China Archery

In the Warring States Period, there was a man in the State of Wei called Geng Lei. One day he said to the king of Wei: “I can shoot down birds by simply plucking my bowstring.” When the king expressed doubt, Geng Lei pointed his bow at a wild goose flying in the sky, twanged the bowstring, and the goose fell to the ground. Geng Lei said, ” this goose has been hurt in the past. Hearing the twang of the bowstring, it assumed that it was doomed. So it simply gave up trying to live.”

This idiom means that if one has been frightened in the past one’ will may become paralysed in a similar situation.

Huo Qubing was a famous general during the reign of Emperor Wu of the Western Han Dynasty. He was the nephew of another famous general Wei Qing.

Despite his humble birth, Huo Qubing was very diligent and eager to learn. He had a good command of all kinds of martial skills like horsemanship, archery and swordsmanship etc. He had extraordinary looks, strong characters and remarkable wisdom and courage. Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty appreciated his talent and appointed him as a guarding official responsible for the emperor’s safety.

At that time, wars frequently broke out between the Western Han Dynasty and the Hun ethnic group. Huo Qubing’s uncle Wei Qing made great battle achievements by leading troops to fight the Hun for several times. In the spring of 123 BC, Emperor Wu of Han organized an anti-attack battle against the Hun once again. Huo Qubing offered to fight in the battle and was appointed top-ranking military general. In the battle, Huo Qubing led a cavalry of 800 men to attack the enemy after a long march and defeated the Hun by a surprise. Emperor Wu of Han was in high praise of him for the brilliant achievement.

Huo Qubing was well versed in the art of war and would adopt flexible strategies. He never rigidly adhered to traditional tactics. Meanwhile, he himself was a fearless fighter. With an unconquerable spirit, he was always in the van of his men in battles. He was so invincible that was dubbed “unbeatable divine fighter“. In the ensuing major battles, Huo Qubing recovered the plain in the west of the Yellow River, officially bringing the corridor west of the Yellow River into the land of the Han Dynasty. Together with Wei Qing, he destroyed the main forces of the Hun, keeping the military threat to the Western Han Dynasty at bay. Thus, he gained brilliant military success.

In 117 BC, Huo Qubing died of illness at the early age of 24. Emperor Wu of Han especially ordered the construction of a Qilian Mountain-shaped tomb for Huo Qubing beside his own mausoleum. In front of the tomb, there was a stone statue of “The Huns under the Hoofs of Horses“, signifying the immortal feats Huo Qubing made for the country. Today, the tomb is kept intact.

Archaeological discoveries proved that archery in China dates back 20,000 years. Practical archery takes three conditions: a bow strong enough to propel arrows, arrows that are sharp enough to kill, and a technique to ensure the stability of arrows in fight. The bow and arrow in ancient China fully met the three conditions. Archaeologists have unearthed finely made arrowheads in a site of the Paleolithic Age in Shanxi Province, and could be mounted on a shaft. No bow was found at the site, since bows were usually made of wood, bamboo and perhaps tendon of animals and could not remain intact for so many years. But the arrowheads were enough to prove the existence of bows.

As for how to keep the arrow stable in flight, Kao Gang Ji, the earliest work on science and technology in China, writes under the item of The Archer: “Decide the proportions of the shaft to install the feathers.  The feathers at the end of the shaft are installed in three directions, and then the arrowhead is mounted. An arrow thus made will not lose its balance even in strong winds.” It also says, ”When the feathers are too many, the arrow will become unstable.” Later on, ancient Chinese develop bronze arrowheads and the crossbow, upgrading archery to a new height.