Comments on: China Invented Skiing

By: Nils Larsen

Nils Larsen — Sat, 04 Feb 2006 20:54:32 +0000

Actually, I just returned from my 2nd trip to the Chinese Altai documenting the traditional use of skis. There is a good chance that skiing did originate in the Altai region. This idea was first put forth by the famous (skiing) Swedish explorer Fridjold Nansen in 1890 and is based on a study of the root words for skis. Clearly it was not China then but the general statement (as in the article) that the greater Altai region is the birthplace of skiing is acurate.
Current use of skiing in the area is still very much as it has been for thousands of years. The skiers are a mix of the nomadic cultures in the area, Mongols, Tuvans, and Kazakhs.

By: davesgonechina

davesgonechina — Thu, 02 Feb 2006 02:34:54 +0000

Actually, Nathan, I thought the Xinhua article was better than the Reuters article.

http://silkworms.chinesetriad.org/?p=262

Because Xinhua didn’t say the Chinese invented skiing. Reuters did, because it plugged into the “Chinese claim everything” narrative. Not that there isn’t truth to that, but this time the Xinhua article took pains to say “Altay residents” and not Chinese, which Reuters did. This time I think Reuters is more guilty of obfuscating history than Xinhua.

By: Nathan

Nathan — Tue, 24 Jan 2006 18:57:08 +0000

That’s awesome. I hadn’t heard that story before.

By: Jonathan P

Jonathan P — Tue, 24 Jan 2006 17:21:18 +0000

People, the evidence is clear that Uzbeks did, in fact, discover America. Not only that, but Timur actually visited and toured the continent.

I mean, don’t you people know about how America got it’s name? When Columbus arrived in the Carribean, the natives, thinking it was their old buddy Amir Timur, started shouting, “Amir-aka!, Amir-aka!” (Of course, the natives should be excused for thinking “Amir” was their favorite Uzbek’s first name.)

Anyway, Columbus, being slow of mind, mistook this greeting as the name of the land he had “discovered.” Thus, we live in America today.

I love that story/joke. (Related to me in a village in the Jizzakh region.)

By: Curzon

Curzon — Tue, 24 Jan 2006 01:13:48 +0000

Dammit Nathan, you need Textile. Here's the link.

By: Curzon

Curzon — Tue, 24 Jan 2006 01:12:25 +0000

Fools! Don’t you know that “ostriches were skiing millions of years before humans even existed!”:http://www.compfused.com/directlink/411/

By: jodi

jodi — Tue, 24 Jan 2006 00:42:33 +0000

and didn’t china discover america too? (or so some old fake map says…)

By: Brian

Brian — Tue, 24 Jan 2006 00:40:10 +0000

Hey why not? Remembering my childhood the Chinese invented skateboarding. According to the skateboarding movie: Bones Brigade 3: The Search for Animal Chin, an old Chinese man named Won Ton Animal Chin invented the skateboard but then went underground because skateboarding got too commercial. Then again, they never did find him in the movie… so it just might not be true.
http://skateboard.about.com/od/videosreviews/fr/BBV3AnimalChin.htm

Is it sad to enjoy this kind of nostalgia?