During the Shang and Zhou Dynasties, archery was the major part of military training on martial arts. With emperors and nobles at the top and civilians and peasants at the bottom, archery was practiced almost by everyone. Various types of archery events were held. When rituals, banquets and other activities were hosted by the emperor, an archery event called Li She(ritual shot) was held. Civilians, on the other hand, regularly organized an archery event called Xiang She(rural shot). In schools that trained children of the nobility, archery was listed as one of the six arts.
Houyi Shoots the Suns
According to the legend, Houyi, leader of the Dongyi tribe in the Xia Dynasty, was good at archery.
At that time, there were not one but ten suns roaming the sky, which scorched the land and withered the crops; people were out of breath or fell into comas because of the heat. Due to this extreme heat, strange fowls and beasts also came out of dried lakes and flame-like forests to harm humans everywhere.
Seeing people living in misery, Houyi decided to shoot down the nine extra suns. Armed with his bow and arrows, he tramped over hills and dales and arrived at the East Sea coast. Shooting his arrows one by one towards the arrogant suns, Houyi instantly shot down nine of the suns, leaving only one sun in the sky for humans to thrive on.
Ji Chang’s Learning of Archery
The story of Ji Chang learning archery came from Liezi, a book collecting the works by Liezi, a thinker from the Warring States Period(475 B.C.-221B.C.), and his disciples.
Fei Wei was an archery expert in ancient times. His arrows were never shot in vain and no target was missed by his shot. Ji Chang hoped to learn archery and asked Fei Wei to apprentice him. After accepting Ji Chang as his disciple, Fei Wei told him: ‘”You have to learn to stare at a target and never blind,and then we will talk about learning archery.” When Ji Chang returned home, he lay under his wife’s loom and stared at the foot pedal as his wife weaved. After two years of practice, even if the tip of the shuttle reached his eye socket, Ji Chang would not blind.
Ji Chang then visited Fei Wei again, but Fei Wei said: “This is not enough. Once you’ve trained your eyes to the point that they can discriminate the minute details clearly, come back to me again.” After returning from the visit, Ji Chang hung a yak’s tail with lice in the hair by the window, and began to stare at it every day. After three years, the lice became so clear and articulate in Ji Chang’s sight that he was able to drive his arrow into the center of a louse.
Ji Chang then hurried back to Fei Wei, who happily told him: “You’ve already learned the arts of archery.”