- Title: CHINA: China's only bow maker fears his death might end this traditional craft
- Date: 3rd February 2007
- Summary: VARIOUS OF YANG WORKING YANG HOLDING A BOW BOWS
- Embargoed: 18th February 2007 12:00
- Keywords:
- Location: China
- Country: China
- Topics: Industry,Sports
- Reuters ID: LVA6Z90H36WPH23ZKV0EYL3AB0WF
- Story Text: The traditional art of bow and arrow making is facing an uncertain future in modern China due to rapid economic development and the new generation's preference for new technologies. In his small, crowded studio nestled in the heart of the booming Chinese capital, Yang Fuxi is whittling a stick of bamboo into a hunter's bow as his ancestors did 300 years ago.
Yang is the sole remaining heir of a family business that supplied imperial officials with exquisitely crafted weapons for hunting. He's the only person in mainland China who can still make these ancient bows and arrows.
There used to be over a hundred bow makers in China at the turn of the century but most of those who are still alive have not made bows in decades and have therefore lost the critical skills to make good bows, all except this one family in Beijing who continued making bows right to this day.
Yang's family experienced its glory days during the reigns of various Chinese emperors, when court nobility bought everything the family produced and their salaries were paid by the emperor's officials directly.
The situation changed for worse during the Cultural Revolution (1966-1976), when all traditional art and craftsmanship became target for rampaging gangs of the young Red Guards.
Teenaged Red Guards cut a swathe of destruction across China during that time. Any antiques, architecture or other symbols of old culture were destroyed in the name of Chairman Mao.
"After the cultural revolution happened, people who have been through it, they know it was rather dangerous. In order to keep this bow, we had to break it in half, wrap them up with layers and layers of plastic and cloth. We had to hide them inside a pile of fire wood. In the late 80's, my father got it out and repaired it. We kept this as a treasure of the family", Yang said.
It is the only one of a handful of old bows that survived the challenges of this dark chapter in Chinese modern history .
Yang Fuxi's father used to make meagre income from his work after the Communists swept to power in 1949, while Yang is making 3800 yuan (about 480 US Dollars) these days per one bow.
His buyers are from over 30 different countries worldwide. Customers need to order a year in advance and it takes Yang almost four months to finish a set of bows and arrows once he has all required components. He says hard work is not difficult but getting right materials has proved to be sometimes tricky.
"The most difficult thing for me is to get the right material for the bows. For example, the horns of ox. Most of the oxen are home raised. In less than 2-3 or 3-4 years, the oxen are taken to dinner tables and served as food. They kill them before the horns are even fully grown. So I'm having a lot of difficulties finding material", Yang explained.
Many of the materials needed for making traditional bows and arrows are from animals that considered endangered .Yang has to replace feathers plucked from eagle tails with geese feather for his arrows. The ox horns he's using are brought back from Thailand by his friends. After his father passed away last year, Yang confesses to being scared that time may be running out for this vanishing art..
"Ten years ago, I was fearless. When I had a regular job, I was afraid of nothing. I was never afraid of death. But now, I'm extremely afraid of death. To put this in a simple way, I'm selfish. But to be honest, I'm just really afraid that with me dying, this traditional skill will be buried with me", Yang said.
Archery has long held an important place in Chinese literature as well as the folk-culture of Chinese minorities. From Shang times (1600-1046BC), bows and arrows were favoured on the battlefield because of their long range. Bow-makers were continually challenged to improve the design of the bow to meet new military needs - smaller size, greater strength, weather-resistance and durability.
As archery skills were considered essential in hunting and warfare, the art was absorbed into the court by the ruling classes of the Shang and Zhou (1046-256BC) periods.
Members of the Qing (1644-1911) Imperial court, originally residing in northeast China, brought their own distinctive style of bows to Chinese culture. They appreciated fine bows as works of art, and preferred heavy bows with long ears, capable of shooting arrows more than a metre long with steel tips that could pierce armour. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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