Chinese Archery Culture

With the birth of bows and arrows, a new Chinese character, "射", appeared.

In oracle bone script, "射" means an arrow on a string, with the arrow pointing to the left or right; after the appearance of bronze script, the arrow of "射" was uniformly pointed to the left, and a hand was added to the tail of the arrow; the seal script changed the bow to "身", the arrow to "矢", and finally, the hand-shaped "寸" replaced "矢", and the character "射" was formed.

"Shuowen Jiezi" says: "射, the bow and crossbow are fired from the body and hit far away. From 矢 and 身. Seal script from 寸, 寸, law, and also hand." From the battle between Huangdi and Chiyou in Zhuolu, to Houyi shooting nine suns, Xingtian and the emperor fighting for the god, and other myths and legends, all reflect people's worship of military martial arts. After entering the class society, "the most important affairs of the country are sacrifice and war", whether in sacrifice or military, bows and arrows play an irreplaceable core position.

There are many records about bows and arrows in history, such as "Guoyu·Chuyuxia": "When the emperor sacrifices to the suburbs, he must shoot the animals himself"; "Zhouli·Xiaguan Sima·Sheren": "When offering sacrifices, he will help shoot the animals"; "Zhouli·Xiaguan Sima·Sheniaoshi": "When offering sacrifices, he will use bows and arrows to drive away crows and kites." "Baihutong·Xiangshe" even records, "Why does the emperor shoot himself? To help the Yang Qi reach all things", which has elevated the bow and arrow culture to the cosmic height of helping the "Yang Qi" and the growth of all things. Bows and arrows are often given sacred religious meanings, and arrows have mysterious witchcraft powers. For example, "The Book of Zhou: Autumn Officials, Sikou, Tingshi" records: "Tingshi is in charge of shooting the evil birds in the country. If there are no birds or beasts, shoot them at night with the bow of saving the sun and the arrow of saving the moon. If it is a god, shoot it with the bow of the great yin and the crooked arrow."

"The Book of Rites: The Meaning of Shooting" says: "Shooting is the way of benevolence. ... Therefore, if you make clear your intentions and do not lose your task, you will succeed and establish your virtue. If you establish your virtue, there will be no disasters of riots. If you succeed, the country will be safe. Therefore, shooting is to observe the great virtue." Bending the bow and shooting arrows as a standard for assessing talents is not just a skill. "Confucius restored the Zhou Li" and respected those who could shoot. "Shooting" even became a measure of whether a person is virtuous. "Those who cultivate themselves and shoot without losing their target are only virtuous people; if they are not virtuous, how can they seek for a drink?" Mencius said: "A benevolent person is like an archer. An archer corrects himself before shooting. If he misses, he should not blame the person who beats him, but should look for the reason in himself." In the view of Confucianism, "shooting" is closely related to "benevolence" and "ritual". "There is nothing better than shooting to establish virtue through rituals and music, so the sage kings are committed to it." Archery is completely a way of ritual and music education. Shooting as a ritual

"The emperor made bows and arrows to intimidate the world, and the world stole bows and arrows to insult the emperor." In the Shang and Zhou dynasties, when martial arts were popular, bows and arrows were endowed with profound humanistic connotations and developed into a political system - the archery ritual. According to the explanation in "The Book of Rites: The Meaning of Archery", the archery ritual not only selects ordinary talents, but also selects even the noble princes through the archery ritual. "Therefore, in ancient times, the emperor selected princes, ministers, officials, and scholars by archery. ... Therefore, the emperor's great archery was called "shooting marquis". "Shehou" means shooting for a prince. If you hit the target, you can become a prince, and if you miss the target, you cannot become a prince." The nobles of Shang and Zhou generally admired the archery ceremony, especially the great archery ceremony and the township archery ceremony, which occupied an important position in the lives of the nobles at that time.

In addition, archery also occupied an important position in the education of the slave-owning aristocratic class, which mainly focused on the "Six Arts". "Zhou Li·Bao Shi" said: "Raise the sons of the country with the Tao, and teach them the six arts: one is the five rituals, two is the six music, three is the five archery, four is the five driving, five is the six books, and six is the nine numbers." "Five archery" refers to five archery skills, namely Bai Shi, Canlian, Yan Zhu, Xiang Chi and Jing Yi. Bai Shi means that the arrow pierces the target and the arrowhead turns white, indicating that the arrow is shot accurately and powerfully; Can Lian means that one arrow is shot first, and then three arrows are shot continuously, like beads in a row; Yan Zhu means that the arrows are shot quickly, the aiming time is short, and the arrow is shot immediately and hits the target; Xiang Chi means that the minister and the monarch shoot, the minister and the monarch stand side by side, and the monarch retreats one foot; Jing Yi means that four arrows are shot continuously, all hitting the target.

In the official system of the Zhou Dynasty, "shooting people" was an important position. In addition to being in charge of shooting ceremonies, they were also in charge of important personnel arrangements, and were responsible for important rituals such as sacrifices, court appointments, expeditions, and funerals. Even in the Qin, Han, Wei, Jin, Sui, and Song dynasties, the position of "Pushe" inherited from "shooting people" was still the head of all officials. Zhou Li advocated observing virtue through shooting, which gave rise to shooting ceremonies. The word "shooting" includes "body" and "inch". "Cun means law and also hand"; "Shen" means human body, and "shooting ceremony" is to establish the foundation of human life and the way of dealing with the world. Bow and arrow have been elevated from a technology to the height of ideology and become a highly aesthetic etiquette culture.

Martial spirit

The shooting ceremony culture contains the traditional Chinese feudal etiquette and strong patriarchal hierarchy education. The distinction between monarch and minister, and the order of seniority are fully reflected in the grand shooting ceremony. "The Book of Rites: The Meaning of Shooting" says: "In ancient times, the princes must first perform the Yan ceremony when shooting. The nobles, officials, and scholars must first perform the Xiangji wine ceremony when shooting. Therefore, the Yan ceremony is to clarify the righteousness of monarch and minister; the Xiangji wine ceremony is to clarify the order of seniority." The shooting ceremony is divided into Dashe, Binshe, Yanshe and Xiangshe, and each shooting ceremony has strict etiquette requirements. The shooting ceremony originated from "military training borrowed from hunting" (Yang Kuan). The target of archery ceremony is usually made of cloth, with the target made of animal skin. The competition content is to hit the target and shoot through the target, so it is called "shooting with the main skin".

Mr. Yang Kuan pointed out in "History of Western Zhou Dynasty" that "ritual shooting" originated from "shooting with the main skin". "After King Wu conquered Yin, he replaced the pure "shooting with the main skin" with the promotion of "ritual shooting". Because "ritual is not for the common people", the common people still popularized "shooting with the main skin". Confucius used archery to observe virtue, and he strongly disagreed with "shooting with the main skin". "Shooting does not focus on the skin, because the strength is different, which is the ancient way." This means that the strength of the archers in the competition is different, so it is not necessary to hit the target, let alone shoot through the target. Ritual shooting focuses on people's character, and shooting is to cultivate virtue. The ancient tradition does not advocate shooting through the skin. As long as you can hit the target, even a little bit off is fine. It can be seen that in the time of Confucius, "ritual shooting" has long surpassed "shooting with the main skin". Faced with the "collapse of rituals and music" in the Spring and Autumn Period, Confucius called for the reconstruction of the "rituals and music" of the early Western Zhou Dynasty. Therefore, he highly praised the archery ceremony: "A gentleman has nothing to fight for, but he must fight for it, shooting. He bows and yields to others and rises, and drinks when he is down. His fight is gentlemanly." According to the requirements of the archery ceremony, the so-called "no drum, no release", the archer can only be called "winning" when the arrow hits the target with the cooperation of drums and music.

Traditional archery ceremonies all shoot three times. The first shot is just to match the ritual. The second shot is to take the main skin. Some say that the skin is penetrated, while others say that the target is not penetrated. The third shot, listening to the restraint of drums and music, is in accordance with the music. The three shots are the best in matching the rituals and music, and the main skin is the second. It is said that Confucius himself was an archery master who "never missed his arrow". "The Analects of Confucius·Shu Er" said that Confucius "fished but not with a net, and did not shoot at the roost." "The Book of Rites·Wangzhi" said: "Practicing archery is about merit." That is, the significance of archery ceremony is to practice martial arts. Therefore, archery is ultimately a martial culture, "when there is no trouble in the world, it is used for rituals and music, and when there is trouble in the world, it is used for war."

From "shooting is not for the skin" to "shooting for the skin", the later generations have been declining, using bows and arrows as killing tools, and naturally pursuing strength and penetration. In the Song Dynasty, Wang Anshi advocated the martial spirit with the tradition of archery: In ancient times, it was urgent to teach scholars to shoot and chariot, and other skills were taught according to their talents. If they were not capable, they would not be forced. As for archery, it was a man's business. If a person was born with an illness, it was fine. If he was not sick, there was no one who did not learn archery. In the school, we should engage in archery. If there are guests, we shoot, if there are sacrifices, we shoot, and if there are different people with the same ability, we shoot. In the rituals and music, we always include archery, and archery is also in the rituals, music and sacrifices. Yi said: "The bow and arrows are good for intimidating the world. Did the ancient kings think that archery was just a way to practice the ritual of yielding and yielding?

Archery was considered the most important military activity and a tool for intimidating the world and defending the country. When at home, it was used to practice rituals and music, and when out, it was used to follow the war. Five Sages and Six Arts As for archery etiquette, when a skill is elevated to a serious culture, the skill itself will often reach a superb state. Xunzi said: "If you miss one out of a hundred shots, you can't be called a good archer; if you can't reach a thousand miles in a single step, you can't be called a good driver." "Guoyu·Jinyu" records that "shooting and driving with full strength" at that time was listed as one of the "five sages" and was highly respected. The representative of the family, Li Li of Wei State, even used archery to adjudicate legal disputes. If the shot missed, the case was lost: "When people have a doubtful lawsuit, let them shoot the target. The one who hits the target wins, and the one who misses loses." As a result, the court became an archery range, and the complaint became an archery competition. "After the order was issued, everyone quickly learned archery, day and night. When they fought with the Qin people, they defeated them greatly, which showed that people were good at fighting and archery." People at that time generally believed that "archery is a man's job." If a boy was born in a family, a bow and arrow would be hung on the left side of the door. When the prince of a king was born, "the archer would shoot six arrows with a mulberry bow and a straw bow to the four directions of heaven and earth." The archery ceremony also became the beginning of China's "university", namely Biyong. "Han Shi Shuo" said: "Biyong is the school of the emperor... so it teaches the world to shoot in spring and autumn." "Baihutong Biyong" said: "The university is Biyong, the palace of rural archery." The "university" or "Biyong" at that time was actually the place where the nobles held rural archery ceremonies. From the many bow-shaped tools and arrowheads unearthed from Fu Hao's tomb in Anyang, it can be inferred that the tomb owner "Fu Hao" was good at archery, and her fiefdom was also rich in archers. Scholar Liu Zheng believes that: "In the Yin and Zhou dynasties, 'shooting' may not be a man's specialty, and women will also participate in this activity. In the inscription of "Shenu Hu", there is a word "shooting woman" as evidence. In the Yin and Zhou dynasties, it was common for women to practice martial arts and shooting and participate in wars and sacrifices." "Punishment does not apply to officials, and etiquette does not apply to common people." The education model of the Xia, Shang and Zhou dynasties was basically an elite education that combined officials and teachers, politics and religion. The noble elites practiced both civil and military skills, and their obligations were politics and war.

The "Six Arts" they learned included etiquette, music, shooting, charioteering, calligraphy, and mathematics. According to historian Gu Jiegang, shooting and charioteering in the "Six Arts" are to deal with national and ethnic conflicts, while etiquette, music, calligraphy, and mathematics are to deal with domestic class conflicts. Gu Jiegang wrote in the article "The Transformation of Warriors and Literati": Mencius said: "Set up academies, sequences, schools, and schools to teach them... 'Sequence means shooting." In fact, it is not just "sequence" that is the place for shooting, but the other three are all the same. "Xiao" means to train martial arts, and it is still called "Xiaochang" today. The "Wangzhi" says that "the elders all go to Xiang, and on the first day of the year, practice archery and show merit", so "Xiang" is also a place for archery practice. The scholar "Jing Yin Ming" says: "The king ordered Jingsi to study archery"... At first, the so-called "learning" was archery, and the school palace was the place for shooting."... "Zhouguan" said that the Grand Tutor taught the people with three things in the village, "three are six arts; ritual, music, archery, chariot, calligraphy, and mathematics", and the ritual has Dashe and Xiangshe, the music has Zhuoyu and Lishou, and the chariot is also used to assist hunting, all of which are related to archery. The reason why they practiced archery in the school palace and galloped in the suburbs was that it was a courtesy and entertainment on the surface, but its main function was to train for war. Among the six arts, calligraphy and mathematics are the special tools for governing the people.

Qian Mu said in "Outline of Chinese History": "The Spring and Autumn Period can be said to be an era when the ancient Chinese aristocratic culture had developed to an extremely beautiful, noble, delicate and elegant era. However, the inevitable collapse of the aristocratic class and the inevitable rise of the civilian class are the inevitable consequences of this kind of culture." Archery is to promote the culture of etiquette through archery. Archery is only the end, and etiquette is the root. "In ancient times, when the army faced a major event, they did not forget the great etiquette." Wars were also endowed with a noble and simple etiquette culture. Mencius told a story from the Spring and Autumn Period: Zheng State sent Zi Zhuo Ruzi to invade Wei State, and Wei State sent Geng Gong Zhisi to pursue him. Zizhuo Ruzi said, "Today my illness has come on, I cannot hold a bow, I am doomed." He asked the driver, "Who is chasing me?" The driver replied, "It is Geng Gong Zhi Si." Zizhuo Ruzi said, "Then I will not die." The driver said, "Geng Gong Zhi Si is a famous archer in Wei State, but you said I will not die. Why is that?" Zizhuo Ruzi said, "Geng Gong Zhi Si learned archery from Yin Gong Zhi Ta, and Yin Gong Zhi Ta learned archery from me. Yin Gong Zhi Ta is an upright person, and the friends he chooses must also be upright." Geng Gong Zhi Si caught up with him, Asked: "Why didn't you take the bow?" Zizhuo Ruzi said: "Today I am ill and cannot draw the bow." Qinggong Zhisi said: "I learned archery from Yin Gongzhita, and Yin Gongzhita learned archery from you. I can't bear to use your archery skills to harm you. However, today's matter is a public matter of the country, I dare not not do it." So he drew out the arrow, knocked it on the wheel a few times, knocked off the arrowhead, shot four arrows and then went back.

"The Book of Rites: Tan Gong" also tells a story about etiquette and killing. During the Spring and Autumn Period, two warriors of the Chu State drove a chariot to chase the retreating Wu army. After catching up, Chen Qiji said to Gong Yin Shangyang: "This is the matter of the monarch (country), and it cannot be neglected. Why don't you draw the bow yourself?" Gong Yin Shangyang had to draw the bow himself, and Chen Qiji said again: "You shoot." Gong Yin Shangyang shot an arrow and killed one person. The same conversation continued, and two more people were shot dead. Every time a person was shot dead, Gong Yin Shangyang went to close the eyes of the dead person himself. After shooting three people to death, Gong Yin Shangyang asked his driver to stop and said, "I can't sit down in the court, and I can't participate in the banquet (he was not of high enough rank at that time). Killing three people is enough to report back." Confucius praised Gong Yin Shangyang and said: There is etiquette in killing people.

In the late Spring and Autumn Period, etiquette and music were broken, and the art of deception and the study of thick black began to flourish. The Battle of Hongshui in 638 BC became the last swan song of etiquette culture. Duke Xiang of Song, as a teacher of benevolence and righteousness, waited for the Chu army to cross the river and form a battle array before ordering the battle. As a result, the Song army was defeated, and Duke Xiang of Song was shot and died of serious injuries half a year later. In 496 BC, the army of Yue shot and killed King Helu of Wu, and his son Fuchai destroyed Yue. King Goujian of Yue became a minister of Wu. King Wu was ill, and Goujian followed Fan Li's plan, entered the palace to inquire about his illness, tasted King Wu's feces to diagnose his condition, and King Wu was happy, so Goujian was pardoned and returned to Yue. Gou Jian endured humiliation and endured hardships, completely deviating from the traditional concept of personality and using any means to achieve his goal. The collapse of the ritual system made the archery culture a kind of popularized violent aesthetics, where the winner is the king and the loser is the enemy. There is no justice or injustice, only victory or defeat. With the rise of the literati class that competed with the traditional aristocracy, although the world was in decline during the Warring States Period, material resources were improved, so it can be called the golden age of Chinese history.