As an ancient Chinese sport, the game of jianzi is quite popular now. Most people in China may have seen or even played this shuttlecock sport at least once in their lifetime.
The sport of jianzi came out in the Zhou Dynasty (朝代). It is believed that jianzi was from a football—like game called cuju. At that time, many children made shuttlecocks at home, using round pieces of tin (钢板) with chicken feathers (鸡毛). During the Han Dynasty and the Song Dynasty, jianzi became the most popular. In 1933, China hosted the first national jianzi competition. In 1984, jianzi was officially (正式地) seen as a Chinese national sport.
These days, Jianzi is getting more and more popular around the world. You can see people in foreign countries play this feathered sport. And it gets different names in different countries, such as đá cầu in Vietnam, Federfussball in Germany, and Jegichagi (제기차기) in Korea.
And do you know how to play jianzi? It seems easy. You just need to keep the shuttlecock "afloat" (漂浮的) with your feet. While it is true that it needs players to use their feet to keep the shuttlecock afloat, using other body parts, such as your knees and chest, is also allowed. Although you may not plan to play jianzi anytime soon, learning about it is important to better understand Chinese culture. And since it's simple and relaxing to play jianzi, why don't you get a shuttlecock to develop your jianzi skills from now on?
