Playing football is a sport that many people love in modern society. Many countries believe that they are the birthplace of football, but researchers have clear evidence that football originated in China, and the ancient Chinese Cuju was the origin of football.
Cuju is a football-like activity in ancient China. "The New Book of Cuju" records an ancient legend: football was invented by Huangdi . Liu Xiang There is a similar record in "Bielu": "The Cuju people wrote about Huangdi, which may start from the Warring States Period in China. ."
So, was it Huangdi invented football? In 1954, some stone balls of different sizes were excavated at the Yangshao Cultural Site in Banpo, Xi'an. So some people think that football was invented by Huangdi, and these unearthed stone balls are the basis for creating Cuju games in the Huangdi era. Because the Yellow River basin is the area where the Yellow Emperor tribe lives, the Neolithic Age is about 5,000 years ago, which is basically consistent with the era of the legend of Huangdi.
In 1972, a batch of silk book was unearthed from Changsha Mawangdui Western Han Tomb. It is verified that it is a work by people during the Warring States Period, which describes the battle between the Huangdi tribe and the Chiyou tribe. The Huangdi tribe captured Chiyou , made Chiyou's stomach into a ball, and let the soldiers kicked it. Therefore, people in the Warring States Period believed that Cuju originated in the Huangdi era.
The above is only speculation and has no further evidence, so it is impossible to verify whether Huangdi really invented football. However, according to modern exploration, there were football-like sports in ancient China. So when was it created?
There are documentary records in Cuju that began in the Warring States period in 500 BC. According to the "Handle-State Strategy of the Warring States", when Su Qin went to various countries to lobby and realized his proposal to resist Qin, he went to the Qi State and adjusted the economic, military situation and customs of Qi State and persuaded the Qi State. He said: Qi State is located in the east of the sea and has a large population. The men in Linzi are very energetic and love life. "The people all play the jiu, drums and zithers, beat the building, play the piano, fight the cock, walk the dog, six-bet, and kick the Ju." It can be seen that Cuju was already a favorite leisure and entertainment for civilians in Qi at that time.
" Miscellaneous Notes of Xijing " also records: Liu Bang raised the anti-Qin Yi Banner, and after five years of Chu-Han war, the Western Han Empire was established, and his father and mother were taken to the Weiyang Palace in Chang'an City to celebrate his old age. But the old couple cried all day long and were not happy. So , the Han Emperor Gaozu sent someone to ask about the reason. It turned out that the two old men lived a commoner life in Fengyi, Pei County, and their leisure and entertainment after dinner were cockfighting and Cuju. Now that life has changed, I am not used to it. After hearing this, Emperor Gaozu of Han immediately ordered a Xinfeng City to be built in the east of Chang'an City, relocating all the people of Fengyi. Liu Taigong also moved from Weiyang Palace to Xinfeng City to live a happy life of fighting cocks and Cuju with his old friends.
From these two stories, it can be seen that at least during the Warring States Period, Cuju was already widely popular among the people.
After of the Han Dynasty, Cuju was valued by the rulers because it had great military training value and was included in the military review subject. " Han Shu · Yiwen Zhi " records that at that time, he also wrote a specialized book "Cuju", but unfortunately this book was lost after Tang Dynasty .
Who invented football in the world? This cannot be verified at present, but it is probably believed that Europe is the origin of football, but one thing can be proved, that is, this kind of football-like sport has existed in ancient my country for a long time. And it was the earliest existence.
