Bowsmith Huang Hao: The man who winds the bow

Urumqi, 15 Dec (Xinhuanet) -- In Qabchar Xibo Autonomous County, Ili Kazakh Autonomous Prefecture, Xinjiang, there is such a young man of Han nationality who came from Jiangsu to the "Chinese Arrow Town" from thousands of miles away to deliver his youth to bows and arrows and pass on the ancient bow-making skills to the future.

"A gentleman who has nothing to argue with will shoot!" Give in and drink. Its contention is also gentlemanly. When he first saw Huang Hao, he handed over a business card, and the back of which was printed with these words of Confucius. Behind him was a workbench full of bow-making tools and raw materials, and the sawdust raised by the rotation of the mold filled the entire workshop.

Huang Hao's mother recalled that he showed a strong interest in slingshots and bows and arrows from an early age, and knew how to make small bows with knives and bamboo pieces almost as soon as he could walk. Many years later, Huang Hao joined the army and came to Xinjiang, stayed in Urumqi after retiring from the army, and met feng hui, the current master of bow and arrow, the current master of bow and arrow.

According to historical records, in the twenty-ninth year of Qianlong (1764), in order to consolidate the northwestern border defense, the Qing Dynasty government ordered more than a thousand Xibo elite soldiers from the northeast to be recruited to Xinjiang. The Xibo soldiers and civilians who moved west set out from Shengjing (present-day Shenyang) and overcame many difficulties to cross the Mongolian plateau and cross the Altai Mountains to reach Ili.

"My ancestors moved west to this area to reclaim the border, I joined the army to garrison the frontier, I was also a soldier, they were all defending the motherland, and my love of bows and arrows finally found resonance in the hometown of Xibe, where Shangwu was good at shooting." Huang Hao said.

As the only ethnic group holding a bow and arrow in the commemorative stamps of 56 nationalities, after the Xibe military and civilians arrived in Ili, they always pursued the Eight Banners culture of "I am a martial artist, riding and shooting". There are ranges everywhere, bows and arrows in every house, and every Xibe people regard "sharpshooters" as the supreme glory.

Huang Hao followed Fenghui to Qabchar, participated in the establishment of the Chinese Bow and Arrow Culture Museum, and devoted himself to the operation of the traditional bow and arrow workshop, the Tianshan Bow Workshop. As long as there is time, Huang Hao will take off the ring, change into a dirty old dress, and make a bow himself.

From material selection, cutting, grinding to shaping, testing, packaging, the simplest bow also has to go through at least a dozen processes. Huang Hao liked to wind the bow the most, he first fixed the string on one end of the bow tip and sandwiched it between the calves, riveted the bow with all his strength, and then used his hands covered with "shooter cocoons" to embed the string into the bow tip at the other end.

According to The Custom of the Xibe, if a boy is born in the family, a small bow and arrow is hung on the Mother of Hilley (a silk rope tied to the top of the room); at the age of four or five, the parents are required to make a small bow and arrow for their son for early training; after reaching the age of eighteen, they must participate in the official riding archery examination every year, and those who meet the standard are registered as Capes and conscripted into the army.

Huang Hao said that cultivating an excellent archer is time-consuming and laborious, and the tempering of his inner cultivation is not achieved overnight. Every warrior has a bow that belongs only to him, and everyone understands the principle of "don't bend his bow". The Xibe men of that era spent their lives with bows, and even if they sacrificed or grew old, they would let their beloved bows and arrows burrow together.

In 2012, Huang Hao's twin sons were born, and he personally made a small bow for one of them and gave them nicknames - Billy and Silidan, which means bow and arrow in Xibe. The traditional bows used by children in the county for archery classes were also donated by Huang Hao's bow factory.

Unlike the highly accurate competition bow, the purely manual nature of the traditional bow determines that each bow is unique, and there is uncertainty about each bamboo arrow shot due to its different weights, which many people are fascinated by. The bow workshop invited the local Xibe bow master in order to make the traditional bow a part of the Xibe people's life again.

But sometimes some merchants come to buy bows, but they are bitter that they can't take them on the spot. "Traditional bow making uses original materials and production processes, grinding, bonding, baking each link is not urgent, you have to be patient, waiting for the bow to pick you." Huang Hao said.

Bows and arrows to him are not only a craft of interest and survival, but also a source of strength that nourishes the heart.