Chapter 9 Chapter 3 Ancient Swimming

China has the mighty Yangtze River and the dotted lakes. In the south, there are criss-crossing water networks and criss-cross ditches. Our ancestors have a long history of dealing with water. Primitive humans who live by fishing and hunting often choose the banks of rivers and lakes as their habitats, which is not only easy to fetch water and fish, but also has very convenient transportation. You only need to take a canoe or a simple raft to travel easily. from one place to another.Water has greatly expanded the scope of human activities. In an environment where there are no roads and wild animals are everywhere, this kind of water channel plays a role that is not inferior to today's highways.But the water is very fierce. When it loses its temper, it is like a rebellious dragon and brings huge disasters to people.In the period of Emperor Yao in the primitive society, floods had seriously threatened the survival of our ancestors. In ancient mythology, there is a story about the daughter of Emperor Yan being drowned while swimming in the East China Sea ().The earliest collection of historical documents in my country, "Shangshu", contains records of floods and the suffering of the people.The famous story of Dayu's flood control happened at such a serious moment.It is in the process of fighting against water and seeking to survive that people gradually master various skills of fighting against water.At first, people found that gourd (huhu) melon (a plant fruit similar to gourd, larger than gourd) is a good floating tool. This thing is large in size, light in weight, has good buoyancy, and is relatively tough and durable. , tied the gourd around his waist and floated across the river.There is a record in "Baohuang, use Fenghe", "Baohuang" means gourd, and "Fenghe" means crossing the river.Later, after repeated exploration, people learned to swim.The word "swimming" is mentioned in one of the earliest poetry collections in China. Take rafts or boats to cross the places where the water is shallow, and dive or float to cross the places where the water is shallow.It seems that people's swimming skills were not very good at that time, and they were only used in shallow water.With the passage of time, people's ability to move in water has become stronger and stronger, and the relationship between swimming and human society has become closer and closer, and it has begun to play an important role in war, production and entertainment.

During the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, the annexation wars between countries became more and more fierce. Fighting from plains to mountains, and from land to water, water warfare has also become one of the important methods of warfare.The military book "Six Secret Teachings: Strange Soldiers" refers to the ability to cross rivers through deeper waters as "magic skills".Not only the southern countries attach great importance to swimming and swimming training, even the northern countries sometimes have to do the same.For example, during the Spring and Autumn Period, the army of the State of Qi was going north to attack a small country called Guzhuliji (now Lulongnan, Hebei), but was afraid that the navy of the State of Yue, who was proficient in water, would take advantage of the false attack and decided to prepare for a water battle with the Vietnamese army. Under the command of Prime Minister Guan Zhong, a large and deep pool was specially built for soldiers to practice swimming. Those who can swim will be rewarded with a thousand gold, and those who cannot swim will be fined with a thousand gold. This trick is very effective. The soldiers all work hard to learn swimming. Later, when the Vietnamese army came to invade, the Qi State had already trained 50,000 navy troops, which really defeated the Vietnamese army ("Guanzi Light and Heavy Armor 80").A bronze teapot with feasting, fishing, hunting and battle patterns collected in the Palace Museum in Beijing vividly depicts the scenes of soldiers rowing and swimming during water warfare at that time.We can also see the vivid scenes of water battles at that time on a bronze pot with the pattern of shooting water, land and attack, unearthed in Baihuatan, Chengdu, Sichuan, in 1965.

Swimming also played a certain role in the wars of various dynasties later. For example, in the first year of Liang Kaiping (907 A.D.) during the Five Dynasties, the Huainan Army and the Chu Army fought in Langkou, and the Chu Army selected 50 people who were proficient in water. Soldiers, covering their heads with lotus leaves and water plants as cover, holding long knives, took advantage of the thick night, floated down the water, touched the enemy camp, set fire everywhere, and the army took advantage of the momentum to attack. "Zi Zhi Tong Jian · Hou Liang Ji Yi"). Fifty years later, during a water battle between Houzhou and Nantang, the master divers of Houzhou also sneaked under the Nantang warship at night. Then they launched an attack, and the ships of the Southern Tang Dynasty were unable to enter or retreat, and were beaten to pieces. Zhang Yongde, the chief general of the Later Zhou Dynasty, was very happy, and took off the gold belt around his waist to reward the outstanding swimmers ("Zi Zhi Tong Jian" Later Zhou Jisi").In 1272, during the anti-Yuan war at the end of the Song Dynasty, Zhang Gui, a general of the Southern Song Dynasty, was ordered to reinforce Xiangyang, which was besieged by the Yuan army. The city of Xiangyang had already been surrounded, wooden piles were densely planted in the river, and iron cables were connected to form a criss-cross net, making it impossible for boats to sail.So, the two strong men dived all the way, sawing off the wooden pillars when they encountered them, and finally delivered the letter, and then dived from Ying to Xiangyang to report ("Song History Zhang Gui Zhang Shun Biography").

Diving and swimming not only have important military value and were widely used in ancient wars, but also important means of production. Especially in the south, swimming and diving have become an indispensable means of making a living. People learn to swim from an early age , as the Song Dynasty poet Su Shi (1037-1101 A.D.) wrote in "Riyu", there are many diving experts in the south. They live by the water all year round. Swim and dive freely by age 15.Some fishermen's underwater skills are amazing. Song Dynasty historian Tan Qian once mentioned a fisherman with excellent water skills. A fish with a fish in its mouth ("Journey to the North·Ji Wen Shang").By the Ming Dynasty, the diving skills of the diving masters in the southern water town had reached an astonishing level. Those who made a living by picking clams tied a long rope around their waists, and tied the other end of the rope to the boat, and then jumped into the water with a basket in their hands. In the water, you can dive to a depth of four or five hundred feet to collect mussels ("Heavenly Creation").

The needs of war and production have strongly promoted the development of swimming technology.People rely on their superb underwater technology to get full freedom in the water.Water has become a friend of man, rivers, lakes and seas have become a natural playground gifted to mankind by nature, and water sports have become a kind of interesting entertainment.In the thousands of years of Chinese history, there have been many "Langli Baitiao" and "Hunjiang Dragon".Although the ancient literati only mentioned them sporadically in the history books, we can still see the amazing skills of these ancient swimmers in this little bit of records, even today's swimmers dare not Look down on them.

There is such a story in "Zhuangzi Dasheng": One day, Confucius and his students saw a waterfall in Luliang falling from a height of 30 feet. What surprised them was that there was a man swimming freely in the pool, and then he jumped ashore easily, with his hair loose and singing loudly.The man told Confucius that the secret of his swimming lies in mastering the law of the current, so he can swim easily and freely even in the rapids. Zhou Chu, a native of Jin, has developed a whole body of skills since he was a child. He is not only strong in physical strength, good at riding horses, good at hunting, and has gone into the mountains to shoot and kill wild animals. He also has water skills that are inferior to ordinary people. The fight was so fierce that Zhou Chu and Jiaolong entangled together, up and down, sinking and floating, traveling dozens of miles in the water, which lasted three days and three nights, and finally defeated Jiaolong ("Book of Jin·Zhou Chu Biography").The Jiaolong mentioned here is probably a large aquatic animal like a water snake.

During the Zhenyuan period of Emperor Dezong of Tang Dynasty, a man named Zhou Han had a servant who was only 14 or 15 years old. He was young and had excellent water skills. Call him "Water Spirit".Once, when a master and a servant passed through the Qutang Gorge of the Three Gorges, "Shui Jing" jumped into the turbulent river and fished out many "gold and silver artifacts" from the bottom of the water.Qutang Gorge is the most dangerous place in the Three Gorges, where the river suddenly narrows, the river is turbulent, and there is a huge reef at the mouth of the gorge. As big as a horse, Qutang can't go down", and this brave young man dared to play in the water before the gate of hell, which is really admirable ("Tong You Ji").If the most dangerous place of the Yangtze River is the Three Gorges, the most dangerous place of the Yellow River may be Longmen at the junction of Shanxi and Shaanxi. Due to the fracture of the stratum, the river water forms a huge drop, and the water situation is extremely dangerous.But the Longmen people who live here just like to swim here, "up and down are like gods" (Volume 2 of "Tang Guoshi Supplement").

In the Tang Dynasty, there was an extraordinary swimmer named Cao Zan. He could jump into the water from a 100-foot-high mast wearing a suit of clothes, and then sit on the water as if sitting on a mat.He once had someone put himself in a sack, tied the mouth of the sack with a rope, threw himself into the river, and then freed himself from the sack.As for his easy and free ups and downs in the water, flipping and turning, and various technical movements in various poses and with different expressions, the onlookers are stunned ("Yin Hua Lu"). In the Song Dynasty, water sports became a kind of performing arts. One of the performances was called "Water Swing", which was to set up a tall swing on a big boat. A somersault jumped down and plunged into the water ("Tokyo Menghualu").The swing acts as a kind of movable platform here.This is obviously a very difficult diving performance, which requires not only skill but also courage.When Emperor Taizong of Song Dynasty was watching the rowing competition in Jinming Lake, he ordered a Yinou to be thrown into the water, and people could swim to fetch it ("Song History·Li Zhi").Water performances not only include the miraculous skill of a single person, but also some majestic and heart-pounding scenes. Zhou Mi, a man of the Song Dynasty, recorded the tide in Qiantang in his "Old Stories of Wulin" is one of the magnificent scenes.In Hangzhou Bay, where the Qiantang River flows into the sea, in mid-autumn every year, the seawater pours backwards, forming tides as high as tens of feet, which are like thousands of troops rushing over, forming "August 18th tides, spectacular like no other in the world".Every year at this time, not only the residents of Hangzhou come out of the city, tourists from all over the world also gather at the riverside. Water athletes, each with embroidered patterns and loose hair, held high 10 colorful flags, scrambling to be the first to face the tide, turning over and over in the surging waves, but the flags in their hands never got wet .The skill and guts of these wavers is admirable.The poets of the Song Dynasty couldn't help writing poems and praised: "Nong Tao'er stands up to the head of the wave, holding the red flag in his hand to keep the flag from getting wet. Don't come and look at the dream. The dream is still cold." ) This kind of adventurous tidal play later developed into a unique local commercial performance, in exchange for money and colorful silks and satins rewarded by wealthy and wealthy officials ("Old Stories of Wulin · Watching the Tide").Su Shi marveled at their way of earning a living without fear of life and death, and wrote: "Wu Er grows up with Taoyuan, takes profit and commits suicide without self-pity."

There are very few records about women's swimming in ancient Chinese historical records, but from some scales, we can also know that many women also have good water skills, such as Qi Huan (huanhuan) Gong (?— In the twenty-ninth year of 643 B.C., he went boating with his wife Cai Ji. Cai Ji was good at swimming and was not afraid of water, so she deliberately shook the boat to make the boat turbulent. Duke Huan of Qi was very frightened and asked her to calm down again and again. He didn't listen, and Duke Huan of Qi lost his temper because of this ("Historical Records The Family of Duke Taigong of Qi").

In the Song Dynasty, someone built a private swimming pool for entertainment. This was the eunuch Yang Jian [jianjian] in the Northern Song Dynasty.However, his swimming and bathing seem to be integrated. Every time he swims, he orders people to place "bathing utensils and bath beans" on the pool (Lu You's "Notes of Laoxue'an"). Swimming was a very popular sports and recreational activity in ancient China. Even on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, which is known as the "roof of the world", there are also athletes who freely play in the water.Every year in the first ten days of July in the Tibetan calendar, that is, at the end of summer and the beginning of autumn, there is a traditional bathing festival that lasts for about seven days.At this time, people living on the roof of the world will help the old and the young, come to the nearby rivers and streams, bathe and swim in the water, and feel refreshed physically and mentally.The Tibetan Bathing Festival has a history of more than 700 years.A swimming mural in the Tashilhunpo Monastery in Shigatse, Tibet, tells us that the people there had mastered quite superb swimming skills more than 500 years ago.