中国国情与文化概况英文版 (9).pdf

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1、63Reader F Game and EntertainmentIt is inevitable that with such a long history China should have developed severalunique and traditional sports and pastimes.While some are practiced widely by theHan minority as well as the minority groups who make up these groups and reflecttheir own cultures.As th

2、e country is so large and the various minorities are separatedby vast distances it is not surprising that they have their own special ways in which toexpress their vigor and enthusiasm.Almost all the traditional sports were derived from productive activity.TheMongolians,Tibetans and Kazaks inhabit v

3、ast natural grasslands and horsemanship isvital to their existence.Consequently their gift for riding and shooting has given riseto their forms of sport.The people who live in agricultural communities or who relyon hunting for their livelihood are good at climbing,wrestling,jumping,shooting andso on

4、.Many of these activities are accompanied by singing,dancing,and instrumentalperformances that are art forms in their own right.They are mostly held as part of thefestivals like Spring Festival and other days of significance.The Bamboo Pole Danceof the Li ethnic group is an example.The participants

5、squat or kneel in pairs oppositeeach other and hold the end of a bamboo poles in each hand.The couples bring thepoles together and apart in time with the rhythm of musical accompaniment.Gracefuldancers perform between the moving poles,ensuring that they maintain a rhythm thatis in time with the pole

6、s so as to avoid being trapped between them.This is a veryskillful and entertaining sight.The Tug-of-War is a traditional land based game in which practically all ethnicgroups participate with vigor.In the past,it was usually held during the LanternFestival and between two neighboring villages.At on

7、e time the rope would be madefrom bamboo but from the Tang Dynasty(618-907)people began to use twine instead.The main rope often had several branches to enable as many people as possible to joinin.The number of branches tied to the main rope has been a hundred or more onoccasions and as the contesta

8、nts tugged to the encouragement of beating drums,theevent would be very exciting.Today,the Tug-of-War is popular at sporting events inschools as well as company socials.The game provides an entertaining highlight andcauses considerable good natured amusement.However,the team that wins does sonot onl

9、y through strength but with the spirit of cooperation.This game which is basically spinning a top using a whip also has a long historyamong almost all the various groups of people but especially for children.In 1926,atop was excavated proving that the game existed 4,000 years ago!A whip is used tosp

10、in the top which can be made of pottery,stone,wood or bamboo.While the topsused by children are small and often colorful,those used in competitions are quite64different.Tops for formal games usually weigh around 0.45 kilogram(0.99 pound)and the whips are at least 2 meters(6.56 feet)long.As you can g

11、uess it is difficult tohandle them.Top spinning was once a worldwide popular street game for children.The cord of thewhip is wound round the top that is placed on the ground of a smooth surface whichmay even be ice.The whip is pulled back causing the top to spin.It is kept spinningand the momentum i

12、ncreased with the aid of the whip.In China this simple pastimehas been developed into a competitive sport.Competition rules vary in many ways.Inone,often referred to a“Battling Tops”,two players will cause their tops to collide inan effort to cause the opponents top to fall-the one that stays spinni

13、ng is the winner.A variation is to get the top to spin over obstacles,a feat requiring great skill andconcentration;again it is the player of the top that spins the longest that is the winner.These are games of Shuttlecock and Hand Shuttlecock.Hand shuttlecock originatedfrom the Tang(618-907)and Son

14、g Dynasty(960-1279)and has been adopted bythe Miao and Dong ethnic groups.When playing the game,Miao people hit theshuttlecock with their hands in a similar way to tennis but without rackets!The way inwhich the shuttlecock is made is rather special-it is held together with quality cornpeel,wrapped i

15、n fine embroidery in either square or hexagonal shapes.The flight ismade from three large feathers from the wings of a chicken.This sport developedfrom activities people engaged in while planting paddy rice.The shuttlecock evolved from the hand shuttlecock.The playground is usually in thelength of 1

16、2 meters(13 yards)and the width of 6 meters(6.5 yards),with a net in themiddle.Each team has three players.They mainly play by skillful kicking.The gameis similar to volleyball,but the shuttlecock may not be touched with the hands or arms.A team has to win two games out of three in a set.The first t

17、eam to win 15 sets winsthe match.Skipping ropes has a long history in China.It is a fun sport for both children andadults.With simply a rope,people have invented many ways to play and to compete.The most common way,also the easiest way for exercise,is to skip once in a round.The speed you can handle

18、 either fast or slowly.Usually we can jump 120-130 times/minute.Variety canbe wonderful and diverse.A skilled person can turn the ropemany times in quick succession while keeping his or her feet off the ground in asingle jump.Couples can skip together or with a long rope two people to turn it,awhole

19、 group of people is able to join in.In view of its sport effect,now many schoolsencourage their student to play this game and hold meetings for them.Women in themiddle age also welcome it to keep fit.In view of the beneficial exercise element involved,many schools now encouragetheir student to play

20、this game and hold meetings for them.Skipping has also beenadopted as part of keeping-fit programs by adults.65Xiangqi(xing q 象棋)is a two-player Chinese board game in the same family asWestern chess.The present-day form of Xiangqi originated in China and is thereforecommonly called Chinese chess in

21、English.The first character 象(xing 象)here hasthe meaning“image”or“representational”,hence Xiangqi can be literally translatedas“representational chess”.The game is sometimes called“elephant chess”after analternative meaning of 象 as“elephant”.Besides China and areas with significantethnic Chinese com

22、munities,Xiangqi is also a popular pastime in Vietnam.The gamerepresents a battle between two armies,with the object of capturing the enemys“general”piece.Xiangqi has a long history.Though its precise origins have not yet been confirmed,the earliest literary reference comes from the 6th century,the

23、earliest indicationsreveal the game may have been played as early as the 4th century B.C.,by Tian Wen,the Lord of Mengchang for the state of Qi,during the Warring States Period.Judgingby its rules,Xiangqi was apparently closely related to military strategists in ancientChina.The ancient Chinese game

24、 of Liubo(li b 六博)may have had an influenceas well.As a crystallization of wisdom,the chess culture is a legacy of traditionalChinese arts,and has contained many rich values and profound cultural significancethroughout the ages.Together with playing musical instruments,reading,and painting,playing c

25、hess(qn q sh hu 琴棋书画)was considered as one of the essentialqualities for ancient Chinese literati.The early-stage Xiangqi was composed of three components:chess pieces,dice andboard.The pieces were carved out of ivory,with each player having six pieces;beforestarting a game,the two players would pla

26、y dice;and the board was a square chessboard.After a long period of development,the modern form of Xiangqi appeared inthe Northern Song Dynasty and caught on in the Southern Song Dynasty.Today,people all across China love various chesses,which are a prevailing form ofentertainment.The games are high

27、ly competitive and require much brain activity,which could be good therapy for the intellectually retarded people.However,playingchess is more than only a sport in China;it is also a kind of widespread art form.Shadow shows were once a popular form of entertainment,and they were also usedfor religio

28、us and instructional purposes.Simple to perform,dramas were played outon screens or walls for thousands of years to entertain and instruct,and shadowtheater is still performed in China.Shadow plays were one of the types of puppet theater that were popular in Chinabefore the modern era.Three other ty

29、pes of puppet shows used rod puppets,glovepuppets or marionettes on strings or wires.Shadow puppet theater was mainly anevening entertainment.People staged dramas on screens and added musicalentertainment and sound effects.Even in rough military camps or in primitive villages,66the people could ente

30、rtain themselves by moving figures against a screen or sheetilluminated by a lamp.For the royal courts or the rich people,the performers added refined music and soundeffects,and the shadow theater performers might have been highly experienced.Shadow puppet theater was a popular entertainment in Chin

31、a for at least a thousandyears,and it is still performed for entertainment.At a time when there was no flat-screen TV,people could cast images using a simplelamp,a shelf to hold figurines,and a thin screen or sheet of fabric to image theshadows.People,furniture,pagodas,walls and plants were shown on

32、 the screen byplacing figurines or figures made of cardboard or leather on the shelf in front of thelamp.The lamp illuminated the screen from behind,and people could move little figurinesaround for theatrical performances.With added music and sound effects,theperformance was made more entertaining.T

33、hese ancient dramas or comedic cartoons even appeared in color.Color could betransposed depending on the strength of the light of the lamp.If the figurine wastranslucent and colored,the color was displayed in the shadow image on the screen.In China calligraphy occupies a distinguished position in th

34、e field of traditional art.Itis not only a means of communication,but also a means of expressing a personsinner world in an aesthetic sense.Ancient people paid great attention to calligraphy.It was the essential whereby acandidate could manifest his literary talent in the Imperial Examination,for it

35、 gave afirst impression to the examiners.Children of high officials had to learn and try towrite a good hand;even emperors themselves were good at calligraphy,for example,the versatile Emperor Qianlong in the Qing Dynasty(1644 1911)has left us manyexamples of his handwriting on steles in temples and

36、 palaces.To practice calligraphy requires the basic tools of“four treasures of study”(writingbrush,ink stick,paper,and ink slab)as well as much concentration on guiding the softwriting brush charged with fluid ink,and writing on the paper where the ink willdiffuse quickly.Once the brush movement hes

37、itates,a black mark is created,so speed,strength and agility is the essence of fine artwork.When writing,many calligrapherswill forget all worries and even themselves,combining all thoughts in the beauty oftheir art.Thus it can be compared with Qigong,which also can mould and improve apersons temper

38、 and promote well-being.Calligraphy,like a mirror,is a silent reflection of the soul.It is believed to have verve,of optimism,moderateness,or pessimism.Su Dongpo,one of the four litterateurs in67the Song Dynasty(960-1279),composed many bold and unconstrained ci(a form ofpoetry that flourished in the

39、 Song Dynasty),also could write handsome characters ingood taste.Today,although various modern ways have been substituted for the originalcalligraphy,especially which created with a writing brush,people still love theancient form and practise it untiringly.During the traditional festivals,propitious

40、couplets are always indispensable decorations each written in a beautiful style.Four Treasures of the Study.The earliest writing brush that has been found is a relicof the Warring States Period(476 B.C.221 B.C.).From that time onwards,thebrush has evolved into many forms.The nib can be made from rab

41、bits hair,wool,horsehair,weasels hair,or bristles,and so on;while the shaft may be made frombamboo,ivory,jade,crystal,gold,silver,porcelain,sandal,ox horn,etc.It isimportant to see that there can be both soft and hard brushes each producing their ownparticular styles.The delicacy gives liberators an

42、d painters inspiration for creation,and has led to brush shafts being decorated with artistic patterns.One prized examplewas an ivory-weasels hair writing brush.On the ivory shaft with the diameter of 0.8cm,there carved eight figures of the immortals and pavilions concealed seemingly inthe clouds.Wi

43、th this in ones hand,the threads of writing would hardly halt.A good ink stick should be ground so as to be refined black with luster.With theinvention of paper,they were improved accordingly.Since the Han Dynasty(206 B.C.-220),ink sticks have been made from pine soot,using other procedures that inc

44、ludemixing with glue,steaming and molding.In ancient times,emperors such Qianlong inthe Qing Dynasty(1644-1911)had paid great attention to the production of inksticks and were expert in their appreciation of quality inks.Paper making is among the“four great inventions”and one of the great contributi

45、onsthat ancient Chinese people made to the world.Before the existence of paper,ourancestors utilized knots in cords to record events.They then carved on bone,ivory,tortoise shell and bronzes.For very many years they wrote on pieces of bamboo.There is a story that tells how Confucius was such an avid

46、 and diligent reader that hewould wear away the strips of ox-leather used to bind the pages of bamboo bookstogether.During the early Han Dynasty wealthy people would write upon white silkbut this was beyond the reach of the majority as the cloth was so precious.It was Cai Lun who made the valuable c

47、ontribution and his research gave rise to paper.Afterwards,many varieties of paper were produced of different quality and usage.Today the Xuan paper originally made in Anhui Province still shines with its charm.The ink slab is the reputed head of the“four treasures”,for its sobriety and elegancehas

48、endured the passage of time.Through ink slabs,people can sample the artisticcharm of sculpting and the ink stones natural tints.Nearly all Chinese calligraphy68enthusiasts hold that the star of ink slab is the Duanyan,ink slab produced inDuanzhou of Guangdong Province.It has its base a purple hue an

49、d enjoys the poeticname purple clouds.It was always a tribute to the royal families during the TangDynasty(618-907).Traditional Chinese music can be traced back 7,000-8,000 years based on thediscovery of a bone flute made in the Neolithic Age.In the Xia,Shang and ZhouDynasties,only royal families an

50、d dignitary officials enjoyed music,which was madeon chimes and bells.During the Tang Dynasty,dancing and singing entered themainstream,spreading from the royal court to the common people.With theintroduction of foreign religions such as Buddhism and Islam,exotic and religiousmelodies were absorbed