| The
common swing has offered sport to many children throughout
the world. During the Ming dynasty (1368 --- 1644),
swinging was a designated recreation of the Qingming Festival.
Also known as the Clear and Bright Festival, Chinese traditionally
went on this day to present sacrificial offerings and sweep
graves; because the festival generally occurs in mid-spring,
many used the occasion for family outings.
According to
the Annals of the Ming Court, this day was also called
Swing Festival, when swings were suspended in the
Hall of Earthly Peace and in all the residential complexes
where palace ladies resided. Ladies of the imperial
household wore colorful silks, especially made for the occasion,
and amused themselves on swings.
Swinging as
a recreational amusement was apparently popular among court
ladies since the Han dynasty (206 BCE --- 220 AD).
Originally called qianqiu, or thousand autumns, during
the Wudi reign in the Han, the swing's name was derived
from a formulaic greeting to the royal family on birthdays;
later, the words were transposed to become qiuqian,
a term still in use today.
Swings were
cited as early as the Warring States period (475 --- 221
BCE), when it was used by the Shanrong tribe in north China
as a device to train warriors. After the tribe was
conquered by Duke Huan of the State of Qi, the swing was
gradually introduced into the central plains of China.
Playing on swings became a favorite royal pastime since
the Han, when swings were set up every spring on palace
grounds to amuse imperial concubines and palace maids. The
Tang emperor, Xuanzong (reigned 685-762), was known to be
fond of swinging and called it the game of demi-gods.
Swings had become
a popular performing art by the Song dynasty (960-1279),
when professional acrobats performed daring feats called
swinging over water from swings installed on the decks of
two separate pleasure boats. Music played as one acrobat
climbed up and down a tall pole affixed to the stern of
one boat while another acrobat performed tricks on a swing
before both finally somersaulted into the water.
Swings became
increasingly more ornate in the Yuan dynasty (1271-1368).
The tops of the swings, decorated with fanciful silk ribbon
streamers on both sides, complemented the palace ladies,
who wore bright costumes embroidered with threads of gold
and adorned with multihued sashes. Streamers and sashes
gracefully blended as the ladies swung back and forth, producing
a brilliant arc of colors.
The popularity
of swings in the imperial palace persisted into the final
days of the Qing dynasty (1644 --- 1911). Willows and
Swings, the second in an album of paintings, by Chen
Mei, a Qing court artist, captures the enthusiasm of court
ladies for their merrily decorated swings. The Qianlong
emperor later inscribed the following poem on an ivory reproduction
of this collection known as an Album of Amusements in
the Moonlight: On the ivory reproduction of the
album is engraved a poem, "Willows and Swings"
composed by Emperor Qianlong, which reads:
"The
Qingming Festival,
A season of blossoming apricots,
Of weeping willows kissing the hazy shores,
Finds young ladies emerging from their doors,
To relish the beauties of nature and to delight
In swinging in costumes colorful and bright."
The swing once
used by Puyi, China's last emperor, and his wife, Wan Rong,
still hangs today in Beijing's Palace Museum. The
eunuch, Sun Yaoting, who waited on Wan Rong, claimed she
would often swing on the veranda of the Hall of Queenly
Virtue (Yikungong), where the iron rings for the swing still
hang to this day. The swing itself, made of wood and
cast iron, consists of a stepping board, measuring 60 x
15 x 2.5 cm, hanging from either side by iron rings 8.5
cm in diameter and suspended by heavy ropes of cotton yarn,
2 cm thick and 223 cm in length, is still available for
viewing. |
