Craftsmen draw on ancient weapon's heritage to survive in modern times

Nestled in Beijing's Dongsi Street, the Ju Yuan Hao workshop looks just like any store in a traditional alleyway offering wares to visitors from abroad who want a souvenir of the Chinese capital. Many of the shop's customers do come from the United States and Europe, but Ju Yuan Hao is not your typical small store selling curios and knick knacks to wide-eyed foreigners - the bow and arrow workshop used to be one of 17 establishments sanctioned by the imperial household to craft the weapons during the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911).

Yang Fuxi, 54, is the 10th owner of Ju Yuan Hao. His grandfather Yang Ruilin bought the business in 1910 from "Xiao Wang", the 7th owner who had to give it up because of the debts he incurred from drug addiction.

Yang Fuxi is now considered to be one of the few people who can make traditional Chinese bows and arrows, and his shop is touted as the only one that can still recreate the intricate, traditional archery implements used by ancient Chinese royal families. The street his shop sits on was in fact famous for its archery shops during its heyday.

Yang is justifiably proud of keeping alive a craft that reflects the imperial and martial heritage of one of the world's oldest and most sophisticated civilizations.

"Traditional Chinese bow-making techniques consist mainly of two genres - the 'Northern style' based in Beijing, and the 'Southern style' in Sichuan province. Unfortunately, the techniques of the South have not survived," Yang says.

The rarity of his creations draws many Chinese and foreign buyers, but it has not been easy for Ju Yuan Hao to make it to modern times.

The business almost shut during the turbulent "cultural revolution" (1966-76). To keep the tradition alive, the then owner Yang Wentong struggled to pass his skills to Yang Fuxi, his third son.

It was only in 2007 that Ju Yuan Hao's bows were listed as a national intangible cultural heritage.

Other than the traditional bows made by the Chinese Han people such as Yang Fuxi, the Xibo ethnic group from Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region has also managed to preserve its bow-making techniques through 59-year-old Yi Chunguang, believed to be the sole surviving craftsman of the Xibo bow.

Yi says those who buy his work come from as far as the US, Russia and Germany. One of his customers, Bruno Schmidt, a German, usually buys two or three bows every year for his "hunting pleasure". Gustave Vladimir, from Russia, sells bows himself in Moscow but also regularly buys Yang's bows, about five pieces every two months, because "they are cheaper".

Apart from their role as a common weapon before the introduction of firearms, the bow and arrow also reflect the rich culture of both East and West. The weapons are still a symbol of strength and courage.

The Chinese bow itself boasts a long history. Archery was one of the "Six Gentlemen Acts of China" that date back to the Western Zhou Dynasty (c. 11th century-771 BC). In Liji, The Book of Rites, the acts are regarded as necessary for the self-cultivation of gentlemen to display good manners. Most Chinese dynasties went on to respect and develop this cultural norm.

"When the British were still throwing stones at their enemy, the Chinese had already started to use bows and arrows in their battlefields," Stephen R. Selby, an archery expert who also heads the intellectual property department of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, has said in an earlier report.

But with the Industrial Revolution and the subsequent move to modern weapons and firearms, the bow and arrow slowly faded into military obscurity.

Like their Western counterparts, traditional Chinese archery items became hard to find, and much of the techniques of making them were lost.

"The only way for the craft to survive was to keep it commercially viable. When people stopped buying it, it could not survive," Yang says.

"There used to be 130 workshops involved in making bows in the Southern style, but they all disappeared during the 1930s-1940s because of financial difficulties.

"From the time of the Yuan Dynasty (1271-1368), you could often meet many foreigners in the cosmopolitan capital of Beijing; that's why the craft survived. At that time they were the main buyers of the bows and arrows."

Yang's bow is a variant of the Chinese traditional "recurve" bow, which sports a unique curvature when it is unstrung. Yang and his craftsmen first make a core for the bow from thin bamboo, before attaching a wooden grip and ears. Then they tightly glue sinew and horn to the core. They decorate the bow with material such as birch bark, ornaments and lacquer as the finishing touch. The work is tough and time-consuming.

"A high-quality bow basically uses fish maw and pig skin for its core material. That is why a fine bow has such good elasticity," Yang says. "It usually takes about 40 tries to rub fish maw and pig skin onto the bow's core, and each time the maw and skin have to be laid in the open all night to dry."

The craftsmen also have to attach ox tendon to the core. Similar to the maw and skin used, they have to fix the ox tendon layer by layer so that the bow will not seem too raw. It takes at least eight days for the next layer to be wrapped onto a previous one.

"In total, there are 200 procedures for making a bow, and there is no shortcut," Yang says. "That's why it takes two to three years to produce a top-class bow."

The price of a bow can range from about 100 yuan ($15, 12 euros) for an ordinary one to about 2,000 yuan for more intricately designed versions. Because of the complexity, time and effort put into a bow, it takes years of experience to learn the process.

"You cannot just train someone in a few short years to make it from scratch. The person has to be gifted; that is a prerequisite," says Yang, who is still looking for a successor to take over his craft.

But Yang is not alone in his efforts to carry on an important part of the Chinese bow and arrow tradition. During an intangible cultural heritage exhibition held at the National Agricultural Exhibition Center in Beijing on Feb 5, visitors crowded Yi Chunguang's booth to look at his Xibo bows. Yi has also set up China's first bow and arrow cultural and research website.

"Besides Yang Fuxi, I am the only one who can make traditional ox horn bows," Yi says.

You may contact the writer at zhanglei@chinadaily.com.cn