Korean Tiaobanqiuqian
01 · Historical Records
The Korean people are a nation fond of sport. Springboard jumping and swing riding are the folk traditional sports most beloved by Korean women, and they enjoy an extremely broad popular base. As a competitive sport, the springboard jumping board is popular in Yanbian Korean Autonomous Prefecture of Jilin Province and in other places where Korean communities have settled across the country. Springboard activities are generally held on festive days such as the Lantern Festival, the Dragon Boat Festival and the Mid-Autumn Festival. Springboard jumping is a healthy traditional sport that has always been deeply loved by the Korean people; there is even a saying that “a girl who does not jump the springboard will find it hard to give birth in later life”. The swing is one of the activities Korean women like best. It has a long history and is popular in Yanbian Korean Autonomous Prefecture and in the broad rural areas where Korean people have settled. Their brilliant dresses are like the wings of a rainbow phoenix, stirring wisps of breeze; seen from afar, the sky is deep blue and the grassland is green, and Korean girls in light or rich make-up are like colourful butterflies in flight, drifting to and fro in the sky and composing a flowing, gorgeous picture. Large-scale competitive swing events are more captivating still. They are held mostly in the slack farming season and on festival days such as the Dragon Boat Festival, when Korean women come to compete in their festival finery. There are two kinds of competition: one compares the height reached, the other compares the number of times the bell is kicked with the feet, that is, a test of endurance. The swing has now been formally listed as a competition event of the National Ethnic Games, and the swing stunts of Yanbian Korean Autonomous Prefecture have become an outstanding rarity blooming in the traditional sports garden of the ethnic minorities.
02 · Core Techniques & Process
A springboard is generally nearly 6 metres long, 40 centimetres wide and about 5 centimetres thick, and is mostly made of ash-wood board that is hard and highly elastic. There is a fulcrum in the middle of the springboard. When jumping, two people stand at the two ends in turn, taking turns to leap, and using the rebound of the board to propel themselves and each other into the air. In this way they rise and fall together repeatedly, and the participants leap upward with all their strength, constantly increasing their height off the ground and performing all manner of figures and poses. Springboard jumping lays emphasis on a variety of techniques and airborne postures: there are leaps that rise into the air and roll down, there are movements in which the body bends backward with both legs spread wide and lands with the body upright, and there are postures in which the chest is thrown out and the arms opened wide, with the legs apart and drawn together on landing. Springboard jumping depends on the coordination and cooperation of two people. Sometimes the participants sing while jumping, one singing and the other answering. Springboard competitions take two forms: a contest of pulling out the measuring line to the greatest height, and a contest of technical display. The line-pulling contest compares the total length of line pulled out, the longer line deciding the winner; the props used in the technical display include iron rings and flower garlands. This kind of competition mainly compares whose movements conform most closely to the standard, whose movements are of the greatest difficulty, and whose postures are most graceful. In recent years a technical element has been added to the former height competition, to see who can perform the most high-difficulty movements, with the most graceful and appealing postures, in the instant of being airborne. Taking part in springboard jumping therefore demands not only courage but also wit and skill. Watching springboard jumping is a delight to the eye, and one cannot help but applaud and acclaim it. Swing riding is marked by the qualities of height, lightness, suspension, deftness, softness, beauty and gaiety. The swing ropes are generally tied to a solid horizontal branch of a tall tree, and streamers or bells are hung in the air in front of the swing; the swinging board must touch this marker to earn cheers and praise. Often one person sets the swing swinging while a crowd looks on, and applause rises again and again from the side of the ground. In competitions one often sees a skin drum hung high in the air; the girls on the swing are raised high amid the shouts of encouragement from the onlookers, and in the air they kick the drum with their feet — whoever sounds it the most times becomes the champion of the contest.
The measuring-line contest
One contest measures the total length of cord pulled out by the jumpers, the other judges the skill and beauty of the airborne figures.
Kicking the bell for endurance
Swing contests compare height or the number of times the board strikes a suspended bell or drum overhead.
The ash plank and its fulcrum
The plank runs nearly six metres and is cut from springy ash, with a fulcrum at its centre for two jumpers at either end.
A proverb on jumping and childbirth
A folk saying links jumping to easy childbirth; the board is used at Lantern Festival, Dragon Boat and Mid-Autumn celebrations.
Airborne postures and pairwork
Jumpers perform soaring flips, tucked and spread-legged postures and arm-open landings, all requiring close pairwork and often sung dialogue.
03 · Regional Records & Related Items
The core inheriting localities of the springboard jumping and the swing are the Korean-inhabited counties and cities of Yanbian Korean Autonomous Prefecture, such as Yanji, Longjing and Tumen.
04 · Cultural Value & Contemporary Safeguarding
The two skills have been included in the first batch of the national-level intangible cultural heritage list, and the protecting unit is the Yanji City Youth Amateur Sports School. The swing has been listed as an official competition event of the National Traditional Sports Games of the Ethnic Minorities.
06 · Authoritative Sources & Bibliography
Sources
China Intangible Cultural Heritage Network (ihchina.cn)
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