Balancing sport and tradition
Ethnic Games events conserve and popularize China’s rich athletics heritage
Eighty-one-year-old Hu Anmin used to perform Chinese rope skipping alone at China’s Ethnic Games, but not anymore.
He is credited with inspiring over 100,000 people to take up the sport, which ranks as one of the retired teacher’s proudest achievements since making his debut at the Games two decades ago.
Getting people involved in traditional sports such as rope skipping is the very essence of the Ethnic Games — which ran from Sept 8 to 16 in Zhengzhou. This was the 11th edition of the Games and the first time it was held in Henan province.
Known as the “King of Chinese rope skipping”, Hu, from the Man ethnic group, sports gray hair and a beard. Browsing through his photo albums, it is clear he has lived his life to the full.
Hu is a connector of dots, a bridge that brings people together. He has mastered about 300 styles — either inherited or created — of rope skipping, a sport that has a long history in Man culture.
“I love being here,” said Hu, one of the oldest athletes at the Games. “I love all of the dreams I have fulfilled and am still chasing at the Ethnic Games.”
Hu’s family members, including his son, daughter and 10-year-old granddaughter, also showed off their rope-skipping skills at this year’s event.
“I’m very optimistic that I can perform at the Ethnic Games four years from now, while my second grandson will be over 5 years old and can also join,” Hu added.
In terms of popularity, “sparklergrabbing” reigns supreme for the Zhuang, Dong and other ethnic groups in Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region.
Tan Yimou, of the Zhuang people, is a typical enthusiast and has practiced the game, which is also known as ‘Chinese rugby’, since he was 12 years old.
The tough-tackling sport shares many similarities with rugby but uses a colorful disk, which is about the size of a man’s hand, instead of an oval ball.
“Sparkler-grabbing made its debut as an exhibition event at China’s second Ethnic Games in 1982. Four years later in Hohhot, it was listed as an official event when I first represented Guangxi as a player,” Tan recalled.
At that time, sparkler-grabbing was still foreign to most people from other parts of China, or it was merely viewed as an oddity that was held during local festivals.
Tan is proud to have played a major role in promoting the sport.
“It’s helpful to popularize sparklergrabbing through standardizing rules and taking it closer to modern sports so that more people can participate,” he said.
“It is part of who I am — promoting sparkler-grabbing is more important than anything else.”
His efforts have paid off, with Guangxi, now coached by Tan, only managing to scrape out a victory against a vastly improved Beijing team.
Tan was also happy to see that sparkler-grabbing was one of a number of traditional sports to be included in school curricula in Guangxi as part of the government’s Healthy China initiative.
Cheered on by crowds of enthralled spectators, tightrope walker Adili Wuxor performed the acrobatic feat known to ethnic Uygur people as dawaz.
The 48-year-old was competing at his tenth Ethnic Games. Conserving and popularizing the cultural heritage of this event has become a vocation for him.
“Thanks to the inaugural Ethnic Games held in 1953, my father brought dawaz to a larger stage, even though the sport was once on the verge of extinction,” said Adili, whose ancestors have lived in the remote county of Yengisar near the Taklimakan Desert for generations.
Following in his father’s footsteps, a new generation of dawaz practitioners bravely press on, some even going barefoot if there is not enough money to buy a pair of training shoes.
“The Ethnic Games are more than just a sporting gala, they provide a platform for China’s rich multi-ethnic culture,” Adili said.
His dedication has reaped rewards, with dawaz selected for inclusion in China’s “Representative List of Intangible Cultural Heritage” in 2006.
“It was a dream come true when
dawaz reached this unprecedented level,” Adili said.
A specialized acrobatics school for
dawaz also has been established in Yengisar to train talented youngsters.
“It will continue to grow, and I really enjoy passing on the delights of dawaz to pupils of all ages,” Adili added.
He has already set his sights even higher: To get this unique discipline onto UNESCO’s Intangible Cultural Heritage list.
“It is good to see this national treasure flourishing again. I will keep trying until I make it,” Adili said.