Cuju (Ancient Football)
01 · Historical Records
Cuju has been transmitted for more than 2,300 years. It originated in Linzi, the ancient capital of the state of Qi during the Spring and Autumn and Warring States periods; it achieved considerable development in the Han dynasty, reached its greatest prosperity in the Tang and Song dynasties, began to decline from the Yuan and Ming dynasties onward, and circulated mainly among the common people in the Qing dynasty. Since the 20th century, owing to the impact of war and disasters among other causes, cuju activity has become increasingly rare. In the Tang dynasty, Chinese cuju spread eastward to Japan and Korea and westward to Europe, where in England it developed into football in the modern sense. From June 9 to 11, 2004, an expert symposium on the origins of football was held in Linzi District, Zibo City, Shandong Province, and reached a unanimous conclusion: ancient Chinese cuju originated in Linzi, the capital of the Qi state during the Spring and Autumn and Warring States periods. On July 15, 2004, at the press conference of the third China International Football Expo, FIFA and the Asian Football Confederation publicly declared that China is the birthplace of the sport of football and that world football originated in cuju in the Linzi area of Zibo, Shandong, China.
02 · Core Techniques & Process
Cuju is also called 'taju', 'cuqiu', 'cuyuan', 'zhuqiu' and 'tiyuan'. 'Cu' means to kick with the foot, and 'ju' is a leather ball; 'cuju' thus means kicking a ball with the foot. It is an ancient Chinese sport with three forms: direct confrontation, indirect confrontation and baida (free kicking). Direct confrontation is played in a 'ju city', that is, a field enclosed by low walls. Each of the two competing sides has a goal like a small house; twelve players from each side take the field, and the two sides engage in full bodily contact, as in warfare, the side that kicks more balls into the opponent's goal being the winner. In indirect confrontation the goal stands between the two teams; at the center of the goal is a 'fengliuyan' (wind-eye) opening more than two chi wide, and each team plays from one side; without letting the ball touch the ground, the team that can send more balls through the wind-eye wins. Baida is chiefly a contest of patterns and skill, also called a contest of 'jieshu' (routines). Each jieshu comprises many kicking moves, such as guai, nie, da, deng and nian. The ancients also gave names to some of the moves, including 'zhuan qiankun' (turning the universe), 'yan guichao' (a swallow returning to its nest), 'xie chahua' (flowers inserted obliquely), 'feng baihe' (wind swaying a lotus), 'fo dingzhu' (a pearl on the Buddha's head), 'handi shiyu' (picking up fish on dry land), 'jinfo tuimo' (the golden Buddha pushing a millstone), 'shuangjian beiyue' (the moon carried on two shoulders) and 'guaizi liuxing' (a meteor on the hooked foot). Cuju had an important influence on the emergence of modern football.
Direct contest in the ball city
In the direct form a walled ball city holds two house-like goals and twelve players a side, the winner scoring most goals.
Indirect contest through the wind hole
In the indirect form the sides face each other across a two-foot wind hole and score by sending the ball through it without letting it drop.
Freestyle tricks
Freestyle bouts compare routines of named tricks such as turning heaven and earth, swallow returning to nest and slanting flower.
Han reliefs and the twenty-five chapters
Han relief carvings show the game, and the Han bibliographic treatise lists twenty-five chapters on cuju among military skills.
The 2004 football-origins conference
A June 2004 conference in Linzi concluded that cuju originated there, and FIFA and the AFC announced China as football's birthplace that July.
03 · Regional Records & Related Items
Cuju takes Linzi as its center of transmission, with the Linzi District Cultural Development Service Center as the protecting unit. Relying on the ruins of the ancient Qi capital, the Linzi Football Museum and an antique-style cuju field, the locality carries out performances and study; the 2004 symposium on the origins of football, together with the public declarations of FIFA and the Asian Football Confederation, has made Linzi the site recognized as the birthplace of world football.
04 · Cultural Value & Contemporary Safeguarding
Although cuju has been continuously preserved in the Linzi area, the impact of Western culture and of China's social transformation has left this ancient sport in an endangered state, in urgent need of rescue.
06 · Authoritative Sources & Bibliography
Sources
China Intangible Cultural Heritage Network (ihchina.cn)
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