CuJu (蹴鞠; literally means kick-ball) is an ancient Chinese sport similar to today’s football (soccer). The first recorded document about the game dated back 2300 years ago during the Warring States Period (256 BC-221 BC) in the Kingdom of Qi (齐国; now Shangdong Province).
People playing CuJu in a recent cultural
exhibition in Xuzhou, China
The sport gone hiatus for a few decades during Qing Dynasty (221 BC–206 BC), and became popular during Han Dynasty (206 BC-220 AD). The first emperor of Han was said to be a fan of CuJu, hence led to the development of the game.
The CuJu game during the Han Dynasty was similar to modern day’s football game. It was a physical (and skills) battle between 2 teams of 12 players (11 in modern days) to put the ball inside the goal post on the opponents end without using their hands.
The game took a massive change in Tang Dynasty (618–907). First, there was a huge breakthrough in the Ju (the ball)… the ball was made of animals’ bladder and was filled with air compared with stuffed-and-stitch hair and cloth in the old days.
The new ball was much lighter and bouncy, thus the rules of the game changed dramatically. Instead of having the goal post on the floor, the goal mouth was set hanging on air at the middle of the field. The players competed against each other to put the ball through the goal without the ball dropping on the floor… with no physical contact involved.
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October 30, 2007 | Topics:
Asia Picture Gallery,
Chae Jung-an,
Hong Soo-hyun,
Jang Geun-suk,
Ji Jin-hee,
Jung Woo-sung,
Korean Entertainment News,
Korean Fashion and Style,
Lee Jung-jae,
Park Chan-wook,
Park Si-yeon
Korean stars gathered at the “Love Your W” event organized by W Magazine in Seoul last Friday (Oct 26) to promote breast cancer awareness.
Actors Ji Jin-hee (left) and Jung Woo-sung
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After a successful debut season, The Amazing Race Asia (TARA) Season 2 is going to premiere on November 1, 2007.
Based on the successful US award winning reality show, TARA is produced by AXN involving 10 duo-teams from different Asian countries in a race across Asia & Australia (in season 1) for the grand prize of USD100,000.
The TARA Season 1 was quite a success, created some hype and buzz among participated countries (the show is in English language btw). Malaysian girls-team Joe Jer & Sabrina was the eventual winners.
Good luck to the Japanese
One thing special about TARA 2 is the participant of a Japanese pair, siblings Sawaka and Daichi Kawashima (pic). Japan residents are not able to participate for Season 1; Middle East residents are still illegible though… I am not sure why though.
Another significant trait of TARA 2 is the participation of local celebrities. The likes of Kinaryosih (Indonesia), Paula Taylor (Thailand) and Marc Nelson (Philippines) sure meets the eye… but I am not sure if I want too many good looking people in the show. After all, the essence of The Amazing Race is to see normal people like you and me participating in the competition, not an ‘all star’ race.
I am not going to predict the result for this season… my prediction gone horribly wrong last time as my selected team was sent home at the very first elimination round of the race.
Singapore based Chinese-American actor Allan Wu will again be the host for this new season.
[Official website for TARA]
Korean-born actor Daniel Dae Kim was arrested on suspicion of drunken driving early Thursday (Oct 25) by Honolulu police – the fourth actor on ABC’s “Lost” to run into trouble with the law while filming in Hawaii.
Daniel later apologized for the arrest; he said in a statement issued through his publicist in California that he is “deeply ashamed and embarrassed” and will fully cooperate with police. [IHT]
Daniel Dae Kim:
Opps, I am in deep sh!tI wonder Daniel will be kicked out of Lost because of this. All the 3 previous troublemakers (Michelle Rodriguez, Cynthia Watros and Adewale Akinnuoye Agbaje) have been dropped from the show… albeit indirectly by having their character killed off in the series.
Meng Jie, a Chinese citizen from Mudanjiang, has modified his bicycle to assemble the emblem of the Olympic Games – five interlocking rings of blue, yellow, black, green, and red.
The next Summer Olympic will held in Beijing, China next year (2008). Mr Meng has plan to travel a few places with his modified bicycle to spread the Olympic love.
Bicycle with the emblem of Olympic Games (Image courtesy of
Xinhuanet)
Sanrio will start selling in Japan at the end of November a 5Mpix digital camera using the shape of the head of Hello Kitty for its body. The Shutter of this camera will be located on the left ear of Hello Kitty, and the lens in the bow tie. [Akihabaranews]
Hello Kitty digital camera
In Omachi, 120 miles northwest of Tokyo, there is a fan club Omachi Jibachi Aikokai (Omachi digger wasps lovers group) that has teamed up with a local biscuit maker to create jibachi senbei, or digger wasp rice crackers. [Japansugoi]
Elderly wasp hunters from the village, who are mostly in their 80s, catch the insects in nearby forests, boil them in water, dry and sprinkle them over the cracker mix, which is then stamped by hot iron cracker cutters.
I think I can try one of this… it looks edible
Digger wasps are a kind of insect that can sting and paralyze other insects and feed on them.
Korean actress Lee Da-hae is trying a new look here… a sexy rock chick instead of her usual nice girl-next-door image.
Lee, famous for her play in TV drama “My Girl”, is recording a clip to promote the 2007 Mnet Korean Music Festival (MKMF) which she is co-hosting with comedian Shin Dong-yup on November 7. Lee sings the famous rock song “I Love Rock ‘n’ Roll” in the video clip. [K-popped]
Lee Da-hae the rock girl
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