By Adolf Erazmovich Boiarskii, Beijing, 1874. National Library of Brazil.
Archery has been practiced in China for thousands of years. The way of the bow and arrow is tied into the oldest myths in the nation’s history, including the story of its origins. Indeed, there are countless books on archery produced throughout China’s history, with so much variation that no particular style stands out. While it would take a book to express how deeply China’s affinity for archery goes, we’ll try to provide a general overview of its cultural impact on both the past and present.
A Chinese Archery Myth
The story of the legendary archer Hou Yi is as old as China itself. According to this legend, the world had ten suns that took turns lighting the sky, until one day when all ten went at the same time and threatened to scorch everything. Hou Yi was sent by the gods to answer this problem, which he did by shooting down nine of the suns with his mighty bow, leaving the one we have today.
Chinese Archery in History
Recording findings have the Chinese people practicing archery as far back as two hundred centuries ago. They were one of the first people to institute chariot archery, and would later adapt horseback archery as for competitive sport, ceremony, and of course, warfare. Archery was one of the “Six Noble Arts” that shaped Chinese culture during the Zhou dynasty and beyond. Archery was a big part of Chinese ceremony during the time of Confucious and throughout the Qin dynasty of the 17th century.
In ancient times, Chinese hunters used standard hunting bows and tethered arrows to great effect in its founding wars around 300 BC, only declining in use with the rise in firearms almost 2,000 years later. The standard hunting bow, little more than a curved stick and bowstring, was replaced with a reflex composite as it became more a tool of war than of hunting and ceremony. China has used ‘horned bows’ – essentially longbows with distinctive horn-shaped ends like the one often pictured with the Greek archer-god Cupid – and this type was in use throughout China’s formation in all forms of previous mentioned uses. In popular culture, Chinese archers are often seen wielding Han bows – recurve bows named for their emergence in the Han dynasty – and these are probably the most accurate representation of historical chinese bowcraft.
Chinese Archery Today
Archery was revived in China in the late 1990s, around the turn of the 21st century, after losing its place of prominence in Chinese culture for some centuries as modern warfare took hold. Bowmaking hobbyists have turned to genuine craftsmen as a means to tap into China’s roots, which has led to a renaissance of new participants in the sport. The main proponent of this resurgence is a craftsman named Ju Yuan Hao and other, who continued a family legacy of bow crafting that had been active for three centuries before his revival of the art in 1998. But other people and companies were actively developing archery gear like cases for bows and arrow quivers.
Archers in China like to use composite bows in the same ‘horn’ styles of the past, with the same materials for the bowstring and adhesives. Bamboo is a go-to material, likely because it is solid, durable, and most abundant in the region. Sandalwood, carbon, and fiberglass might be used to make the composite.
Today, Chinese archers lean toward styles that are similar to those of their history, though more advanced. They also successfully compete in international archery competitions and in domestic.
