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Posts: 379

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Q: "Chinese invented football". Any truth in this?

The above statement was stated to me today and quoted from a Chinese school history textbook. 

 

I  might add it was claimed this happened hundreds of years ago-before China exported the beautiful game elsewhere.

 

Needless to say this flies in the face of what i would consider logical thinking and my established orthodox beliefs...

 

10 years 37 weeks ago in  General  - China

 
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Posts: 6321

Emperor

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You will be ASTOUNDED at the things that China "invented"....

For example, according to my stidents :

Marco Polo stole the "secret" for making pizza AND spaghetti.indecision

TedDBayer:

I think it went the other way, Marco brought the noodle recipe and when will the Chinese invent a tomato worth eating or cooking?

10 years 37 weeks ago
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nevermind:

Yeah, they somehow invented Pizza before tomatos were even something people outside South America even knew tomaotes existed.

10 years 37 weeks ago
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10 years 37 weeks ago
 
Posts: 618

Governor

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Lmao, no. I can recommend Joseph Needman's multivolume compendium "Science and Civilization in China" for a trustworthy and in-depth discussion of the actual extent of science and civilization in China, he also examines why it fell behind here over the past few centuries.

IrvineWelsh:

I will try to get a hold of one of the epic volumes. Appears to be essential reading for a grounding of China.

 

In the meantime: Can you sum it up in a nutshell? 

 

The worrying aspect was the conviction with which the classroom (mostly adults) relished the opportunity to inform me of their perceived naivety.

10 years 37 weeks ago
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sam239:

One thing I remember him pointing out was that (for whatever reason) mathematics became mixed in with superstitution/numerology instead of with a scientific approach to understanding the world.  The examples he gave of this were things like you still see today in the Party's propaganda, the "Seven Modernizations", the "Three _____", the "Six ______", the "Eight _____".

Also while things like gunpowder and the compass and Pythagorus' Theorem were discovered in China, there is no systematic scientific method developed here, hence no systematic development of the sciences involved in these discoveries.

10 years 37 weeks ago
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IrvineWelsh:

No rigorous scientific method- hmm. It all makes sense now that you have pointed it out. Explains so much...

10 years 36 weeks ago
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10 years 37 weeks ago
 
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The Chinese invented everything that is played with sticks, billiards, baseball, hockey, lacross, darts, and football. The goal posts are two big sticks in the ground. The first games were played with real heads.

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10 years 37 weeks ago
 
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Governor

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mmm... They think that they have invented everything... they are all barking mad ! We don't hear talk from Egyptians about how they built those pyramids  !  China needs to get real.. !

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10 years 37 weeks ago
 
Posts: 520

Shifu

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Cuju is an ancient Chinese ball game. It is a competitive game that involves kicking a ball through an opening into a net. The use of hands is not allowed.[1] It is seen by FIFA as the earliest form of football for which there is evidence, being first mentioned as an exercise in a military work from 3rd-2nd century BC.

 

 

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cuju

JustinF:

Don't bother. Westerners are only interested in seeing China and Chinese men crash and burn.

10 years 37 weeks ago
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GuilinRaf:

No Justin, this post is actually cool!

You misunderstand the question and some of the posts above.

China has invented many things long before "The West" did: glasses, gunpowder, printing press, etc. and  should definitely get credit for her inventions, those that were made before the West, those that were made independently from the West, etc.

 

The problem is when my students go at lengths to claim credit for the absurd., like my example above, where they try to take credit for everything, or make blanket statements like "gays did not exist until the West brought them".  That is what gets me rolling my eyes.

OhChinas post now, is informative and documented. Some will believe it, some will not, but that is life.

10 years 37 weeks ago
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IrvineWelsh:

Some nice points. 

 

I have also been told numerous times now that there are 'almost no gays in China'. This despite the obviously rampantly flamboyant homoerotic nature of many Chinese men I encounter on a daily basis.  

10 years 36 weeks ago
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10 years 37 weeks ago
 
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China also invented Honesty and integrity and hygeinic  toilets

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10 years 37 weeks ago
 
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Shifu

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When it is brought up, just remind them that the British invented ping pong in the 1880s (which is true).

Whatever it is about them claiming football is something about it originating from a different chinese game that used feet kicking a ball....but I really dont think any culture can claim that one, it is kind of a no-brainer. 

IrvineWelsh:

 Noted for future use. Ping pong is now my trump card!

10 years 36 weeks ago
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10 years 37 weeks ago
 
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I would say no...and it's not because the chinese national team is bad or plays worse than others it's just that people around the world know more about soccer/football than people in CHina do. 

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10 years 37 weeks ago

There are cookies, bookies and too many rookies for me to sit here trying to be a hooky! Looky Looky don't call me a wooky. Touchy Touchy Feely Feely Spicy Spicy Nicey Nicey & that's what the doctor Ordered!!

 
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China's problem is that it tries to claim anything that basically isn't that hard of an invention to begin with. 

 

Is there really ANY great skill in "inventing" a game where two teams kick a ball around? Hell no, it was probably "invented" in dozens of countries. And China tries to pull this crap all the time "China invented throwing rocks" China invented eating food" ....etc 

 

Lacrosse, Cricket, Hockey, not those are hard games to invent.

GuilinRaf:

In the Caribbean and South America, there was a game that the Pre-Columbian population played very similar to Football. That too was a rubber ball that was kicked  over a court.

In Puerto Rico, we still  have those "areytos" where these games were held. An open field surrounded by stones with symbols carved and painted on them.  You will find this in the Greater Antilles (Cuba, Haiti/Dominican Republic or Hispaniola and Puerto Rico). Not sure if there is this same evidence in the Lesser Antilles.

It is almost certain that this game originated independently across many different cultures and times.

Now, watch how  Gavin Menzies will use this as evidence to further his book....

10 years 37 weeks ago
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10 years 37 weeks ago
 
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if true , a game played by the elites only, not for the consumption of general population who are suppose to kiss the ass of the elites and not enjoy fun or sport.
nothing i would want to brag about or acknowledge.

hell if i was chinese , thank whatever fake god there is im not, i would feel socialism , communism , liberal guilt bragging about the great wall built from slavery.

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10 years 37 weeks ago
 
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Shifu

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presumably they are talking about soccer as the Americans call it. When were the Chinese supposed to invented soccer? Kicking a pigs bladder arround has been a sport in England since at least 1300. In fact it was so popular that it was taking the place of archery and was banned. The game as we know it now originated in a pub in 1815 when they started a league. I believe the first game played under floodlights was in 1842.

IrvineWelsh:

Yes soccer. Very thorough answer, cheers for the info. I vaguely remember seeing a roughly sown-up pigs bladder somewhere in my youth...

10 years 36 weeks ago
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Posts: 456

Shifu

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come to think of it I thought the Russians invented everything?

darkstar1:

Literally everything. Yes. 

10 years 37 weeks ago
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10 years 37 weeks ago
 
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Of course it is true. Why would China's history books say it is true if it is not true?

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10 years 37 weeks ago
 
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So I think the answer appears to be a resounding NO. However there may have been an ancient Chinese ball game along different lines. Interesting...

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10 years 36 weeks ago
 
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Shifu

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China almost certainly invented plagiarism.

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10 years 36 weeks ago
 
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The Chinese invented invention. There wasn't even any invention until the Chinese discovered that things could be invented. Thus, all inventions indeed belong to the Chinese.

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10 years 36 weeks ago
 
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