USEUROPEAFRICAASIA 中文双语Français
Culture
Home / Culture / News and Feature

Culture Insider: How ancient people exercised their bodies

chinadaily.com.cn | Updated: 2016-09-30 11:55
Culture Insider: How ancient people exercised their bodies

An image of Hu Yanzan [File photo]

Hu Yanzan: cold bath

Ancient scholars liked fitness so much, and so did military officers. There were two general-inherited large families in Northern Song Dynasty, and one of them was the Hu Family. According to historical records, General Hu Yanzan from the Hu Family trained his children in the snowy winter by pouring cold water on them as they stood outside.

There was an annual festival in November during the early Tang Dynasty (618-907) called "Pouring cold", where a batch of strong men, nearly naked, sang and danced in the street while crowds poured cold water on them. The festival, a sacrifice to god, was thought to be helpful for body building.

During the Song Dynasty, Hu Yanzan recovered the tradition by removing the singing and dancing parts and keeping the pouring cold water part, as a way to exercise people's physical bodies.

Previous Page 1 2 3 Next Page

Copyright 1995 - . All rights reserved. The content (including but not limited to text, photo, multimedia information, etc) published in this site belongs to China Daily Information Co (CDIC). Without written authorization from CDIC, such content shall not be republished or used in any form. Note: Browsers with 1024*768 or higher resolution are suggested for this site.
License for publishing multimedia online 0108263

Registration Number: 130349
FOLLOW US