245
CHINESE ARCHERY - AN UNBROKEN TRADITION?
STEPHEN SELBY
(Author's note: - In an attempt to keep Chinese Characters out of this text, I have rendered all Chinese names in Pinyin. References to my book, 'Chinese Archery' (Hong Kong University Press, 2000. ISBN 962-209-501-1) will take readers to the Chinese characters for, and translations of most of the referenced sources.)
CHINESE ARCHERY
Skill in traditional archery died out in China (among the Han Chinese, at least) at the turn of the 20th Century, when the Emperor Guangxu deleted archery from the syllabus of the Imperial Military Examination in 1901. Before that, however, archery had always had a place in the imperial military examination system since its inception in the Tang Dynasty in the year 702 of our era. Indeed, archery had been an important element in Chinese aristocratic life well before that, and was mentioned in oracle bone inscriptions dating back almost 3,500 years before the present time.
At the heart of nearly all Chinese martial arts forms still practiced today (whether individual solo sets or paired fights) is the concept of face-to-face combat with the hands or weapons. Ritual archery is different: two competitors shoot at a common target. For this reason, ritual archery was singled out by Confucius, who said that archery was the only proper way a 'civilized man' could compete. Confucius's endorsement was enough to assure archery a prized place among the Chinese martial arts for centuries.
It is not possible to describe in simple terms what Chinese archery 'was like'. It was practiced by millions of people over thousands of years. At times there were dozens of schools with their own methods. In addition, there were different styles for different purposes.
For example, shooting with either the bow or the crossbow were both considered to be “archery." Bows could shoot an arrow or else a hard
245
CHINESE ARCHERY - AN UNBROKEN RADITION?
STEPHEN SELBY
(Author's note: - In an attempt to keep Chinese Characters out of this text, I have rendered all Chinese names in Pinyin. References to my book, 'Chinese Archery' (Hong Kong University Press, 2000. ISBN 962-209-501-1) will take readers to the Chinese characters for, and translations of most of the referenced sources.)
j CHINESE ARCHERY
Skill in traditional archery died out in China (among the Han Chinese, at least) at the turn of the 20th Century, when the Emperor Guangxu deleted archery from the syllabus of the Imperial Military Examination in 1901. Before that, however, archery had always had a place in the imperial military examination system since its inception in the Tang Dynasty in the year 702 of our cra. Indeed, archery had been an important element in Chinese aristocratic life well before that, and was mentioned in oracle bone inscriptions dating back almost 3,500 before the present time.
At the heart of nearly all Chinese martial arts forms still practiced today (whether individual solo sets or paired fights) is the concept of face-to-face combat with the hands or weapons. Ritual archery is different: two competitors shoot at a common target. For this reason, ritual archery was singled out by Confucius, who said that archery was the only proper way a 'civilized man' could compete. Confucius's endorsement was enough to assure archery a prized place among the Chinese martial arts for centuries.
It is not possible to describe in simple terms what Chinese archery 'was like'. It was practiced by millions of people over thousands of years. At times there were dozens of schools with their own methods. In addition, there were different styles for different purposes.
For example, shooting with either the bow or the crossbow were both considered to be “archery." Bows could shoot an arrow or else a hard
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