Treatises of the Supervisor and Guardian of the Cinnamon Sea: The Natural World and Material Culture of Twelfth-Century China

5 Implements

50 5 Implements (Zhi qi) The customs in the Southern Counties are jumbled and mixed among the Man and Yao. Thus, as a general rule, most of their daily implements [shiqi] are strange and odd. As for the designs of the weapons and armor of the Outer Man,1 these should all be known by those responsible for frontier defense.2 Bamboo Bows [zhugong] are made of bamboo cured [black] with smoke.3 As for the design of their sinews and adhesives,4 they are just like a horn bow [jiaogong],5 only when an arrow is drawn it does not require much strength. Li Bows [Ligong] are used by the Li people of Hainan. They are Translator’s note: As evidenced by the wide range of subject matter in this treatise, the term qi covers a broad spectrum of “implements,” including weapons, musical instruments, and even clothing and fabrics. 1 Throughout Treatises Fan Chengda refers to Man people who lived in areas outside of or beyond Chinese administrative control as “Outer Man.” 2 Reading bianbei 邊備 (frontier defense) rather than bianzhen 邊鎮. See FCDBJ, 102, n. 1. 3 Following the ZBZZCS ed., 11b, and reading xunzhu 熏竹 (to cure bamboo until it is black). 4 “Sinews and adhesives” (jinjiao) refers to the materials that bind and hold together the various parts of the bow. See Needham et al., 5-6:109–13. 5 That is, a bow made from the curved horn of an animal. Implements 51 wood bows [mugong] with long ears [changshao]. The bowstrings are made from vines. Arrows are three chi in length, and they have no guide feathers. The arrowheads [xuan] are five cun in length and resemble arrowhead leaves [cigu ye].6 Since they have no feathers, they are shot no farther than three or four zhang. However, anyone hit by one will surely die. Man Crossbows [Mannu]. As for the various settlements of Yao and other foreign peoples in the southwest, the crossbows they make all follow about the same [design]. They are made of hardwood, while the posts [zhuang] are very short. They resemble the shooting-game crossbows [shesheng gong] used by hunters in China but are inferior to a great degree. Yao People’s Crossbows [Yaoren nu] are also called bend-theframe crossbows [bianjia nu].7 They do not have arrow grooves [jiancao ]. One bends the frame and then shoots the arrow. Poison Arrows [yaojian] are used by the various Man who live beyond civilization [huawai].8 Although their crossbows are small and weak, they dip their arrow tips into poison.9 Anyone hit by one dies immediately. The poison is made from snake venom and [poisonous ] weeds [shedu cao]. As for Man Armor [Manjia], only that of the Dali kingdom [Dali 6 Cigu (Sagittaria sagittfolia) is sometimes called “Chinese arrowhead” or “Old World arrowhead” in English. The leaves of this aqueous plant are shaped like arrowheads. BCGM, 33.1906 (Compendium, 4:33.2908–9). 7 In this entry Fan Chengda seems to be using bianjia to mean “bend-the-frame [of the bow],” referring to a leaf-spring type of crossbow. Fan’s comments in his entry on the Yao people in the “Treatise on the Man,” the entry on “Man Crossbows ” in LWDD, 6.210 (Netolitzky, 6.9) and Yan Pei, 44, n. 11, support this reading . See also. Needham et al., 5-6:136, which remarks that the term bianjia nu “almost certainly means that the bow stave was made of several pieces of wood or bamboo in leaf-spring form.” This type of bow was armed by pushing a stirrup against the ground. According to Shen Gua, the bend-the-frame crossbow was also called a shenbi gong, or “magic stock bow,” and could propel an arrow 300 bu and pierce multilayered armor. See Shen Gua, Mengxi bitan quanyi, 19.600–1. Shen Gua’s comments are translated in Needham et al., 5-6:156. 8 The expression huawai, or “beyond civilization,” was sometimes used by Chinese to describe tribespeople who lived in remote areas beyond the influence of Chinese culture. 9 On the use of poison arrows in China, see Needham et al., 5-6:136. 52 Treatises of the Supervisor and Guardian of the Cinnamon Sea Guo]10 exhibits the finest workmanship. In all cases the armor and helmets [jiazhou] are made from elephant hide [xiangpi]. The breast and back sides each have a large cuirass [pian] that resembles a tortoise shell [guike]. As for hardness and thickness...