Unique national sports of She Ethnic Group

She people have always attached importance to the sports activities, which have a great varieties, including Kongfu, mountaineering, “Chi hitting Cun”, “Pushing the stones”, “Riding ‘sea horse'”, “Sports in bamboo woods,” ect.

She wushu is most famous for its boxing and cudgel play. She Boxing is She people’s original creation, with a history of more than 300 years. The originator is named Thunder Dark Dragon, respectfully called “Mr. Dark Dragon.” The major movements of She boxing are assaulting, wresting, goring, kicking and jumping. When attacking, the fists and elbows are frequently used; on defense, the forearm and palm are often applied. It emphasizes on protecting ribs with elbows, steady paces, compact movements, flexible transition between advancing and retreating. The movements have the following characteristic, “the lower part is like the iron nails, the top part like the wheel, the hands like the revolving plates, the eyes like copper bells.” She boxing has a unique skill of hitting the vital points. Once hit on the point, one cannot move any more. In Bajing village of Luoyuan County in Fujian Province, hometown of She boxing, more than half of the villagers are good at boxing. From the old men of seventy years old, to the school children, all share the hobby of practicing boxing.

There are several dozens of schools of She boxing and some practicing methods are very special. For example, before practicing the boxing of Iron Ore Palm, man should cut a thick bamboo tube first, and put a poisonous snake inside; after the snake is rotten, the learner will put their hands into the thick bamboo tube. The snake venom makes their hands unbearable itching, and the hands badly need to be inserted into rice bran, grain, sand and iron sand to rub. Gradually, the skin and flesh on their hands have turned hard.

Generally speaking, even the tools of production, such as “post cane”, hoe, and shoulder pole, can be used as the wushu instruments for cudgel play. The “firewood rod” features one kind of the cudgel play. The rods are different in size, the long one about 3.6 meters and the short one 2.3 meters or so. Its movements include seven steps, nine steps, monkey turning over, two-head mallet, four and half steps, three-step jumping, observing the sky and earth, etc.

The mountaineering activities are usually held in the festivals in spring and summer. Men and women, old and young all participate. Every one selects his or her own way, and whoever reaches the peak first is the winner. Among the bamboo woods sports, climbing the bamboo poles and archery are the most attractive ones. A lot of people climb the bamboo poles only with their hands. Some even climb in an upside down posture, but as agile as apes. In the archery contest, people should shoot down the flying turtledove.

The procedures of “chi hitting cun” is as followed. A man is standing in a circle with a diameter of two meters, with a stick of 30 to 40cm long (namely “chi”) in his right hand, and a bamboo strip of a chopstick length (namely “cun”) in his left hand. He hits the “cun” outside the circle with the “chi”. A group of people outside the circle tries to catch it before it falls to the ground, and then throw it back into the circle. The man in the circle may directly hit the “cun” out again with the “chi”, or just catch it with hand. Whoever makes the “cun” fall to the ground will be the loser. It is said that this activity originates from the heroic deeds of keeping off the shot arrows bare-handedly during the She people uprising in the Tang Dynasty.

“Pushing the stones” is to push the stone to have a trial of strength between two group of people. “Riding sea horse” is to advance at full speed on the sea beach when standing on a smooth board called “sea horse”. The stone is in oblate shape, with smooth bottom. The big stones may weigh about one hundred Jin, while the small ones vary from several Jin to dozens of Jin. The competition venue is generally set on the road paved with stones. Two men selected from two teams stand at two stones respectively, and two or three other group members push or draw the man standing on the stone, to make the stone hit the rival’s one. If one group’s stone slips to the roadside after bumping, the group will lose the contest. Originally, “Sea horse” is a tool of production. Till the Jiajing Reign of the Ming Dynasty, when Qi Jiguang was resisting against the Japanese invaders, he trained his soldiers to ride “sea horse” to chase the enemy, which had made an unexpected achievement. Nowadays, when in the rest after working, people will ride their “sea horse” to compete on speed, movement innovation and load carrying. The game is captivating and exciting.