Cockfight
2 min readThe cockfight is an ancient recreational game in the Uygur folk, which isstrongly interesting and has a function of entertaining body and mind and vivifying the cultural life. The cockfight is very popular in the south area of Xinjiang, Ili, Turpan and so on.
Every winter, there are folk cockfight activities held in deep alleys. a gamecock is chosen and trained when it is a chick. Usually, the cock having a large body, sharp claws and agile actions is chosen for special training. Some cockfight lovers visit from village to village to look for an ideal gamecock, and even travel a long distance to other places to look for the gamecock Shanshan County in Turpan is the place of producing the gamecocks in Xinjiang. A cock alled Dagu cock is an excellent poultry variety in Xinjiang. Its head is like the snake head, the cockscomb is extremely small, the mouth is as sharp and crude as the eagle mouth, the bone is strong, the breast is wide, thick and powerful, the height can be 60-70 cm, the feathers are green and dark, the average weight is over 4 kg, and it walks majestically. This cock is instinctively aggressive, and sometimes it may peck a stranger. It has an ability of helpingpeople to look after the house. Therefore, the cockfight lovers in Kashgar and Hotan usually travel to Shanshan to specially purchase the cock.
Before the cockfight, the both sides refuse to show their gamecocks. the gamecocks are presented for fighting only after the conditions and the matchrules are worked out. The trained gamecocks are ferocious and tenacious. One cockfight match usually lasts for half an hour to one hour, or even longer When two gamecocks meet each other, they look at each other for a moment and then start the hard fighting. The two cocks fight against each other, bit and claw each other. Usually, they never give in even though blood stainsspatter their bodies, the feathers fly away and the cockscombs are broken Some gamecocks even fought to die on the spot. The gamecock achieving poor feat may flee away, or hide the head and neck down to stand without moving, and it is judged as the failure. The cockfight is seldom ended in adraw. The gamecocks fight to the death without admitting the defeat as longas they are alive even though the blood cascades down without stop and both eyes are blind.
