Tibet's Traditional Sports
( 2005-10-17 )

Tibet's traditional sports are the product of the autonomous region's particular natural environment and the people's customs. Years ago, sporting events and entertainments, as well as some competitions and performances, were connected with the seasons and festivals of the Tibetan calendar. Today some of these traditional sports have been standardized and included in modem competitive sports. Principal traditional sports include the following:

1. Horseracing

Horse races are held every year in the northern grasslands and in some other farming and herding areas. The ordinarily dressed participants, mainly young people and adults, race bareback over a ten-kilometer course.

2. Horsemanship

Skills on horseback are celebrated here, such as mounted marksmanship or snatching a hada silk ceremonial scarf from the ground at full gallop. The participants dress in fancy clothing (including big red hats) from an earlier era and ride gaily decorated horses festooned with copper bells.

3. Polo

This ancient sport, wherein riders maneuver a ball around a course with the aid of a mallet, can trace its history to at least the early 8th century when Emperor Zhongzong of the Tang Dynasty (618-907) commanded his palace polo team to join in a competition with a squad accompanying Tibetan envoys to Chang'an (today's Xian), the Tang capital.

4. Archery

This sport, derived from ancient hunting and military practices, is today most popular in the Mainling, Medog, and Zayu areas of the southeastern part of Southwest China's Tibet.

One Tibetan form of the art is somewhat unusual. The archer shoots an arrow, its clubbed arrowhead pierced with wind channels, high in the air. The air rushing through the channels creates a high-pitched sound, hence the so-called whistling arrow.

5. Wrestling

Two combatants dressed in robes secured with broad belts grasp each other about the waist, each seeking to throw the other to the ground. Only the hands and the strength of the upper body can be used; the use of the feet is not permitted.

6. Two-man tug-of-war

In this version of tug-of-war, two ends of a rope are tied together to form a great loop. Each of the two competitors harnesses himself or herself to the rope, passing it between the legs and up over the shoulders. Then, facing in opposite directions, the two struggle forward on their hands and knees, each trying to pull the other over a middle line.

7. Yak race

Yak races are a special favorite of the Tibetans. The eighth month of every year sees the arrival of the Harvest (Ongkor) Festival. The people dress in their very best and sing and dance to celebrate the harvest. And, not incidentally, they match their skills in yak racing. The yaks' massive heads are adorned with red flowers, their backs fitted with ornamented saddles. The yak jockeys' whips fly as they urge their mounts still faster towards the finish line.

8. Climbing and exploration

Beginning in the 1980s, the regional mountaineering teams have scaled Qowoyag, Noijinkargsang, and Namjabarwa mountains. Ethnic Tibetan members of the Chinese National Mountaineering Team have conquered 13 peaks, with more than 110 climbers reaching the very summit, more than 90 climbers ascending above 8,000 meters on more than 140 occasions, and more than 200 climbers exceeding 7,600 meters. During the course of these climbs more than 40 master mountaineers have emerged, including 10 State-level masters.

In addition, the Chinese national team, the Tibetan regional team, and a Japanese mountaineering team have joined together to scale the mighty peaks of Naimonanyi, Zhangzi, and Lhabu Gyikang.

In May 1988, a 12-man team composed of Chinese, Japanese, and Nepalese mountaineers and journalists scaled Mount Everest -- half of the climbers, from the north slope, and the rest, from the south --, traversing the world's highest peak for the first time in history.

Sports facilities in Tibet

Today there are more than 1,000 kinds of sports facilities in Tibet. The modern multiple-purpose gymnasium in Lhasa's northern suburbs can hold 4,000 spectators for basketball, volleyball, table tennis, badminton, gymnastics, wushu martial arts, weight lifting, and wrestling.