Chuiwan () was a

game A game is a structured form 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 games) or art (su ...

in ancient China. Its rules resemble modern

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

. The book ''Dongxuan lu'' (東軒錄), written by Wei Tai ((魏泰)

fl. ''Floruit'' (; abbreviated fl. or occasionally flor.; from Latin for "they 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 indicatin ...

1050–1100) of the

Song dynasty The Song dynasty (; ; 960–1279) was an imperial dynasty of China that began in 960 and lasted until 1279. The dynasty was founded by Emperor Taizu of Song following his usurpation of the throne of the Later Zhou. The Song conquered the res ...

, describes how a

southern Tang Southern Tang () was a state in Southern China that existed during Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period, which proclaimed itself to be the successor of the former Tang dynasty. The capital was located at Jinling, Nanjing in present-day Jiangsu ...

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'' (丸經 – literally "ball-treatise") of the

Yuan dynasty The Yuan dynasty (), officially the Great Yuan (; xng, , , literally "Great Yuan State"), was a Mongols, Mongol-led Dynasties in Chinese history, imperial dynasty of China and a successor state to the Mongol Empire after Division of the M ...

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 in Chinese history, imperial dynasty of China, ruling from 1368 to 1644 following the collapse of the Mongol Empire, Mongol-led Yuan dynasty. The Ming dynasty was the last ort ...

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 (; ; formerly romanised as Shansi) is a landlocked province of the People's Republic of China and is part of the North China region. The capital and largest city of the province is Taiyuan, while its next most populated prefecture-lev ...

. A Chinese scholar suggested the game was exported to Europe and then

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to th ...

Mongol The Mongols ( mn, Монголчууд, , , ; ; russian: Монголы) are an East Asian ethnic group native to Mongolia, Inner Mongolia in China and the Buryatia Republic of the Russian Federation. The Mongols are the principal member ...

travellers in the late

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

. 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 (基)'', which means "base" in Chinese.{{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 Yuan may refer to: Currency * Yuan (currency), the basic unit of currency in historic and contemporary mainland China and Taiwan ** Renminbi, the current currency used in mainland China, whose basic unit is yuan ** New Taiwan dollar, the current ...

and

Ming The Ming dynasty (), officially the Great Ming, was an imperial dynasty of China, ruling from 1368 to 1644 following the collapse of the Mongol-led Yuan dynasty. The Ming dynasty was the last orthodox dynasty of China ruled by the Han peop ...

dynasties. In the

Qing dynasty The Qing dynasty ( ), officially the Great Qing,, was a Manchu-led imperial dynasty of China and the last orthodox dynasty in Chinese history. It emerged from the Later Jin dynasty founded by the Jianzhou Jurchens, a Tungusic-speak ...

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