Home
» City specials
» Hangzhou
Home of soccer
Print Edition
WITH France, Germany, Portugal and Welsh entering the Euro 2016 semifinal, soccer has become a hot topic among locals. Many people may know that soccer was called cuju (蹴鞠) in China during the Song Dynasty (960-1279) about 1,000 years ago, but few know that the first soccer club was founded in Hangzhou.
Archaeologists recently found the ruins of the famous Qiyun Society, similar to today’s soccer club, at a construction site on Zhongshan Road.
Cuju was so popular during the Song Dynasty that the royal family had its own teams to play matches first in Kaifeng, capital of the Northern Song Dynasty (960-1127), later in Lin’an (today’s Hangzhou), capital of the Southern Song Dynasty (1127-1279).
A Song Dynasty book, “The Memoir of Wulin,” contained the list of 32 players of two royal teams, each team having 16 players.
These cuju players formed the Qiyun Society for the purpose of training and match arrangement. In Chinese, qiyun means kicking ball high into the sky.
Washe (瓦舍) was the soccer field in those days. People needed to buy tickets to watch matches. Those unable to afford the price would watch a game between amateurs, the book said.
- About Us
- |
- Terms of Use
- |
-
RSS - |
- Privacy Policy
- |
- Contact Us
- |
- Shanghai Call Center: 962288
- |
- Tip-off hotline: 52920043
- 沪ICP证：沪ICP备05050403号-1
- |
- 互联网新闻信息服务许可证：31120180004
- |
- 网络视听许可证：0909346
- |
- 广播电视节目制作许可证：沪字第354号
- |
- 增值电信业务经营许可证：沪B2-20120012
Copyright © 1999- Shanghai Daily. All rights reserved.Preferably viewed with Internet Explorer 8 or newer browsers.
