Ancient sports were inseparable from other cultural areas of ancient societies, such as military, religious, artistic, educational, etc.
Equal emphasis on intelligence
Among the many sports activities in ancient China, there were not only events to show speed and strength, but also a competitive intellectual game that used the brain, which was a chess activity characterized by the contest between thinking and intelligence. There are two ancient chess competitions in China – Go and Xiangqi. For thousands of years, this thing has opened up people's wisdom and satisfied the competitive psychology of human beings.
Philosophical meaning
In the form of sports in all ancient civilizations in the world, we can find philosophical ideas that are compatible with it, and the close combination of ancient Chinese sports and traditional philosophical ideas is rare in the world. Ancient Chinese sports, which focused on competition, entertainment, and health preservation, introduced a large number of traditional philosophical concepts and ideas, such as "qi", the five elements of yin and yang, eight trigrams, the unity of heaven and man, and the mutual combination of movement and stillness, etc., which are particularly fully manifested in martial arts and health preservation.
Class style
In ancient times, some sports were developed due to the unique living conditions of emperors and nobles, such as field hunting, which was originally a military exercise, and by the Qin and Han dynasties, it became a recreational activity for emperors and nobles. During the Yuan, Ming and Qing dynasties, there were vast royal enclosures on the south, west and north sides of Kyoto, which were used exclusively for hunting by the royal nobles. In addition, some sports are mainly popular among scholars and doctors, such as pitching pots, which is a game that evolved from "archery". During the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, the nobles held singing, dancing and feasting, during which there were often pot throwing activities. The hierarchical nature of ancient sports is also reflected in the strict hierarchy.
Ming Xuanzong out of the hunting map
Ming Xianzong Xingle Tu
Longevity concept
During the Shang and Zhou dynasties, people gradually developed the idea and desire for longevity, and the ancient Chinese traditional health preservation techniques came into being under the influence of the concept of health and longevity, which had unique oriental characteristics in traditional sports and had a profound impact on later generations. The origin and development of health preservation has a lot to do with ancient medicine and philosophy. There are many health practitioners who are also doctors or philosophers.
Ancient Chinese Health Care has a Strong Philosophical Meaning: "Health Formula" Bamboo Slips (Western Han Dynasty)
Military needs
Due to the needs of war and military training, it helped to promote the development of military-related sports in ancient times, and some entertainment and fitness activities gradually differentiated and evolved from military physical training, such as Keju. In history, with the changes in weapons, combat skills and military systems, sports activities as military training have also continued to evolve, wrestling, lifting tripods, boxing, running, jumping, throwing stones, swimming, juju, polo, martial arts, etc. have been used as important items in military training.
Polo in the mural of the Tang Tomb in Shaanxi
Martial arts selection
The imperial examination system began in the eighteenth year of Emperor Wen of Sui (589 AD). Wu Zetian of the Tang Dynasty developed and perfected the liberal arts and sciences at the same time, inherited the practice of Tang Taizong attaching importance to the selection of generals, and created the martial arts system in the second year of Chang'an (702 AD). The martial arts system is the abbreviation of the martial imperial examination, that is, the selection of military attachés through examinations. This system continued until the Qing Dynasty. Attracting and encouraging martial arts practitioners by adding officials to knighthood shows that the government recognizes the social status of martial arts. The establishment and implementation of the martial arts system has promoted the development of the folk martial arts and martial arts.
Martial arts is a part of the ancient imperial examination - the three-color cavalry figurines (Tang Dynasty)
Self-cultivation and education
In ancient schools, the practice of archery had the meaning of both moral education and physical education. In addition, dance was also a compulsory subject, and the young children of the aristocracy learned dance in school in order to participate in various rituals in the future, and to benefit both physical and mental health and to learn etiquette and rituals. In the education of the pre-Qin princes, sports occupied a certain position. Confucius, the founder of Confucianism, was a great educator who paid equal attention to both civil and military affairs, and he clearly put forward the educational idea of "both civil and military".
Confucius practice shooting