All civilizations in the world have their own unique forms of sports, but
taken the world as a whole, the major forms of sports can be divided into
two types: Oriental and Occidental. Ancient Greece represents occidental sports
while China represents oriental sports.
There were sports activities in China more than 5,000 years ago and until
the end of the 20th century, there still existed more than 1,000 sports events.When
most of the world were still in chaos and ignorance, the oriental sports culture
began to thrive in China. During the period of Xia, Shang and Zhou dynasties,
there was phsical education and military training at the time. The all kinds
of sacrificial ceremonies, the grand ceremonies of the imperial courts and
the rule by the rites all required rules for some sports that were similar
to those in the present day. The "She Li" and "Ju Cheng Ming"
(rules for Cu Ju, ancient form of football) and "Wan Jing" that
records competition rules for Cui Wan (hammer ball) and the "Duan Division
System" for Wei Qi (go-chess) in the Wei and Jin periods. All these have
had a far-reaching influence on the development of sport in China.
Philosophy in Oriental Sports
sports events in China
There were still more than 1,000 sports events in China till the end of the
20th century, according to Chinese sports experts. Of these sports events,
more than 700 were originated in 55 minority groups.
The Chinese people used to be required to observe the ethical code of humanity,
justice, propriety, wisdom and faith and gentleness, kindness, modesty, industriousness
and courteousness. And so did they in their sports activities. The 15-pole
ball game originated in the Tang Dynasty usually had some of the poles marked
with red color indicating humanity, justice, propriety, wisdom and faith and
gentleness, kindness, modesty, industriousness and courteousness and some
poles marked by black color to indicate arrogance, cold, mean and covetousness
to indicate punishment.
Wu Shu is deeply imprinted with traditional colors. It requires people practicing
Wu Shu to cultivate their virtue first as "Wu Shu is built on virtue
and virtue comes before skills". The ideal and the standards of behavior
is to respect the teacher and uphold the ways, uphold piety and fraternal
duty, support the poor and remove the tyrants and make people secure.
