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The success of the Beijing Winter Olympics highlights China's development of ice and snow and confirms China's contribution to the world's ice and snow sports.
Tracing the history of ice sports on the continent and the overview of the first ice games, it is found that ice sports originated from the needs of production and life, and gradually developed into court sports.
Among them, on February 8, 1625, Nurhachi held the first ancient ice sports meeting in the mainland in Taizihe, Liaoning, unveiling the curtain of the grand occasion of ancient ice sports.
So, what was ice sports like in the past?
The historical evolution of ancient ice movement on the continent
Since the Sui and Tang dynasties, the Murowei people lived on both sides of the middle and upper reaches of the Heilongjiang River and the Nenjiang River basin, because of the cold climate in the northern winter, "the ground is covered with snow, and they are afraid of pits", and often "ride on wood".
In the Tang Dynasty, the people of the Western Regions "covered with birch bark, many good horses, riding wooden horses on the ice, borrowing feet with boards, bending wood to support armpits, stepping a hundred steps, and the momentum is rapid."
During the Northern Song Dynasty, "between Xin'an, Cang, and Jing...... The winter moon is used as a small bed, and it is dragged on the ice, which is called the bed."
The terms "riding wood", "riding wood", and "ice bed" refer to ice and snow sports.
In the Ming Dynasty, ice sports were further developed and became a court sport.
This ice sports event will be called "the first ice sports meeting recorded in China" by the academic community.
After the Manchus entered the Central Plains, they promoted its development to a peak state, and the Qing Dynasty's "national custom" was called the "national custom" of the ice hip (the collective name of all ice sports in ancient times) is a concrete manifestation.
The 1625 Ice Games has specific time, place, organizers, participants, spectators, entries and rules.
Although not as grand as the modern games, the main parts of a sports meeting were already in place and had great influence at the time.
For the time and place of the first Ancient Ice Games, the relevant historical books have accurate records.
Among them, in terms of time, "Manchurian Secret Files", "Retranslation of Manchu Old Files", "Manchu Old Files", and "The Twelve Emperors of the Qing Dynasty" are all accurate to the year, month, and day.
Therefore, it can be determined that the ice games were held on February 8, 1625 A.D., and the venue was Taizihe in eastern Liaoning Province.
There are records of the first ice games in ancient times, and the time and place of the event are relatively uniform.
In the competition, there are various theories such as "skate running and ice keju competition", "ice kicking, ice women's running and ice feast", "ice hockey and figure skating", and so on.
Although the history books of the ice games are different, the meaning is basically the same.
First, regarding the "kicking head on ice" and "playing the game of kicking football", there are historical records that the "line" is "sewn from leather, with a diameter of 15 or 6 cm, the size of a football, and the bladder of a dried pig is used as a ball gall, and it is inflated and tied tightly with a rope".
When the ancestors of the Manchus, the Sushen people, caught their prey, they used the animal's head to worship the mountain god, and kicked the animal's head when they had fun.
Later, because the head of the beast was too heavy, it was used to sew bear skin and bear hair into a ball to kick, so it was called kicking the head or kicking head.
Therefore, we have identified the first event of this Ancient Ice Games as ice kicking or ice kicking head.
Second, "running on both sides" and "running at equal distances" literally mean running at equal distances, which is equivalent to a speed race.
Draw the starting line at both ends of the race area, draw the finish line in the middle of the race area, place the prizes, and work in groups, and the team that reaches the finish line first will receive the prizes."
Other sources refer to the event as "ice running" when interpreting the Ice Games.
So everyone must be curious, who are the people involved in this Games?
Participants in the 1625 Ice Games
Through comparative analysis of relevant contents, it is found that the "Shang" and "Khan" mentioned in it refer to Nurhachi, that is, the initiator of the Ice Games.
Competitors vary depending on the event:
Most of the records about the participants in the ice kick head are "Zhu Beile and the waiter or the housekeeper", and we have a certain deviation in our understanding of this, but it is much the same.
For example, the ethnographer of the Shenyang Civic Committee described it as a "male athlete event", "led by the kings Baylor and the soldiers of the courtyard to kick their heads on the ice".
Li Dabao described it as "Zhu Beile led the attendants to play two kicks", and Cui Lequan described it as "an ice sports event in which Jurchen and Mongolian Beile and men such as attendants participated".
It is not difficult to find that "Zhubeile" includes the Jurchen Zhubeile, the Eight Banners Zhubeile and the Mongolian Zhubeile, etc.
Moreover, these personnel also participated in many projects in the "Ice Hip" movement in the later Qing Dynasty, which confirms the point of view of this article to a certain extent.
Scholars have invariably referred to the ice race as the "women's ice race", but the participants' statements vary depending on their opinions.
Next, let's take a look at the differences.
The Shenyang Manchu Chronicles records that "the ice running competition of female athletes was divided into three groups, the first group was the wives and concubines of Han officials, the second group was the Fujin of Mongolian Xiaotaiji, and the third group was Manchu and Mongolian women".
The "Manchu Old Files" records that "the wives of the Han officials, the wives of the Mongolian Xiaotaiji, and the daughters, the wives of the Xiaotaiji, the wives of the Baylor, and the Fujin came first."
The "Retranslation of the Old Manchu Files" records that "the wives of the Nikan officials, and after that, the wives of the little Taiji of the Mongols, and then the wives of the little Taiji, the Fujin, and the Fujin of Mongolia compete."
The "Manchurian Secret Files" recorded that "the wives of Han officials and others ran to get them".
The contestants mentioned in the history books are basically the same, and there are differences in the pronunciation of Manchu and Chinese, such as "Nikan" is a transliteration of Manchu, and Chinese is translated as "Han people".
Because of their blood relationship, they occupy the dominant position in the aristocratic group and constitute the backbone of Nurhachi's power, and the nobles with different surnames are the first and foremost Manchu military nobles (such as the Eight Banners), followed by the Mongolian nobles (such as the Mongolian Beile and Taiji), and finally the Han military nobles."
It can be found that the ice race is mainly participated by women, and is divided into three groups according to their status, the first group is the wives of the Han officials, and the second group is the wives of the Mongolian Xiaotaiji (Mongolian nobles).
The third group is the daughters of Nurhachi and Fujin, the wives of the little Taiji (here the little Taiji is the son of the concubine of Nurhachi, higher than the Mongolian Xiaotaiji), the wives of the Beyles and the Mongolian Fujin.
Then the question arises: how to reward these people with complex identities?
Incentives
According to the three historical books "Manchurian Secret Files", "Retranslation of Manchu Old Files" and "Manchu Old Files", it can be seen that Nurhachi rewards those who participate in the competition, and even if there is no ranking, they can also get participation awards.
The participation prize will be increased according to the status of the contestant from the lowest to the highest.
After the event, Nurhachi also held a feast to entertain the visitors, and this ice games presented a scene of joy and celebration with the people, and also laid a good foundation for connecting various ministries and ethnic integration.
It brought great significance to the first ice games in ancient times on the mainland.
Politically: Consolidating political power and maintaining stability in the Qing Dynasty, which was in the feudal period, ice sports were closely linked with politics, playing an important role in maintaining political power and improving national cohesion, and it was also an important means to pursue peaceful governance.
The political impact of the 1625 Ice Games was mainly reflected in the following two aspects:
On the one hand, it is necessary to maintain the stability of the Eight Banners Army.
The Eight Banners Army, as a magic weapon for Nurhachi to defeat the enemy in the southern and northern wars, became the main force to stabilize his power after unifying the Jurchen tribes.
Most of the participants in this ice games are soldiers, and as long as they participate in this games, even those who lag behind will be rewarded with certain rewards, and this way of rewarding subordinates has played a positive role in stabilizing the morale of the army.
On the other hand, it is necessary to liaise with various ministries of Mongolia to maintain the stability of the country.
Although the ice games were held after Nurhachi unified the Jurchen tribes, due to the long-term wars of various tribes, it was inevitable that there would be political disunity and firmness.
Therefore, in order to show his sincerity, Nurhachi also invited "Mongolian Zhubeile, Fujin, and the wives of Han officials and officials" to the ice games, and in addition to the Jurchens, there were also Mongolian and Han seats.
In the military: strong military training, promote military prestige Although ancient ice sports originated from the needs of production and life, it also plays an important role in the military.
During the period when the country was not recuperating from war, the Manchu army still focused on military training in order to preserve its military strength, and paid special attention to strengthening the training of mounted archery, wrestling, ice play, and other sports.
It can be said that the 1625 Ice Games was after Nurhachi unified the Jurchen tribes, and not only became one of the representative means of maintaining military strength during the period of recuperation, but also had great significance!
The meaning and impact of ice sports
The ice kicking head event in the ice games has high physical requirements and helps to improve the basic physical qualities such as speed, strength and endurance of the soldiers.
Figure skating, an entertainment performance before and after the Games, can effectively improve their balance, coordination and body flexibility.
In this sports meeting, the military prestige and national prestige displayed by the military literacy of the children of the Eight Banners made a strategic paving for the conquest of Nurhachi in the later period.
And, in this ice games, the representatives who showed bravery, tenacity and fighting spirit for the first place.
Just like a brave and invincible soldier on the battlefield, this is also the meaning that Nurhachi wants to convey to the tribal leaders and Han officials.
According to the "Excerpts from the Qing Language, Notes on the Slippery Son", "In the winter of 1626, the troops of the Manchu leader Nurhachi were besieged in Mergen by the Balhut tribe.
Nurhachi's forces eventually won, and for the first time in the mainland's military history, ice skating techniques were used in battle.
It is precisely because of the victory of this battle that Nurhachi officially included ice and snow sports in the military training of the Eight Banners, and still used it in military training after the Qing army entered the customs.
It can be seen that ancient ice sports had a strong military color at that time.
The most important thing is that ice sports have the cultural significance of carrying forward the tradition and uniting the hearts of the Manchus.
Its ancestors have lived between the "white mountains and black waters" for a long time, and have been engaged in hunting, fishing, and other production activities for generations.
It has created a rich and colorful national culture in terms of lifestyle, production methods, customs and Xi, and has become a brilliant pearl in the field of traditional culture of the Chinese nation.
It also shows that ancient ice sports originated from production and life, were used in military training, and were promoted to civil activities.
It is the embodiment of the Manchu traditional sports culture and an important carrier of the inheritance of national culture, and plays a huge role in inheriting and carrying forward the Manchu traditional culture.
Similarly, in addition to the "reward for Xi labor" and "simple martial affairs" mentioned in the "Old News Examination under the Sun"[34], the 1625 Ice Games also had the role of "cultivating national customs".
The "national customs" here is the title of "ice play" after entering the customs, but it means "inheriting the old customs and traditions of the country", that is, the Manchu ice sports.
The ice games presided over by Nurhachi, as well as the spiritual civilization and unified concept displayed by this games, are a relatively good inheritance of the traditional sports culture of the Manchu people, and have also played a huge role in uniting all departments and uniting the people.
From the point of view of the competition items, all the events of the 1625 Ice Games evolved from the production and life of the Manchu ancestors, and gradually became popular entertainment items in the court and among the people.
This form of transforming the intangible sports culture and spiritual civilization of the Manchu people into specific sports makes up for the shortcomings of the original oral transmission method [36], and is conducive to the excavation, inheritance and dissemination of Manchu history and culture by later generations.
This makes it difficult for each participant not to develop a strong sense of national identity, and the bond that maintains this sense of national identity and belonging is the traditional culture that they unanimously accept.
In the context of the successful holding of the Beijing Winter Olympics, tracing the history and culture of ancient ice and snow sports in the mainland has a positive role in promoting and inheriting the traditional culture of the mainland.
The first ice games in ancient times on the mainland were the beginning of the ancient ice sports festival.
Politically, at that time, the Eight Banners Army and the Mongolian ministries were stabilized to maintain national stability; militarily, the physical fitness level of soldiers was examined to improve their combat capability; and culturally, the traditional Manchu culture was inherited and carried forward to unite the national strength.
The 1625 Ice Games laid a solid foundation for the "Ice Frolic Ceremony" after the Qing army entered the customs, and accumulated a rich national traditional sports culture for the mainland.
Nowadays, ice and snow sports should continue to develop in the context of the success of the Beijing Winter Olympics, so as to better inherit the excellent culture of the Chinese nation and make China's contribution to the development of international sports and world cultural exchanges.