Chapter 36 Section 8 ice play

Ice play, entertainment on the ice, performing various acrobatics.Bingxi originated in the Song Dynasty and flourished in the Qing Dynasty. Before the Manchus entered the customs to unify China, they lived in the cold Northeast. The season of ice and snow is long, so they like ice activities.Skates must be worn for entertainment on ice. Fucha Dunchong of the Qing Dynasty recorded in "Yanjing Sui Shi Ji": The "skates" described by Fucha Dunchong are somewhat similar to today's simple skates.The Qing room likes ice play very much. Whenever it is frozen in winter, it will be held in the palace or the imperial garden.According to "Sunset Old News" records:

Several generations of emperors in the Qing Dynasty liked ice play, and they had to select thousands of ice play masters from outside the palace to train and perform intensively. The "Taiye Pool" mentioned in "Jixia Jiuwenlu" refers to the South China Sea, Zhonghai and Beihai.In the cold and freezing season, Qingshi set up an ice rink in Taiye Pool, surrounded by many colorful sheds, with colorful flags and lanterns hanging high, which is very pleasing to the eye.The emperor, concubines, relatives, relatives, and ministers are watching the ice play around.Qing Dynasty painters Jin Kun, Zhang Youbang, Yao Wenhan and others all painted "Ice Play", which depicts the scene of a large-scale ice play held by the Qing court.The Qing court held an ice play, with more than 1,000 participants. They were divided into queues according to the Eight Banners, with 200 people in each banner. They competed on the ice with great momentum.Participants can perform individual skills on the ice, perform difficult dances and acrobatics, dance with knives and guns, compete with bows and arrows, and collectively perform traditional acrobatics such as "Stacking Arhats".In the folks, they often play with lions and dance dragon lanterns during the ice play, adding to the joyful atmosphere and praying for good luck in the next year.This custom is still popular in the three northeastern provinces.