Talking about JILIBET sabong in Tang Dynasty
Fighting with chickens, as a game or gambling, has an early origin. According to the verse of “Famous Capitals” by Cao Zhi of the Three Kingdoms, “the famous capitals are full of witches, and the young from Jingluo… Cockfighting on the eastern outskirts of the road, walking between the horses and the cassava”, it can be seen that employment has appeared in the Three Kingdoms period at the latest. It continued to be popular in the next and Southern and Northern Dynasties. For example, in the Southern Dynasties, Chen Shichuan once wrote a poem “The Road to the Eastern Suburbs of Cockfighting”, which said: “The cockfighting couple in the spring suburbs will welcome the enemy and the two. The hairs are scattered, the mustard feathers are scattered, and they are defeated. Because of this custom of fighting chickens at that time, people couldn’t help but endow it with their pictures in handicrafts. “Taiping Yulan” volume 815 quoted “Danyang Ji” as saying: “The brocade department of cockfighting, Pingguan You moved its Baigong also.” After the Sixteen Kingdoms, Qin You used the practice of decorating silk fabrics with cockfighting patterns, so that the emergence of The silk weaving industry management organization named after the cockfighting, because “Danyang Ji” Yunping Guanyou refers to the matter of Qin after Liu Yu’s demise.
The wind of JILIBET sabong is booming
By the time of the Tang Dynasty, the cockfighting style was very popular and prevailed for a while. Not only there are still a large number of poems with the theme of cockfighting, for example, Liu Su’s “Datang Xinyu” Volume 8 “Wenwen” contains Du Yan’s poems to pay tribute to cockfighting; The poem talks about the situation of cockfighting in Luoyang, etc. According to the record: the palaces of the Tang Dynasty raised cockfights, and specially set up cockfighting workshops; the emperors, kings, ministers, and the common people all advocated this custom; , famous for a while; at that time, a special industry for training cockfighting with wooden chickens was formed; as for the price of cockfighting, it was expensive and terrifying. The disadvantages brought about by this can also be seen from the literature records!
According to Wei Chengqing’s “Cold Food Response System” collected in Volume 46 of “Complete Tang Literature”, it says: “The spring in Fengcheng is late, and the dragon is forbidden to pass early. Open the cage.” It mentioned that “the chicken fighting began to open the cage” in the palace, indicating that the palace had raised fighting cocks during the Empress Wu’s time, because Wei Chengqing was from the Empress Wu’s time. This can also be proved from the “governing chicken workshop” in the palace after Emperor Xuanzong Li Longji ascended the throne. Chen Hong’s Biography of the Fathers of the East City (hereinafter referred to as “Biography”), collected in Volume 485 of “Taiping Guangji”, said: “When Xuanzong was in the mansion, he enjoyed the folk cockfighting during the Qingming Festival, and when he ascended the throne, he managed the chicken workshop in two palaces. The roosters, with gold and iron distances, with high crowns and high tails, are raised in the chicken farm. Five hundred children from the Sixth Army are selected to be tamed, disturbed, and raised.” It shows that there are as many as 500 people in the chicken farm in the palace. From the “New Book of Tang”, Volume 47, “Hundred Officials’ Records”, it says: “The idle stable envoys hold five squares for hunting, one day carving workshop, two day falcon square, three day falcon square, four day Eagle square, five day dog square. It seems that there is no “chicken workshop”, but in fact it means that it was set up for the emperor’s hunting, and the chicken workshop is located at the back, and it is specially used for entertainment. There is a saying of “Wang Chengen, the visitor in the chicken house”, it is possible that the chicken house is under the guardianship of the person in the middle.
The hobby of the emperor of the Tang Dynasty JILIBET sabong
There are many people who like JILIBET sabong in the Tang Dynasty emperor. For example, Tang Gaozong, in the “Old Tang Book” volume 190, “Wenyuan Wang Bo Biography” records that he asked the kings about JILIBET sabong; Tang Xuanzong, “Biography” called him “good”; Tang Muzong, “Youyang Zazu” continued eight ” Supporting Action” said he was “delighted” with cockfighting. Due to the love and advocacy of the supreme ruler, the upper and lower ranks were effective, and for a time, “the families of princes, relatives, noble owners, and Hou families spent all their money on bankruptcy in order to pay for their value.” Ordinary common people have followed suit, so the “Biography” says: “The folk customs are especially . This is strongly advocated as a way of seeking pleasure, and it is also one of the important factors to enter the official career and gain glory and wealth because of cockfighting. In fact, there were quite a few poor people and rogues in the Tang Dynasty, and it was indeed because of this that they became prominent for a while, and it is evident in history, such as Jia Chang, who was met by a traveling emperor because of “getting a wooden chicken beside the Yunlong Gate Road”, and was “called by him”. Entered as a child of the chicken workshop, he was good at taming cockfighting. “The test of the palace is all in the meaning of Xuanzong. It will be five hundred children on the same day. … The emperor’s gift will come to his home every day.” It is forbidden to worship cockfighting.” The list goes on and on. It is precisely because many people at that time entered the official career by playing cockfighting and entered the wealthy class. At that time, there was a saying that “you don’t need to be literate to give birth to a child, and cockfighting is better than reading.” Even the great poet Li Bai couldn’t help but sigh in his poem “Ancient Style”: “Whenever there is a cockfight on the road, the crown is He Huihe!”
Under the social atmosphere that is eager for JILIBET sabong
Under the social ethos of the rush for JILIBET sabong, there is naturally an industry dedicated to training JILIBET sabong. “Quan Tang Wen”, volume 624, collected Hao Xuzhou’s “Wooden Chicken Fu”, says: “Only there are people who are skilled in art and have the love of a chicken. Love can be tame without being small or great, and when art is exhausted, it will not fly and not cry. To be self-sufficient against a strong enemy, be as firm as a plant; go to the square and ignore it, as if it were cut into pieces. At the beginning of its teaching, it was natural, and it was not afraid of tempting; Using wooden chickens to train cockfights, the main purpose is to make JILIBET sabong not afraid of the scene, calm and comfortable. Since the wooden chicken can be used to teach JILIBET sabong, it shows that there were indeed special trainers and professions at that time, and the former Yun Jiachang made his fortune from this way. Tang Dynasty JILIBET sabong is expensive. According to Duan Chengshi’s “Youyang Zazu”, the continuation of the eighth “Zhi Dong”, it says: “Zang Ping, a general of Weiyuan’s army, likes to fight cocks. Ten horses were bought by force. Because of the cold food, they went into ten houses. All the kings liked JILIBET sabong. This chicken is good at the market even if it has more than ten enemies. Muzong is very happy, because he gave the Weiyuan supervising army hundreds of silks. Lord The chicken man thought about his pace and said, “This chicken really has a younger brother, and the long toes are good at singing. He was sold to the Hebei army last year and won two million yuan”. The price of a chicken is as high as 2 million, so even the families of princes, relatives, noble owners and Hou families will “spend money” because of this.