Figures notbaly in Water Margin, where it is played by Gao Qiu. The novel also suggests that it was considered a lesser art, e.g. as opposed to the scholarly Four arts and the "proper" martial arts.
Figure 1. Source. Video 1. Ancient Chinese Football Freestylers by Tifo Football (2021) Source. Mentions that it was popular in the Ming dynasty, but then, if you will, the ball fell off a bit.Video 2. Bernardo cuju challenge by Manchester City (2019) Source.
Ciro Santilli 
