Chuiwan () was a

game A game is a structured type of play usually undertaken for entertainment or fun, and sometimes used as an educational tool. Many games are also considered to be work (such as professional players of spectator sports or video games) or art ...

in ancient

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the list of countries by population (United Nations), second-most populous country after ...

. Its rules resemble modern

golf Golf is a club-and-ball sport in which players use various Golf club, clubs to hit a Golf ball, ball into a series of holes on a golf course, course in as few strokes as possible. Golf, unlike most ball games, cannot and does not use a standa ...

. The book ''Dongxuan lu'' (), written by Wei Tai (;

fl. ''Floruit'' ( ; usually abbreviated fl. or occasionally flor.; from Latin for 'flourished') denotes a date or period during which a person was known to have been alive or active. In English, the unabbreviated word may also be used as a noun indic ...

1050–1100) of the

Song dynasty The Song dynasty ( ) was an Dynasties of China, imperial dynasty of China that ruled from 960 to 1279. The dynasty was founded by Emperor Taizu of Song, who usurped the throne of the Later Zhou dynasty and went on to conquer the rest of the Fiv ...

, describes how a

southern Tang Southern Tang ( zh, c=南唐, p=Nán Táng) was a Dynasties in Chinese history, dynastic state of China that existed during Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period. Located in southern China, the Southern Tang proclaimed itself to be the successor ...

official teaches his daughter how to dig goals in the ground and drive a ball into them. The game became popular by the Song dynasty; and a work called ''Wan jing'' (, ) of the

Yuan dynasty The Yuan dynasty ( ; zh, c=元朝, p=Yuáncháo), officially the Great Yuan (; Mongolian language, Mongolian: , , literally 'Great Yuan State'), was a Mongol-led imperial dynasty of China and a successor state to the Mongol Empire after Div ...

was specially devoted to it. The latest documents about ''chuiwan'' in China are from the two paintings of the

Ming dynasty The Ming dynasty, officially the Great Ming, was an Dynasties of China, imperial dynasty of China that ruled from 1368 to 1644, following the collapse of the Mongol Empire, Mongol-led Yuan dynasty. The Ming was the last imperial dynasty of ...

from the 15th century. There is a color image of the mural painting still preserved on the wall of a Water God Temple in

Hongdong Hongtong County () is a county in the southwest of Shanxi Province, China. It is under the administration of the prefecture-level city of Linfen. The county spans an area of 1,494 square kilometers, and has a population of approximately 766,579 as ...

Shanxi Shanxi; Chinese postal romanization, formerly romanised as Shansi is a Provinces of China, province in North China. Its capital and largest city of the province is Taiyuan, while its next most populated prefecture-level cities are Changzhi a ...

. Ling Honglin, a Chinese professor at

Lanzhou University Lanzhou University () is a public university in Lanzhou, Gansu, China. It is affiliated with the Ministry of Education of China. The university is part of Project 211, Project 985, and the Double First-Class Construction. Founded in 1909, the ...

, suggested the game was exported to Europe and then

Scotland Scotland is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It contains nearly one-third of the United Kingdom's land area, consisting of the northern part of the island of Great Britain and more than 790 adjac ...

Mongol Mongols are an East Asian ethnic group native to Mongolia, China (Inner Mongolia and other 11 autonomous territories), as well as the republics of Buryatia and Kalmykia in Russia. The Mongols are the principal member of the large family of M ...

travellers in the late

Middle Ages In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the 5th to the late 15th centuries, similarly to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire and ...

. The rules for ''chuiwan'' are remarkably similar to that of modern golf, in that players use restricted number of clubs (up to 10 in ''chuiwan'', 14 in golf), holes are spread on terrains of varying difficulty, and marked by colored flags; and there is also strict etiquette and rules with regard to player honesty, with penalties for cheating. ''Chuiwan'' balls are of different sizes and made of wood. The tee-off areas are called ''ji'' (; ).{{cite journal, url=http://www.chinaculture.org/gb/cn_zgwh/2008-07/18/content_109631_2.htm, archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160303230827/http://www.chinaculture.org/gb/cn_zgwh/2008-07/18/content_109631_2.htm, url-status=dead, archive-date=2016-03-03, title=Ancient Chuiwan Game, journal=Pictorial Journal of Chinese Culture, author=崔乐泉 , year=2008 The popularity of ''chuiwan'' peaked in the

, during which time Emperor Huizong is reported to have been a dedicated player, and it remained a favorite sport during the Yuan and Ming dynasties. In the

Qing dynasty The Qing dynasty ( ), officially the Great Qing, was a Manchu-led Dynasties of China, imperial dynasty of China and an early modern empire in East Asia. The last imperial dynasty in Chinese history, the Qing dynasty was preceded by the ...

the game of Chuiwan steadily declined, and it eventually became a casual game for women and children.

References

External links

Ancient Asian origin of Golf?
C Chinese ancient games Forms of golf Golf in China History of golf Sports originating in China