Comparative Study Of Chui Wan In Ancient China And Early Golf

There are various theories of the origins of golf, for instance, the Scottish origin, the Dutch origin and the Chinese origin. The Scottish origin is widely acknowledged. For the Dutch origin, since the game of kolven had an essential distinction with golf, it was denied by the majority. Wan Jing from the Yuan Dynasty of ancient China described the site choice, equipment, rules and strategies and etiquette of the game of Chui Wan. From Wan Jing and other ancient fresco and paintings, we can see that Chui Wan bore extreme resemblance to the game of golf. Chui Wan, originated from ancient Polo in the Tang Dynasty and came into being in the Song Dynasty in the13th century. Its development culminated in the Yuan and Ming Dynasty and it went extinct in the Qing Dynasty. Chui Wan appeared in China almost500years earlier than golf appeared in Scotland. For this reason, many scholars hold the view that golf was originated from Chui Wan. By far the researches on the relationship between Chui Wan and golf have focused on the research of the history of the game of Chui Wan and some of them have briefly introduced the comparison between Chui Wan and modern golf. Golf has a history of over600years. It has been developing since it first came into being in Scotland in the Middle Ages. Therefore the simple comparison between the ancient game of Chui Wan and modern game of golf would not precisely analyze their similarity. This thesis has inferred the possible cause of the extinction of Chui Wan through the research on its history and research on the unearthed pottery balls of Chui Wan. And this thesis has made a thorough comparison between Chui Wan and golf, based on the contents of Wan Jing and the first golf rules, through the research of the history of Chui Wan and early golf and discussed their similarities and differences from those aspects including their names, origins, site and equipment, playing methods, rules and etiquette and sportsmanship. Besides, this thesis has concluded the core characteristics of Chui Wan and golf which are the essential distinction between them and other "stick-and-ball" games in the Europe in the Middle Ages. It has provided the future study on the origins of golf and the possible connections between Chui Wan and golf with the theoretical basis.