"Oh – beautiful!" "Good!" Recently, the small square of Baoguo Temple in Beijing's Xicheng District was full of people, and the applause and exclamations attracted many onlookers.

In the center of the venue, a teenager plays empty bamboo to life. He accelerates the ball and throws it high into the air, flips and flips the rope around his waist, and beautifully throws out one end to catch the empty bamboo, making it spin like a top at his fingertips. Such a novel technique made tourists who watched many empty bamboo performances praise. This teenager was one of the members of the Hong Kong team who came to participate in the Guangnai Empty Bamboo Cultural Festival Invitational Tournament, and before and after him, many members from the Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan Pulling Bells (Empty Bamboo) Association showed off empty bamboo in the square.

The picture shows the contestants performing shaking bamboo. (Photo by Wang Xize)

This year is the 14th year of China's "Guangnei Cup" Empty Bamboo Invitational Tournament, in addition to the 16 districts and counties of the city and teams around Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei, this is also the first time that players from Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan have gathered to compete on the same stage. Under the theme of "Four Seas and Bright Moon and Chinese Harmony", early in the morning, empty bamboo lovers from all over the world gathered at Baoguo Temple to prepare for the competition.

As soon as the opening ceremony ended, Andy Lee, director of the Macau Bell Sports Association, and his team members were attracted by the empty bamboo ball match on the next field. This is a sport that has emerged in the mainland in recent years, and players on both sides of the net are like playing tennis, throwing empty bamboo and me, which is more competitive than traditional sports. Andy Lee said: "This is the first time I have seen such a game, and I feel that I can also take it back to Macau. ”

The opportunity was rare, and several players from the Hong Kong and Macao teams tried it one by one, some of them were quick to get started and had fun playing with the opposite side, and some were late in receiving the ball, and were patiently guided by veterans who had been in the battlefield for a long time. Seeing such a scene, an onlooker sighed: "This empty bamboo is to 'have a little white on your head' to play well!" ”

Being young may be the first impression of the Hong Kong and Macao teams to the audience. Andy Lee, the leader of the Macau team, and Cheung Ka Wai, the leader of the Hong Kong team, are both young graduates and entering the workplace.

"In Hong Kong, it's mainly people my age who play with empty bamboo." Zhang Jiawei said, "In the past, there were very few people who played empty bamboo, but then my master and they went to the school to promote it. I came into contact with Kuchiku in my school's interest class when I was a freshman in junior high school, and I found this sport very challenging, and every time I made a new movement, I felt a sense of accomplishment. Many of the players who came to the competition this time were my apprentices. ”

Andy Lee said: "There are many similarities in the development of empty bamboo in Hong Kong and Macau, one of which is that our audience is usually younger. The mainland is mainly single-wheeled empty bamboo, while we are more double-wheeled empty bamboo, which pays attention to technique, has a lot of new fancy movements, and has to be accompanied by music, so this thing is relatively new, and children will also like it. ”

The Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan players who showed their skills in the square received a group photo request from the audience, and Andy Li also chatted with the person in charge of the empty bamboo ball competition.

After the competition, members of the Hong Kong Bell Pulling Association, the Macau Ring Pulling Association and the Kaohsiung Vitality and Health Bell Pulling Association visited the Xuannan Art Fair in pairs, gathered around the stall made by the sugar man to take photos, and visited the Empty Bamboo Museum and the Xuannan Cultural Museum together.

At the closing ceremony of the evening, the empty bamboo lovers of the Kaohsiung City Bell Pulling Association once again stood on the stage and presented a wonderful program for the audience. Finally, all enthusiasts, including members of the Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan teams, took a group photo under the "reunion party", and the full moon near the Mid-Autumn Festival witnessed this empty bamboo Chinese love. (End)

(Reporting by China News reporter Wang Xize)