Paintings from the Han Dynasty (206BC-AD220) mainly appear in frescoes, silk-cloth paintings and carved stones in burial chambers. Their themes include different aspects of social life during that time, among which, ancient sport featured prominently.

This carved painting named “Singing and dancing performances and acrobatics accompanied with vehicles” is based on the sports activities of that time.

164 cm in length and 40 cm in width, the carved painting is divided into two parts with a horizontal line. The upper engraving shows the performances of singing, dancing and acrobatics and the lower part portrays high officials going to attend a banquet by horse.

The performance of singing, dancing and acrobatics was very popular during the Han Dynasty, gathering athletics, vaudeville, singing and dancing and magic together, and features prominently in China’s long performing art history.

The word of “Sport” was introduced from Japan into China in the 19th century，but sports activities were quite universal in China at that time, most of which included the performance of singing, dancing and acrobatics.

Four kinds of sports activities are engraved in this carved painting, rope skipping, archery, gymnastics, tumbling and fence-play.

Since some ancient sports were related to military affairs and productive activities, archery was developed in military training and hunting from the periods of Spring and Autumn (770-476BC) and Warring States (475-221BC) to Han Dynasty. Therefore the posture of a man squatting down on the ground to shoot an arrow is better understood as seen in this rubbing.