For viewers in the US, I appear tonight in a NOVA program entitled ‘Emperor’s Ghost Army’, which is about the terracotta army. This is not the program for which I was away filming in China recently – that is about The Great Wall – but rather one that I did a one-day spot for a year ago, while in the UK. I haven’t seen the program yet, so am not entirely sure how it all turned out or what bits are in but I did sequences explaining the difference between medieval European crossbows and Chinese crossbows. I also demonstrated with my replica of a Chinese crossbow. However it has a relatively light bow to it - around 40lbs, which is fine for show-and-tell but obviously is not meaningful to demonstrate power. I was supplied with a 175lb modern crossbow, fitted with a compound bow to demonstrate power (note these were demonstrations NOT tests). However the crossbow bolts had been made to a length to fit the replica Chinese version, which has a significantly longer draw. Consequently they projected a great deal, which in turn affected accuracy. This was further exacerbated by the fact that some of the bronze arrowheads, with a very long tang, were set in the bamboo shaft at a bit of an angle. Many of the bamboo arrows didn’t stand in the modern bow – they just disintegrated. I do hope they show that – it was quite spectacular. It suggests, of course, that the modern bow was too powerful – I certainly think it was, though that is very much a matter of opinion. It was a compound bow and so it also had a mechanical performance equivalent to greater than the actual draw weight. The issue of probable draw weight for Chinese crossbows certainly raises very interesting questions. What is the weight that Chinese bronze triggers would be capable of releasing? There is the question of friction here, at a certain weight it would be impossible, without a longer lever, to release the latch that the string pulls against. Also these crossbows take a regular bow, one that could equally well have been used in the hand. The crossbow add-on is simply a way of converting these bows into something that conscript peasants could use without a great deal of training. What then were the typical draw-weights of the regular bows at this period? Hopefully I’ll get the chance to look into these questions another time. As well as looking at crossbows, I, together with my good friend and colleague Gordon Summers, did a sequence to demonstrate the use the Chinese halberd – the ji – against horses. It involved me falling off, which in the nature of filming meant that I had to do it several times. I fear I may be getting a little old for such silly stunts – the bruising was very colourful. pbs.org/wgbh/nova/ancient/emperors-ghost-army.html
Posted on: Wed, 12 Nov 2014 14:27:35 +0000
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