Fancy Shuttlecock-kicking

Originated from Cuju, an ancient ball-kicking game, the fancy shuttlecock-kicking has a history of more than 2,000 years. The fancy shuttlecock-kicking of Qingzhou mainly consists of shuttlecock making, shuttlecock kicking and fancy contest, and such sport is categorized as general kicking, spectator kicking and competition kicking. It stresses on graceful body posture, coordinated form and will, harmony of seeing and kicking, and flexible reaction, where the player seems to dance with the shuttlecock, while the shuttlecock spins around the player, with low kicking like flittering butterflies and high kicking like flying swallows. At ordinary times people take it as a body exercise, while winning a contest depends on the fancy patterns, difficulty, duration and graceful movements. There are 108 patterns of Qingzhou's fancy shuttlecock-kicking, i.e. Tiangang (the Big Dipper stars) 36 patterns and Disha (the evil stars) 72 patterns. The former are typical patterns of Qingzhou that combine Qingzhou's local folk customs and scenes with the names and patterns of shuttlecock-kicking, while the latter are the traditional patterns of Chinese shuttlecock-kicking. It was included in the third batch of National Intangible Cultural Heritage Protection List in 2011.