xi's moments
Home | Heritage

Reviving traditional Chinese archery

By Zhao Ruixue in Jinan | China Daily | Updated: 2017-04-10 07:11

Zheng's students salute to each other before starting practice.Ju Chuanjiang / China Daily

"But textbooks I read noted that Japanese archery originated from rites developed in the Zhou Dynasties (c.11th century-256 BC), so I thought 'why not revive traditional Chinese archery as well?'"

With that, Zheng closed his business and began learning all he could about China's archery tradition.

He summarized the procedures required and invited a professional costume designer to create the Han Dynasty-style costumes.

His efforts paid off - thousands have since come to learn from him and a junior middle school in Jinan has even included ceremonial archery in its curriculum.

Zhu Feng, whose son has been learning ceremonial archery for two years, said he had noticed a number of positive changes in the 11-year-old boy.

"The greatest change in him has been a renewed ability to concentrate. He is now more patient and listens to us," Zhu said.

Zheng's only real concern for the future of ceremonial archery is that there are not currently any nationwide standards, due to competing schools of thought on the sport.

"Although nationwide standards have not yet been formed, all of us who promote ceremonial archery agree that it should emphasize the sport's ceremonial and virtuous aspects, rather than developing it into a competitive event," Zheng said.

|<< Previous 1 2 3   
Global Edition
BACK TO THE TOP
Copyright 1995 - . All rights reserved. The content (including but not limited to text, photo, multimedia information, etc) published in this site belongs to China Daily Information Co (CDIC). Without written authorization from CDIC, such content shall not be republished or used in any form. Note: Browsers with 1024*768 or higher resolution are suggested for this site.
License for publishing multimedia online 0108263

Registration Number: 130349