Ａｎｃｉｅｎｔ Ｃｈｉｎｅｓｅ Ｆｏｏｔｂａｌｌ Ｃｕｊｕ

Ｃｕｉ　Ｌｅｑｕａｎ

Origin of Cuju Cuju got its official name and rules of the game at least during the period of Spring and Autumn or Warring States period, according to records of ancient Chinese literature.

“Record of History: Biography of Su Qin” dated back to the 2nd century B.C. records: A statesman called Su Qin went to the State of Qi to persuade the King to join forces against Qin. During his stay in Qi, he was amazed to see the happy and wealthy life and recreational activities of the people in Linzi, capital of the State of Qi. Cuju was part of the most popular sport there.

First peak in the development of Cuju

Up to the Han Dynasty, Cuju began to become a very professional game of football.

(1) A book devoted to Cuju

There was writer in the Han dynasty, who wrote a book on Cuju. The book has 15 chapters. It is the earliest book on football in China and the world.

(2) Rules of the game

There was another writer in the Eastern Han dynasty, called Li You, who wrote an inscription on a tablet as the cornerstone for the building of a football field. The inscription reflected all aspects of Cuju game in the period. The football field under the pen of Li You “is round, surrounded by rectangular walls, to symbolize image (of the universal elemental forces) yin and yang. The (twelve) moons (months) were used as a guide for the number of players, with six (members) on each side. “ The play of the game was guided by a set of rules. A head referee was named and followed the fair play standards agreed upon. The referee must be fair to both sides. Players were required to play cool and obey the referee and not to complain about the ruling. The complete rules of the game show that Cuju bore the characters of modern football.

(3) Making balls - a profession

In the Han period, the ball for kicking was called “Wan Mao”, meaning a ball stuffed with feather or animal hair. In ancient China, a round object was usually made of jade and it was written in Chinese with the word meaning “jade” by the left side. Up to the Han dynasty, football was made with leather and therefore the word was written with the word meaning “leather” by the left side. The article “Fa Yan” by Yang Xiong also records that the ball was made with leather. Such ball passed down all the way to the Wei, Jin and South and North dynasties.

(4) A popular sport in the Han Dynasty

Football became a drill in military training in the Han Dynasty and it was also popular among the common people (See Picture 3). Han Book: “Biography of Huo Qubing” written by Historian Ban Gu records: General Huo Qibing took the lead in kicking football during his Northwest China expeditions and that became a source of encouragement to his men. Up to the Three Kingdoms period, Cuju was also closely associated with military training.

Cuju became a hit among both officials and common people. The Han Book records: Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty often held cockfight and Cuju games in his court. Dong Xian, his favorite official, hired a team of Cuju players in his home. The book “On Salt and Iron: Ci Quan” written by Heng Kuan records that the people of the Western Han Dynasty lived in long-term peace. “Aristocrats do angling by the ponds near their homes and release their dogs to hunt for hares and people take pleasure in playing Cuju and in watching cockfight”. The common people also played Cuju in the shanty town lanes. Archaeological finds have evidence of Cuju play in painted stones.

(5) Womens football team

The painted stones unearthed in Nanyang of Henan Province show a lady dancing with a ball on each foot to the company of music. With high headgear and long sleeves, she danced together with other women, looking very graceful and elegant. The playing with two balls at the same time showed the superb skills of the women at the time. In the same picture, one of the oldest clear depictions of a footballer in existence is a bas-relief from the Qimu Que, a “stone tower in the spiritual alley leading to the ancestral temple of the mother of Kai”. This monument in honor of the ancestors at the foot of Mount Songshan is 3.5 km north of the county town of Dengfeng in Henan province. The picture features simple and vivid lines to depict the beautiful movements of a woman footballer. Sitting by her is probably a band. This shows that women football appeared at early as at that time.

(6)Lastly, the play of the game began to be diversified.

The standardization and popularization of Cuju in the Han period stimulated the development toward diversification. There were mainly two kinds of Cuju at the time. One was an entertainment in nature. It exhibited personal skills. This was called “Bai Da” that prevailed in the Tang and Song periods. Such Cuju play needed a very small site and the play was not restricted by the site. Some were pure skill exhibition to the company of music. Such scenes can often be found in the painted stones and bricks of the Han period, which mainly featured women players. The Cuju show was very popular in imperial court, official families and in both cities and the countryside. It was an entertaining event in the imperial court of the Emperor Gao Zu, Liu Bang.

Another was competitive football played in a field known as “Ju Cheng”, a specialized football field, “Ju Yu”, an open-air football field or “Ju Shi”, an indoor football field. The rules of the game remained those created by Liu You in the Eastern Han Dynasty. Cuju is not only a way for physical training and a drill in training military skills and tactics but also a kind of entertainment, with a strong artistic appeal. With the passing of the time, the game became popular in the imperial court and official families. During the Han and Wei periods, many competitive indoor football fields were built. There were also open-air football fields in the imperial palaces pf the periods.