Buda was a ball game which was almost as popular as polo in the Tang Dynasty (618-907). Called "chuiwan" (ball-beating) in the Liao and Jin dynasties (916-1234), it is driven with a stick to holes on the ground in very much the same way as the modern game of golf. It was a favorite diversion with the palace maids, who liked to play it on the Hanshi Festival (one day before the 5th solar term of Prue Brightness).
The game developed into a competitive sport in the Song and Yuan dynasties (960-1368). A monograph on the ball game, written in the early Yuan Dynasty, describes in detail the specifications of the playing field and apparatus as well as the playing rules of Buda. The game gained even greater popularity in the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644), especially among young people in cities. Scenes of Buda play are depicted in the scroll painting "Ming Dynasty Emperor Xuan Zong in Merrymaking" and the traditional Chinese painting of beautiful women done by Ming Dynasty painter Du Dong, both of which are now kept in Beijing's Palace Museum. By the Oing Dynasty (1644-1911), however, the game was rarely played.
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