While going through the shelves in a bookstore, I found a book called Sports in Ancient China which had a photograph of a painting of the Qing Dynasty. A mounted archer was riding towards a summer hat laying on the ground preparing to shoot. This is essentially the same practice as the Middle Eastern sport of qighaj (slant) shooting where the archer tried to hit a ground target just as he passed it.
In Middle Eastern archery an arrow called an amaji with a very strong point was used. This was very heavy and extremely robust.
Qighaj shooting in Qing China
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Bede
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Peter Dekker
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Hi Bede,
Are you sure this is a summer hat? I am asking because the Huangchao Liqi Tushi lists an item called 皇帝御用马射地球 that translates as "The Emperor's Horseback Archery Ground Ball".
The woodblock print accompanying the texts doesn't show a ball, but instead something that more looks like a summer hat. It is said to be made of white felt, 9 imperial cun high (about 35 cm) and 5 cun in diameter. This would make it more of a cone shape than the average hat, but like the hats there is a red tassel on top.
I am wondering whether the "hat" you have seen could be one of those. All of the emperor's archery toys appear to have a Manchu heritage. For example the target made out of felt concentric rings that were shot by a whistle arrow by the Xibe tribe until fairly recently also appears among the Qianlong emperor's archery items.
-Peter
Are you sure this is a summer hat? I am asking because the Huangchao Liqi Tushi lists an item called 皇帝御用马射地球 that translates as "The Emperor's Horseback Archery Ground Ball".
The woodblock print accompanying the texts doesn't show a ball, but instead something that more looks like a summer hat. It is said to be made of white felt, 9 imperial cun high (about 35 cm) and 5 cun in diameter. This would make it more of a cone shape than the average hat, but like the hats there is a red tassel on top.
I am wondering whether the "hat" you have seen could be one of those. All of the emperor's archery toys appear to have a Manchu heritage. For example the target made out of felt concentric rings that were shot by a whistle arrow by the Xibe tribe until fairly recently also appears among the Qianlong emperor's archery items.
-Peter