Baoding Balls
My dad was the kind of father who would go off to faraway places and bring back a suitcase load of presents. Looking back in my mind’s eye, it is amazing how many little toys my normally frugal-father would bring back for his friends and family. I realize now that this image of my father probably inspired me to travel the world.
I remember from Russia he brought back several sets of Matryoshka Dolls and a bunch of old soviet pins. From Vietnam he had silverwear made from shrapnel of crashed US aircraft and a Ho Chi Minh T-shirt. The clearest memory of my father’s gifts however is from China: he brought me a panda thimble, a terra-cotta warrior statue, a piece of the great wall, a set of small Chinese Buddhas and a pair of Baoding balls.
I’m not sure what happened to the Baoding balls but I remember they were luminescent, blue, and had pandas on them. It is obvious to me now that I may not, at the time, realized what the purpose of the balls were, but I do remember the chiming noise they made when they moved.
Baoding balls, like massages, are a form of medicine in China. They are used, not only to improve dexterity and strength, but to assist in recovery from injuries. When the Baoding balls were first invented five centuries ago, they were made of solid iron. Today most are hollow and feature a chime inside which creates a singing sound when the balls move.
Baoding, like juggling, is an art form. The object is to rotate the spheres in your hands as fast as possible without them touching. Experts can rotate the balls at phenomenal speeds and some can even rotate three or four in each hand. Olympic body-builders sometimes use large shot-put balls in this manner in order to develop muscles and improve grip.
I don’t know if this is a skill I have the patience to harness but I think I will be buying a few sets of these because, if nothing else, they look nice and sound nice. Now that I am a world traveler, like my father before me, I enjoy bringing home bags of souvenirs to my friends and family, so if you would like a nice shiny set of Baoding balls respond to this post and I’ll try to bring some back for you.
Check out the following videos and see how many you can juggle:
No comments:
Post a Comment