Silk Road sports culture = Silk Road sports culture

다국어 초록 (Multilingual Abstract)

Over two thousand years ago, accompanied by melodious camel bells, mankind trod a path of exchanges between Chinese and Western civilizations which was later known as the “Silk Road”. During the 1st and 2nd centuries A.D., ancient Rome, Parthia, Kushan and the Han Dynasty of China, all with prosperous powers located from west to east along the traffic arteries of the Eurasian continent. It was the very Silk Road that linked up these four countries. On this endless Silk Road, ancient Chinese, Indian, Persian, Arabic, Greek and Roman civilizations interacted and learned from each other, and jointly pushed forward the progress of human civilization. Today, the tinkle of camel bells has long disappeared in history, while the rich cultural heritages along the Silk Road, particularly those related to sports activities such as games, entertainments and athletics have provided us with a large space for studying the transmission and development of Chinese and Western sports culture. Especially against the backdrop of China’s all-round promotion of the Silk Belt and Road Initiative, tapping the sports cultural heritage on the Silk Road is of great significance for exchanges between eastern and western civilizations, particularly in the field of sports culture between China and western countries. The “Silk Road sports culture” is a concept derived from the ancient Silk Road, but it has a much richer meaning. On this trading route, large numbers of sports-related cultural sites and artifacts have been discovered, such as ancient battlefields, ancient architectures, arenas, polo courts, post roads, ancient tombs, petroglyphs, caves, as well as stoneware, potteries, weapons, bronze vessels, chariots, ancient castles, the ancient Great Wall, gold- and silverware, jade, porcelains, oracle bone inscriptions, bamboo and wooden slips, sculptures, carved stones, brick paintings, murals, paintings, paintings on plaques, silk paintings, tiles, bronze mirrors, pottery figurine, etc, all these are valuable materials for us to study the Silk Road sports culture. After thousands of years, the Silk Road sports culture is now a profound historical and cultural accretion. Today, by borrowing the historical symbol of the ancient Silk Road, we try to elucidate the abundant traditional sports culture of the Belt and Road countries so that people could have a clear understanding of the sports culture on the Silk Road, i.e., the sports culture from Chang’an to Athens and Rome, as well as the similarities, differences and influences of Chinese and Western sports culture. History is never purely the past, because its footprint has always been extending. History is a mirror of reality, while reality is a reflection of history. With more than one hundred thousand Chinese characters and five hundred photographs of cultural relics, this book unfolds before us the magnificent historical picture of sports from the rudiments of primitive sports to transmission, exchanges and integration of oriental and occidental sports culture, as well as from the “Saishe” (sacrificial rites which later evolved into sporting activities) of ancient Chang’an to Olympic movement of ancient Greece, giving us a vivid description of forms and development of various sports activities from Chang’an to Athens, Rome and other countries and regions along the Silk Road. Traditional culture is one of the most essential features of a nation, thus its disappearance often means the vanishing or loss of the national identity. As an integral part and a direct manifestation of a nation’s traditional culture, sports have a tremendous impact on the formation of ideas, spirit and physical quality of that nation. Sports are physical behaviors and a form of culture common to all mankind. To study and carry forward the sports culture is therefore indispensable for us to protect the colorful traditional culture and enrich the cultural life of human society. From the perspective of social origin, sports emerged in response to various social needs, being an important part of people’s spiritual life and a form of existence of human life. As a form of social activity, sports arose from social production and practice of life, therefore, its formation and development can only be explained by social practice.