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Other Entertainments During Dragon Boat Festival

There is arrow shooting game on Dragon Boat Festival. Rite Records of Jin History accounts, “Jin continued the customs of Liao. On Dragon Boat Festival, people would insert willow branches into the earth, and peel its skin to expose the white part. Then one man ride on horse in the front to guide, the other one behind would shoot the willow branch. The one who shoot the branch broken and catch the flying arrow would be the winner. The one who break the branch but can not catch the arrow is inferior. Whenever one shoots, drums would be sounded to escalate the morale. ” In Ming dynasty, people put birds into gourd for shooting.

Play polo is another game on Dragon Boat Festival. In polo game, players ride on horses and carry a wooden stick to heat the ball, which is called Jiju in the ancient time. In Three Kingdoms period, Caozhi wrote in his Famous Capital, “Rid fast to heat polo ball”. In Tang dynasty, there were large polo courses in Chang’an, where emperors Xuanzong and Jingzong had both preferred to play. In Polo Painting buried in Zhanghuai crown prince, the prosperity of polo in Tang dynasty was fully displayed. In the painting, there are more than twenty horses running, with the horse tails bound up. The players wore scarves on head, and boots on feet, with clubs in hand to race for the ball. Xijinzhi has recorded that playing polo is a traditional custom in Liao state, which was often played on Dragon Boat Festivaland Double Nine Festival. Rite Records on Jin History also recorded that Jin people played polo on Dragon Boat Festival. In Song dynasty, there are music and dance teams accompanying polo games. In Ming dynasty, polo is still popular. Yuekao in Xuwenxiantongkao records, that Emperor Chengzu went to east garden several times for polo and willow shooting. The Ming dynasty painting Emperor Xuanzong in Amusement described the scene where emperor Xuanzong was watching polo. An official of that time called Wangzhi composed a poem to describe the polo scene, “The precious horse is ornamented with jade, while the ball is carved with seven treasures. Horses run like shocking lightning, the ball heated out like a shooting star. Three rounds have been finished, and the winner has been produced. Five colored clouds follow the swift feet, lingering at the east corner of the palace.” In front of Baiyunguan Temple, where were people rode horses and play polo. In Qing dynasty, around Temple of Heaven, there were also people to play polo. But after mid-Qing dynasty, this sport disappeared. Recently, in Xi’an there emerged polo sport imitating the ancient features, which helped this game come back to life after disappearing for many years.

Furthermore, in Beijing there was the custom to visit Temple of Heaven. Volume 2 of Brief Records of Imperial Capital records, “Before noon of May 5, people swarmed into Temple of Heaven, intending to evade poisonous gases. Afternoon, some people would ride horses around its wall. Although there isn’t the custom to bind Zongzi with colored threads as in southern water towns, people in Beijing just eat it; although there isn’t the custom of dragon boat racing in Beijing, there are games people race to play.” In Shanghai, there is still Zhongkui contest fair, in which a man would act as Zhongkui, sword in hand with a paper made bat in the front, indicating to denounce the happiness has come too late. There is a whole set of entourage to follow Zhongkui, roaming through streets, pretending to dispel spirits. During Duanwu season, there are also polo and duck grabbing games.

(Source: bjchinese.bjedu.cn)