lecker.
The character on Plum Q is called Argini, and she is associated with a special history of Britain.
At that time, there were two major royal families in England, Lancaster and York, which fought to the death for the throne, and the war lasted for 32 years.
Later, the two royal families shook hands and made peace, and their respective symbols were combined, namely the rose flower held by Aginni.
The four knights on the J card, but there are many prototypes.
The knight on the J of Spades is called Ogier, he is one of the 12 paladins of Charlemagne of the Red Spades, and it is said that when he was born, 6 fairies came to send him blessings.
The knight on the J of Hearts is called Rahaile, who, as a retinue of Charles VII, commanded the Hundred Years' War between England and France, and is also a comrade-in-arms of Joan of Arc, who follows Joan of Arc without abandonment.
The knight on block J is called Hector, a prince of Trojan who fought with Achilles, but unfortunately did not fight and died at the hands of the other party.
The knight on Plum J is called Lancelot, the first warrior of King Arthur's Knights of the Round Table.
He secretly fell in love with King Arthur's queen, and when he was discovered, he fell out with King Arthur, and King Arthur sent 12 knights to kill him.
However, he did not end up with the queen, who became a nun, he became a monk, and the two did not see each other again until their deaths.
A small deck of playing cards contains thousands of years of European historical knowledge, and studying it is equivalent to studying European history.
Ye Zi played to Europe during the Yuan Dynasty, circled around outside, transformed into playing cards, and returned to China.
At the end of the Qing Dynasty and the beginning of the People's Dynasty, people played playing cards from abroad, especially the United States.
In 1919, the May Fourth Movement broke out, and a wave of boycotts and domestic products was launched throughout the country.
Shanghainese Huang Disheng followed the trend and founded the Pure China Card Factory, which is the first playing card manufacturer in our country, and the "horse head card" produced in it is also the first poker brand.
Later, the horse head brand was further developed and expanded, and there were many small brands such as circus harlequin cards, circus cards, and horse cards.
After the founding of New China, the playing card industry flourished, many people set up factories to produce playing cards, Yao Ji, 3A, Binwang and other well-known poker brands appeared one after another.
According to statistics, the size of the mainland poker market will reach 3.4 billion in 2021, and the first brand Yao Ji sells 700 million poker games a year.
The reason why so many playing cards can be sold is that it has become a favorite entertainment game, from the dignitaries to the peddlers' pawns, almost no one dislikes.
Chairman Mao liked to play bridge, often until one or two o'clock in the morning, and Duke Deng also loved to play bridge.
He once said:
"I play bridge, which proves that my brain is clear, and playing bridge is the best kind of brain rest. Only when I play bridge, I don't think about anything, focus on the cards, and my brain can rest fully. ”
Although playing cards are an entertainment game loved by the broad masses of the people, there are different ways of playing and customs in various places.
For example, in the video of the Shandong guy mentioned at the beginning, they played the Shandong characteristic gameplay "play enough".
Some people say that "playing enough level" comes from Japan, which is simply nonsense, this kind of play originated in Qingdao, and then spread throughout Shandong.
Playing "Playing Enough" requires four decks of cards, six people, and then divided into two groups of three people each, which emphasizes teamwork.
There is also the most well-known card game "Dou Di Lord".
This style of play was first popular in Wuhan, and it is said that it was adapted by a man named Wu Xiuquan from another playing card game, "Run Fast".
Some people also say that "fighting landlords" is a playing card game invented by the poor people of the old society, because the landlords often oppress them, but they dare not openly resist, so they can only go home and play "fighting landlords" to vent their grievances against the landlords.
There is no clear limit on the number of people who play "Fight the Landlord", ranging from two to five, but it will be divided into two factions, the peasant and the landlord, which side will play the cards first and which side will win.
Another way to play poker, "bridge", known as the "game of the wise", has become an Olympic and Universiade competition.
There are many ways to play poker, such as the south loves to play eggs, hoe big D, run fast, etc., the northeast loves to play red K contact, play mother, 4A4, etc.
There are many ways to play poker and different customs, but it does not prevent it from becoming the world's number one entertainment game.
Where there is Chinese, there is playing cards, which has become almost universal "social language".
Playing cards can sit on the first chair, inseparable from the Internet to promote the waves, now major game platforms can not lack card games.
However, although the game of poker is good, it should not be contaminated with the vice of gambling.
It is the saying, "To get rich, you can't gamble." Gambling is not quit, and the chicken and dog are restless. ”
-END-
Resources:
1. Li Weigang|"A Preliminary Study of the World's Early Playing Card Research"
2. Zhang Jinghe|"Analysis of Chinese Poker Culture Communication and Industry"
3. Zhang Jialong|"Historical Figures on Playing Cards"
4. There is Weina|"Application of Ancient Chinese Bronze Decorative Patterns in Playing Card Design"
Author: South Star
Edit: Willow Leaf Nagging
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