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How did ancient people play sports? A series of paintings by Zhang Guliang, an artist from Haining, a county-level city of Jiaxing, depicts sports in Lin'an, the capital of the Southern Song Dynasty (1127-1279), more than 800 years ago. The paintings are currently on display in the Asian Games Village for the 19th Asian Games in Hangzhou.

The paintings, titled Sports Customs of Lin'an in the Southern Song Dynasty, feature more than 40 sports, such as swordsmanship, archery, cuju (a ball-kicking game) and shuttlecock.

Zhang Guliang did a lot of research to make the paintings more vivid and informative. He paid attention to the details of the ancient sports, such as the shape of the weightlifting objects and the swing on the boat. He said that he wanted to cheer on athletes and arouse interest in the history of sports in China.

Zhang has been paying tribute to the Asian Games for a long time. He painted a similar work for the Beijing Asian Games in 1990, which is currently housed at the China Sports Museum. He also painted a second version for the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games.

For this third version, Zhang used new concepts and techniques. He used raw Xuan paper and a combination of meticulous and freehand techniques to make the painting more distinctive.

A painting by Zhang Guliang reproduces a scene of women playing chuiwan, which is considered a precursor to golf, in ancient times. [Photo/jiaxingren.com]