Beikou or Daur Hockey

Beikou tarkbei also called as Daur hockey is a sport that has a lot of similarities to field hockey or street hockey, but is much older and has been played for over a 1000 years. The sport is unique to the Daur ethnic group in Inner Mongolia, China, and is the only place where it is played.   The sport, which is played only by men, is played with a knob of apricot root which is essentially used as a ball, and long wooden sticks to strike the knob. Since Beikou is not an officially codified sport, but is rather played only at a recreational level within a small region, there is not much information available about, the rules of the game, the number of players in a team, the duration of a match, the field size, or how the scoring system works. There are some reports that recent matches are played for two 15-minute periods. The sport can be played both during the day and night. When played at night time the ball is covered with felt and set alight. The Molidawa Daur Cultural Association continues to keep the sport alive by conducting Beikou matches in which players wear traditional attires and is open for men of all ages to participate.