Guanniu (), also known as Chinese bullfighting or Chinese-style bullfighting, is a form of bull-wrestling contest held in Jiaxing,

Zhejiang Province Zhejiang ( or , ; , also romanized as Chekiang) is an eastern, coastal province of the People's Republic of China. Its capital and largest city is Hangzhou, and other notable cities include Ningbo and Wenzhou. Zhejiang is bordered by Jiangs ...

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...

. It is also known as Hui bullfighting (). because it originated among the

Hui people The Hui people ( zh, c=, p=Huízú, w=Hui2-tsu2, Xiao'erjing: , dng, Хуэйзў, ) are an East Asian ethnoreligious group predominantly composed of Chinese-speaking adherents of Islam. They are distributed throughout China, mainly in the ...

. The word ''guan'' means throwing, dropping, or tossing, and ''niu'' refers to cattle, so ''guanniu'' translates literally as 'wrestling with a bull'. Guanniu began in the Yuan Dynasty and originated in Jiaxing, Zhejiang, among the Hui people. Local men would test their

strength Strength may refer to: Physical strength *Physical strength, as in people or animals *Hysterical strength, extreme strength occurring when people are in life-and-death situations *Superhuman strength, great physical strength far above human ca ...

against bulls weighing as much as . Contestants must force a bull on the ground with their bare hands within three minutes. Unlike Spanish-style bullfighting, which ends with the killing of the bull, guanniu traditionally ends when the bull is thrown down. On May 23, 2011, Jiaxing Guanniui () was listed on China's National Intangible Cultural Heritage List.

History

According to Hui tradition, long ago in a Hui settlement of nearly a thousand families, they slaughtered hundreds of cattle every year during the Eid al-Adha. Every time the cattle were slaughtered, they were herded together and four or five young and strong boys worked together with ropes and sticks to tie the cattle down. One time, when tying a large bull, a young man was injured by the bull and died soon after, causing much sorrow in the village. The next year, when Eid al-Adha was celebrated, a young man knocked down the bull without the help of others. The villagers were full of praise for this and spread his story widely. Under his influence, every year at the Eid al-Adha, many young men came to fling the bull one by one. Starting the annual guanniu event performed by the Hui people at the Eid al-Adha. According to Jiaxing historical records, guanniu originated during the Song and Yuan dynasties. It was originally a traditional activity of the Hui people in China.

Performances and competitions

In the 1920s and 1930s,

martial artist Martial arts are codified systems and traditions of combat practiced for a number of reasons such as self-defense; military and law enforcement applications; competition; physical, mental, and spiritual development; entertainment; and the preserv ...

s competed in guanniu events to feed their families, usually performing the contests in entertainment venues. In 1982, Chinese athlete Han Haihua () brought guanniu to audiences at home and abroad for the first time at the Second National Traditional Games of Ethnic Minorities of the People's Republic of China. In June 2012, the First "China Guanniu" National Invitational Tournament () was held in Nanhu District,

Jiaxing City Jiaxing (), alternately romanized as Kashing, is a prefecture-level city in northern Zhejiang province, China. Lying on the Grand Canal of China, Jiaxing borders Hangzhou to the southwest, Huzhou to the west, Shanghai to the northeast, and the ...

References

{{Bullfighting Hui people Bullfighting Traditional games