Longbow in chinese song dynasty painting

[leehongyi]

"Along the River During the Qingming Festival"
Along the River During the Qingming Festival is a painting attributed to Song Dynasty artist Zhang Zeduan (1085–1145). It captures the daily life of people and the landscape of the capital, Bianjing, today's Kaifeng, from the Northern Song period. The theme is often said to celebrate the festive spirit and worldly commotion at the Qingming Festival, rather than the holiday's ceremonial aspects, such as tomb sweeping and prayers. Successive scenes reveal the lifestyle of all levels of the society from rich to poor as well as different economic activities in rural areas and the city, and offer glimpses of period clothing and architecture. The painting is considered to be the most renowned work among all Chinese paintings, and it has been called "China's Mona Lisa."

one day when i searched "ancient chinese self bow"on google, part of the painting emerged on my screen. "Along the River During the Qingming Festival"？ i viewed very carefully and found that maybe 3 soldiers were testing a longbow behind some barrels. So Intersting scene! so i share with you guys here.

[leehongyi]

Maybe some warbows? although hornbows were the superstar in all chinese ancient books about military items, the cheaper self bows may have filled the lower level army rather than expensive composite bows.

[toomanyknots]

Sure looks like a longbow to me. I would think in all of humanities past, somewhere along the line, similar bows to the longbow were used. It really is such a simple and effective design.

[Del the cat]

Interesting, maybe they used them as well as composites, after all a self bow is so much easier and quicker to make.
Del

[Parnell]

That is interesting.  I wonder what wood would have been used to build longbows in China at that time...

[leehongyi]

That is interesting.  I wonder what wood would have been used to build longbows in China at that time...

maybe elm or mulberry.
Most perhaps a kind of wood named "Cudrania tricuspidata". it doesn't have a name in english. but in china it is called bow wood, which belongs to mulberry family, with very similar grain and property as osage. here are some pics. the fruit looks like mini osage fruit but can be ate and is very sweet. BTW, this kind of wood is very expensive.

[Slackbunny]

I think the only reasonable conclusion that we could make is that not only were those longbows invented by aliens, but that they were hand delivered to the Chinese by the aliens. In fact if you were to look very carefully at the painting you would see that the archers are not people at all. Ancient astronaut theorist suggest that they are actually aliens. Those barrel looking devices they are standing near are quite clearly some sort of surface to orbit pods that the aliens must have used for travel back and forth to the mother-ship. I honestly don't see any other explanation. How else would a relatively advanced civilization filled with skilled craftsmen come up with such novel ideas? And the perfect curvature of the bow limbs surely could not have been achieved without some sort of high powered space lasers since you certainly couldn't achieve that kind of precision working with sharp metal tools.   

[PatM]

The wood you show is  used in an Osage /Mulberry hybrid. It wouldn't have been around until Osage was brought to China.
http://www.cirrusimage.com/tree_Osage_Silk_Thorn.htm

[autologus]

I think the only reasonable conclusion that we could make is that not only were those longbows invented by aliens, but that they were hand delivered to the Chinese by the aliens. In fact if you were to look very carefully at the painting you would see that the archers are not people at all. Ancient astronaut theorist suggest that they are actually aliens. Those barrel looking devices they are standing near are quite clearly some sort of surface to orbit pods that the aliens must have used for travel back and forth to the mother-ship. I honestly don't see any other explanation. How else would a relatively advanced civilization filled with skilled craftsmen come up with such novel ideas? And the perfect curvature of the bow limbs surely could not have been achieved without some sort of high powered space lasers since you certainly couldn't achieve that kind of precision working with sharp metal tools.

Sorry I had too.

Grady

[Badger]

    Great thread!! Always exciting when something new pops up. I would love to get a hold of some of that wood!

[PatM]

There is much evidence of simpler laminated bows in China as well.

[DarkSoul]

maybe elm or mulberry.
Most perhaps a kind of wood named "Cudrania tricuspidata". it doesn't have a name in english. but in china it is called bow wood, which belongs to mulberry family, with very similar grain and property as osage. here are some pics. the fruit looks like mini osage fruit but can be ate and is very sweet. BTW, this kind of wood is very expensive.

Interesting. I'd never heard of this species before, so I looked it up. It appears to be a synonym for Maclura tricuspidata. In other words, it is in the same genus as osage orange (which is Maclura pomifera)! As such, it is likely to possess very similar physical and mechanical properties. Should be a good bow wood, if you can find some of this wood.

[Badger]

  Darksoul, they have actually crossed it with osage. I wonder how much of it is growing wild, The berry looks awful famiiar. Probably not very popular because of the long thorns.

[PatM]

 The tree seems to represent a species bridge between the Mulberry and Osage.

[leehongyi]

The wood you show is  used in an Osage /Mulberry hybrid. It wouldn't have been around until Osage was brought to China.
http://www.cirrusimage.com/tree_Osage_Silk_Thorn.htm

this wood is a specie origin from china. and can be found in many ancient chinese bow making books, in which it is said that the best wood for bow is 柘木（this kind）, second is mulberry, the third is bamboo.