Female Figures - detail of soccer
Du Jin 杜堇 (painted late 15th to early 16th centuries).
Women (and men) played games to keep fit and pass the time. You might have been surprised by.
the first section of this painting showing field hockey, but both field hockey and soccer - with rule variations.
had been played in China and throughout the ancient world for thousands of years. According to Alan Hylands, the
Chinese invented soccer during the early Han Dynasty (206 BC - 220 AD), as a means to keep fit.
The scroll dates from the Ming period.