Tide Surfing

弄潮

Tide Surfing is a special swimming sport. Here it particularly means that the swimmers perform their swimming skills against the tides in the time of Qiantangjiang Immense Tide in the eighth Lunar month every year.

弄潮是一种特殊的游泳活动，在此特指每年农历八月浙江钱塘江大潮时，游泳者迎着潮头表演泳技的活动。

Qiantangjiang Immense Tide is a natural marvelous spectacle.The rough sea water pours into the mouth of Qiantangjiang River from the fifteenth to the eighteenth of the eighth lunar month every year, and immense tides form because of the great quantity of water pouring into the narrow mouth of the river.

浙江钱塘江大潮属于自然奇观，每年农历八月十五日至八月十八日，汹涌的海水涌进钱塘江口，因水量巨大，江面狭窄，从而形成高达数米的大潮，极为壮观。

The tides are extremely magnificent, but the sons of the fishermen born and brought up there were not threatened off when faced up the sky-scraping waves.

然而，面对如此滔天巨浪，自幼生长在钱塘江边的渔家子弟，却无畏无惧，

On the contrary, they swam against the tides with their skills developed from childhood,emerging and disappearing among the waves,which is acclaimed as the acme of the perfection,so they win themselves a nickname “Tide Surfers”.

凭着自幼练成的泳技，勇敢地迎潮而上，在波涛之间自由出没，令人叹为观止。他们也因此为自己博得了一个雅号“弄潮儿”。

Qiangtangjiang Tide Surfing has a long history.The word “tide surfer”appeared early in the poem by Li r in the Tang dynasty,

钱塘江弄潮活动在我国有着悠久的历史。早在唐朝诗人李益所写的诗中就有“弄潮儿”一词。

“I got married to a merchant in Qutang,and every day he leaves me alone.If known the tides come regularly,I’d have married to a tide surfer.”

“嫁与瞿塘贾，朝朝误妾期；早知潮有汛，嫁与弄潮儿。”

Tide surfing came to its summit in the Song dynasty.A great number of diaries,poems and articles described it vividly then,

到了宋，弄潮活动达到全盛时期。在当时，有大量的笔记、诗文对钱塘江及弄潮儿进行了绘声绘色的描写，

of which“Old Stories of Martial Arts Circles” by Zhou Mi is a representative. It says, “Tide in Zhejiang is magnificent in the world. It tops from Jiwang (the 15th of the eighth moon)to the 18th of the eighth moon...

其中，最具代表性的当数宋人周密的《武林旧事》中的一段描写:“浙江之潮，天下之伟观也，自既望以至十八日为盛

When they come nearer, they become snow mountains from a line from the sky with great thunders. They shake the world, gulf the sky and cover the sun.

既而渐近，则玉城雪岭，际天而来，大声如雷霆，震撼激射吞天沃日，势极雄豪。

Hundreds of young men who were good at swimming in Wu wore their hair down with tattoos on body, held ten big colored flags in hands, competing against the tides, appearing and disappearing among the significant waves. They jumped high out of the water without making flags wet to show their skills.”

吴儿善泅者数百，皆披发文身，手持十幅大彩旗，争先鼓勇，溯迎而上，出没于鲸波万仞中，腾身百变，而旗尾略不沾湿，以此夸能。”

It was banned by the government in the Southern Song dynasty because it was thought dangerous.

南宋时期人们认为弄潮活动太过危险政府曾经下令禁止。

It was deeply loved by the common people and in the Qing dynasty, there were still people there performing tide surfing,but the scale was not so big as in the Song dynasty.

但是由于弄潮活动深受群众欢迎，到了清朝时期，仍有人在钱塘江大潮时进行弄潮表演，只是规模已经远不如宋代了。