Discovery: Surfing in Ancient China

Jason Lock (magicseaweed.com, 6/12/19); Pat Macpherson and CC Liu (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly

Fat Buddha (actually Budai Bodhisattva) Surfing - painting (Nathan Winsor/pixels.com)

Did Japan invent surfing and spread it to Polynesia and Hawaii along with parasailing?

Tracing the footprint of surfing through history is no easy task.

Digging into long forgotten accounts of wave riding, chasing meager breadcrumbs across the globe can yield mixed results.

The God [Kami] of the Tide: Ryūjin[?]

But did anyone ever expect a rich history of surfing to emanate out of 10th century China?

Nik Zanella has spent years deciphering ancient Chinese poems and texts to piece together a pastime that thrived during the Far East's Song Dynasty, from 960 to 1279.

Early surfers would ride the country's Qiantang River as part of a ritual to help appease the God of the Tide (the Dragon King) – and for the entertainment of the emperor.

Where to Surf in China

A luohan surfs a fish board.

It wasn't long until the practice was banned, and the sport was lost to the ebb and flow of time.

But Zanella has diligently pieced together the remarkable story in his new book:

Children of the Tide: An Exploration of Surfing in Dynastic China tells the story of those early wave riders.

Children of the Tide (Zanella)

MagicSeaweed.com chatted about the book with him, including how to track 5,000 years' worth of history, filtering through clues and the long path to understanding the forgotten surfers of ancient China.

MS: Tell us a bit about Children of the Tide. How did the project start?

NZ: It’s a long love affair. I took Chinese language and literature in university in 1988 and have been surfing since the mid '80s. More