Lessons in Manchu Archery -Cheng Pan-ching’s “A Study of Archery”Translated by James Yu

Cheng Pan-ching’s brief study was published as a two page spread in Liang You ([:WXMagazine in1937. In it the author lifts sections from his work, Introduction to Drawing the Bow and Shooting theArrow (����M5), which he published published in 1936 under the name Ceng Songsheng’s (6%�). Ceng Songsheng passed the first round of the Qing military exams as a youth. From this wecan surmise the method he recorded was a style of Manchu Archery practiced at the end of the Qingdynasty.

The complete pages Cheng Pan-ching’s work are presented at the end of this document. The infor-mation Cheng recorded is presentedhere in blocks to make it easier for thereader to follow. The Chinese text foreach block of the orginal is first pre-sented followed by the English transla-tion of the text.

Block 1 - Tools/�������j��� �w�����y�=�y��L��}��� fo|~��ur�c� ������

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Tools part 1: From the right to the left, the first and second are foot bows thatare in unstrung and strung conditions.The third and fourth are hard bows,used to increase arm strength. The fifthand sixth are bamboo bows, used topractice shooting indoors.

Tools part 2: The center is a target butt,used outdoors. To the right is a dangzitarget (a cloth target with a leather bulls-eye), used indoors. To the left are footarrows.

Tools part 3: From the right to the left, Block 1 - Tools.

dangzi arrow (blunt arrow used with the dangzi tar-get), arrow straightener, bow "brush" (archedblocks of wood that are tied to the limbs to helpbrace bows), forked rods, bracing block (a block ofwood with a triangular groove at the top, used toprevent the bow from rocking back and forth whilebracing), thumb ring, bow grip, arrow container,bamboo bow.

Block 2 - Drawing a Hard Bow/������������� �N;|~��@H�<�� �l�e����z` �pz���lfo|~�

Drawing a hard bow. Commonly used foot bowsare very hard to draw for those who don't havewrist strength, thus while practicing archery, onemust at the same time draw hard bows to increasearm strength. Block 2 - Drawing a Hard Bow.

Block 3 - Drawing a Hard Bow.

Block 4 - Warm Up Exercisesi�� �*���>�7��I � !� ���1 �{S �g�{t �bpz�A��^mi�� +a9n��}an/�

Clapping your shoulders, move the two feet to theleft and right, about and a half pace apart, into thehorse riding stance, straighten and extend theupper body, open the chest forward, the eyes look-ing straight forward, at the same time both handsopen and close together crossing up and down toclap the shoulders, from ten times up to thirty orforty times.

Block 3 - Stance Position Pole/O�O��s2�BFk���"�

(Stance) position pole. For finding the essentials ofthe movements for each part of the body.

Block 4 - Warm Up Exercices.

Block 6 - Practicing indoors��#�����s��e��-�k� �TG��R��V&K�vt Cxr���� �q4�]$��x�d��du�'�gv� D,E���8�����

Practicing indoors. Shooting the dangzi target is an important part of practicingwhile indoors, first tie the cloth dangzi target to a suitable position, about 6 to 7feet from the ground, then stand about 10 to 15 feet away from the target on aflat surface, and shoot towards the round leather (bullseye) on the target.

Block 7 - Stringing the Bow���}�������

Block 5 - Warm Up ExercisesP����b_Q�U�{q( ��YZ��

Rocking the shoulders. Both hands alternately turn-ing back and forth in a circle, so that the bloodstarts flowing.

Block 5 - Warm Up Exercices.

For more information about Manchu Archery, please see:http://www.grtc.org/manchuarchery/http://www.facebook.com/groups/ManchuArchery/