Cuju, or "ball-kicking," was an ancient Chinese game similar to present-day football. It has a recorded history of more than 2,500 years. A book titled "Twenty-Five Articles on Cuju" was written during the Western Han Dynasty (206 BC-AD 24), when the game was played by teams on fields equipped with goals, the matches being supervised by judges following prescribed rules. Methods of play underwent great changes in the Tang Dynasty (618-907). Players of the two opposing sides did not come into contact with each other, but were separated by a net about a dozen meters high, on the top of which was a round goal about one third of a meter in diameter. The side which scored more goals was the winner. The ball was made of eight pieces of smooth hide sewn together. Inflated with an animal bladder, it could be kicked to a height of a dozen meters.
In the Song Dynasty (960-1127), cuju was often presented as a performing art. The players, juggling the ball with all parts of the body except the hands, performed scores of stunts at a stretch without letting the ball fall on the ground. Many cuju performers appeared and formed their own society --Oi Yun She. Books on the game were published, but only three titles have been handed down to this day.
Women were also involved in cuju during the Yuan (1271-1368) and Ming (1368-1644) dynasties. Some were professional performers. The game gradually declined in the mid-Oing Dynasty (1644-1911).
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