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运动会

最早的运动会

世界上最早的运动会是中国的射礼。

体育运动起源于原始的狩猎活动。跑步起源于追逐猎物，直至今日，非洲某些部落的狩猎方式仍然是依靠长时间追逐羚羊直至其精疲力竭再行抓捕。而中国的先民早在两万八千年前就发明了弓箭，大大提高了狩猎效率，从此很少采用长途奔跑的方式来捕猎。射箭成为中国人必须掌握的体育技能。

原始社会实行的是原始共产主义。通过狩猎获得的猎物一律分成相同大小的若干份，平均分给部落中的每一位成员，同时还会进行献祭仪式，希望祖先及神灵保佑。中国的渔猎民族鄂伦春族，直到解放前还是实行这样的风俗。

射猎之后的分肉活动，渐渐演变成一种礼仪制度，称为“射礼”。中国的射礼是世界上最早的国际运动会。射礼可上溯黄帝时代。最早有关射礼的记录出土于殷墟的《花园庄东地甲骨》。当时全天下各方国的贵族子弟定期在都城殷举行习射礼，前后二十余天，在三个不同的场地进行射箭比赛。比赛项目有三种，分别是常规射、慢射、快射。箭无虚发“无废矢”者获胜。商王会向获胜者“颁功”，奖品包括“赤金”等（铜、锡等金属锭）。比赛结束后还要举行刿割牝牛豕牲、用鬯酒享祭先祖并且谱曲奏乐的仪式。获奖者往往将奖金（这就是奖金的来历）铸造成纪念杯。世界上最早的运动会纪念杯是商朝的“作册般鼋”。商朝射礼的纪念杯还有"彘觚"、“彘爵”等。

《花园庄东地甲骨》年代为商晚期，盘庚至武丁之间，约为公元前1300年至公元前1250年。其中有关射礼的记录是世界上最早的关于运动会的记录。

射礼作为国家级的体育运动会，在西周最为鼎盛。射箭也成为古代中国人必需学习的”六艺“之一。后世的射礼逐渐演变和发展，并一直延续到清代嘉庆年间。清朝的射礼称为“木兰秋狝"，主要包括三项比赛：小围、合围和哨鹿。比赛之后举行“秋狝”大典。

The Earliest Sports Games

The earliest sports games in human history is ancient China’s “Archery Completition Ceremony”.

Sporting activities originated from prehistoric hunting activities, while the sport of running originates from hunting prey such as elk. From ancient times to the status quo, the hunting method of many African tribes continues to use the method of pursuing a deer until it is out of stamina, while the ancestors of the Chinese invented bows approximately twenty-eight thousand years ago. This highly improves the efficiency of hunting- from then on. The usage of archery became a vital and crucial skill for the Chinese people and they rarely hunted with spears while sprinting.

The governing system used in ancient times was an ancient form of communism. The distribution of prey or foodstuffs to each and every tribe member was equal, while holding ceremonies, sacrificing the prey, praying for blessings from their ancestry and the deities. The Ancient Chinese fishing tribe, Oroqen, continued this tradition until the modernization of China.

The equal distribution of food after long sessions of hunting slowly transformed into a system of ceremonies, identified as “She Li”, or Archery Completition Ceremony. This prehistoric Chinese ceremony was the earliest form of international athletics games. The earliest known record of these ceremonies date back to the era of Huang Di. The earliest known text, an oracle bone, recording an Archery Completition Ceremony was unearthed in ancient ruins of the Garden Villiage (Hua Yuan Zhuang). Archery Competition Ceremony was among royalty representatives of several kingdoms of Ancient China, lasting 20 days and competing in three different spots. There were also three types of competitions - slow speed archery, medium speed archery, and fast speed archery. The one who has not missed any arrow would be hailed the champion. The Emperor of Shang would personally award the champion - prizes would include “crimson gold” bars, likely a bronze-like substance (containing copper and tin). After the competition has concluded, religious sacrificial ceremonies would commence, slaughtering livestock such as cattle and pigs to their ancestry/deities accompanied by sacrificial wine and musical performances. The “crimson gold” (or “prize money”, the origin of prize money) bars would be melted and moulded into mementos, trophies, or mediums of memory. The world's earliest athletics trophy is Shang Dynasty’s “作册般鼋”, or “Historian Ban’s Tortoise”, a bronze trophy made especially for Zuo Ce Ban, a historian for the Shang Emperor, Zhou. This trophy was a delicate sculpture of a tortoise with 4 arrows on its shell, perfectly depicting the scene at the time, where Zuo Ce Ban struck a tortoise with 4 arrows during a Archery Completition Ceremony. Other artifacts of athletics trophies include “Gu (a type of Chinese vessel) with swine carvings” and “Jue (a type of Chinese vessel) with swine carvings”. These carvings correspond to the prey that had bestowed glory upon them.

The “Oracle Bone from the East Garden Villiage” marks the late period of the Shang dynasty, between Emperor Pan Geng and Emperor Wu Ding, a period from about 1300 BC to 1250 BC. The evidence within this oracle bone regarding Archery Completition Ceremony would be the world's earliest record of a national athletics competition.

As a national athletics event, the Archery Completition Ceremony reached its climax of popularity in the Dynasty of Eastern Zhou. Archery became one of the most important and necessary skills for the Ancient Chinese, being one of the “six arts”. This skill gradually transformed through time until Emperor Jiaqing reign of the Qing dynasty. The Qing style of a Archery Completition Ceremony was named “木兰秋狝”, literally translating to “Autumn hunting in the region of Mu Lan”, with three notable activities or competitions: hunting in small groups, hunting all together, and hunting by whistling. After the competition has concluded, an “Autumn Hunting Ceremony” commences.