Manchu Archery

Abstract

This paper is dedicated to the archery tradition of the Qing dynasty, the last major phase of military archery traditions in China which lasted from 1636 to 1912. Founded and ruled by the Manchus, the Qing was the last empire to still use bows and arrows on a large scale, up until the early nineteenth century, to great effect. It will address obvious questions that arise, among others, why they adhered to archery for warfare for so long, and how they managed to frequently come out victorious against modern weapons. The Manchu bow is a very distinctive bow with some advantages and also some obvious shortcomings. By looking at the cultural background of the people that would later become the Manchus, this paper attempts to shed light on exactly why the bow was designed the way it was. As it turns out, the bow probably originated among groups of hunters in Manchuria who were primarily known for their prowess in hunting big game. Much of their experience could be directly applied in warfare, and so we see the application of hunting tactics combined with the use of very large arrows that would also have been used for hunting big game. This method of warfare relied on swift horsemanship and a high level of accuracy with very heavy bows. The slow-firing muskets were initially no match for the well-honed Manchu military machine that relied on horseback archery, so the Qing did not see any reason to modernize until the nineteenth century when breech-loading firearms finally made this method of warfare, which had lasted for millennia, obsolete.