The number one sport today is soccer, what were the popular cultural and sports activities in China during the Tang Dynasty?

It's a well-known fact that soccer is the number one sport in the world today, but it's unfortunate that China's growing national strength has kept soccer levels stagnant.

What were some of the more popular sports and cultural activities in China during the equally powerful Tang Dynasty?

According to the book Feng's Wenshimianlu, during the Tang Dynasty, a collective sport called "playing ball" was popular among the upper class, which originated in the Western region and was known as "cuju" in ancient times. At the beginning of his reign, Emperor Taizong of Tang Dynasty said to his ministers, "I have heard that the countries in the Western Regions are fond of playing ball, and this trend is very hot in the country, but I think that people should not play with objects to lose their minds. So ordered the burning of the ball as a warning, but "playing ball" not only did not disappear, but popular in the Tang Dynasty, became a major sporting event for the aristocracy. Instead, it became a popular sport among the aristocrats. By the time of Emperor Zhongzong of the Tang Dynasty, playing ball had become popular in the countryside.

Tang Dynasty folk also popularized a sports game, called "tug of war", also known as "pulling the hook", and today's tug of war is basically the same. Legend has it that the customs of Chu and Han, and later evolved into an army drill, and gradually for the folk favorite. Ancient tug-of-war used for the gabion cable, and the Tang Dynasty used for the large hemp rope, rope length of forty to fifty zhang, the two ends were tied to hundreds of small ropes, and will be tied to the rope in front of the neck, tug-of-war is divided into two teams, the game, the two teams Qi pull, and the large hemp rope, tied to a colorful flag, the flag across the border is to see the winners and losers, the game when the drums are noisy, very lively.

Tang Xuanzong period, he fell in love with another game, that is, "rope prostitute". This game is more like acrobatics, a bit like the modern trapeze class. Tang Dynasty rope prostitutes, play is even more stunning, first lead to the ends of the long rope on the ground, to winch plate binding, winch plate within a stake several zhang, and then set up a column, rope such as a straight string, and then the prostitutes to rope tiptoe and on, to and from the swiftly, looking at the cloudy night, there are fairies from the air dancing. There was a henchman, wrote a horse's ass article "rope prostitute fugue", Emperor Xuanzong under the great joy, even sealed the writing fugue of the literati for the Beijing division of the military counselor.

The art of gambling has a long history in China, and the Tang Dynasty people also used good gambling as a theater. Tang Li Zhao in the "Tang State History Supplement" recorded that the Tang Dynasty, the most popular, the Tang people's favorite game called "long line", can be against the game, there are children yellow and black each of the fifteen, and the dice rolled by two, long line of play from the long spear (ancient game), but different from the double land (ancient game), probably by rolling the dice and moving pieces, and finally who first moved from the board who for the long line. Whoever moves from the board first is the winner, but the specific gameplay is not available today.

During the Tang Dynasty, Go was the second most popular game after Changxing, and during the Tang Dynasty, the literati also played a game called "Bouncing Chess," which is said to have been a popular game in the Western Han Dynasty, and is considered by Liu Yi-Qing in his Shishu XinYuan to have been a favorite palace game of Cao Pi, Emperor of the Wei Dynasty, and which is obviously a bit of a difficult game with a high level of intelligence, so Li Zhao thought that it was a game of ancient times and far away from the ancient game. Therefore, Li Zhao thinks that its play is ancient and far away, although there are chess moves in later generations, but there are obviously not many masters, and it is difficult to be popular in the marketplace.

From the Tang people survived the notes can feel that the Tang Dynasty people's cultural life and entertainment activities are very rich, the ancient people long night tired of dreaming and immersed in it, no matter how these games of art is also a kind of spiritual support.