Source text in Chinese | Translation by eng2chi (#5893) |
足球在中国古代称为蹴鞠,早在春秋战国时期就已广泛开展。汉代出现了中国第一部足球专著《蹴鞠二十五篇》。唐代在制球工艺上有两大改进:一是把用两片皮合成的球壳改为用八片尖皮缝成圆形的球壳。二是把球壳内塞毛发改为放一个动物尿泡,“嘘气闭而吹之”,成为充气的球。由于球体轻了,可以踢高。球门就设在两根三丈高的竹竿上。在踢球方法上,汉代是直接对抗分队比赛,唐代则是中间隔着球门,双方各在一侧,以射门“数多者胜 ”。唐代开始出现了女子足球。女子足球的踢法不用球门,以踢高、踢出花样为能事,称为“白打”。到了宋代,足球在技术上已由射门比准向灵巧和控制球的水平方面发展。而且制球工艺比唐代又有提高,发展为“十二片香皮砌成”。原料是“熟硝黄革,实料轻裁”。工艺是“密砌缝成,不露线角”。做成的球重量要“正重十二两”。足球规格要“碎凑十分圆”。 | The football (soccer) was called "Cuju" in ancient China, and had been widely played as early as in Spring-Autumn and the Warring States periods (770-221 B.C.). The first football monograph entitled "Twenty-Five Articles on Cuju" in China appeared during the Han Dynasty (206 B.C.-A.D. 24). The ball-making technology underwent two significant improvements in the Tang Dynasty (618-907). First, the hull oversewn from two pieces of leather was replaced by a round one stitched from eight pieces of tapering leather. Second, the ball was upgraded from being feather-stuffed to air-inflated with an animal bladder inside that can be "blown up". Because of lighter weight, the ball can be kicked higher. The goal was constructed out of two 3-zhang-high (10-meter) bamboo posts. With regard to the ways to play Cuju, in the Han Dynasty, Cuju matches were held directly between two competitive teams, but in the Tang Dynasty, there was a goal set up in the middle of the field between two teams and the team with the highest scores was the winner. Female Cuju teams appeared in the Tang Dynasty. They played Cuju - in a way called "Bai Da" - without utilizing any goal, but for demonstrating the ability of kicking the ball high and playing it in an unusual way. When it came to the Song Dynasty (960-1279), the measurement of Cuju football skills was evolved from shooting precision toward the delicacy and ball-control capability of players. Moreover, the ball-making technology improved a lot than in the Tang Dynasty. The hull then was "made from 12 pieces of fragrant leather", which were "processed and tawed yellow leather" and should be "real materials and cut facilely". In making the balls, the leather pieces were "stitched together tightly without showing any thread end". And the ball was required to weigh "exact 12 liang (0.6 kg)" and its shape to be "compact and perfectly round". |