Traditional Tibetan Archery Festival, June 2011.

[Stephen Selby]

Sharpen up your Tibetan archery skills for the first half of June 2011. Ledu County, Qinghai welcomes overseas archers (up to 30) to take part in their archery festival. Fine scenery and traditional Tibetan hospitality, song and dance. Foot archery only but recreational horse riding available. I'll let you have exact dates when I have them.

36.482978,102.401626 on Google Maps.

[Justin Ma]

I am helping Stephen recruit international archers interested in attending the Traditional Tibetan Archery Festival in Ledu, Qinghai. If you are interested in attending, please send me a message or reply to this thread with your name and nationality, and I will forward the head count information to the organizers of the event.

As a reference, you only need a regular tourist visa. There is cheap hotel accommodation in Ledu, Qinghai. The nearest airport is in Xining, and the organizers would help with transportation within Qinghai.

[jack farrell]

Stephen; This is a wonderful opportunity! Are you looking for sharpshooters or will backyard archers do?

Backyard archer.

[Stephen Selby]

This is really a big social occasion, Jack. You would love it. No rules (a la Coree) other than no use of modern sights and dongles. The target is usually quite large but set at a distance of around 80 metres. (There is another target - a mound of earth set at 80 metres, that is harder to hit.)

Sharpshooters will catch the eyes of the girls; but on the whole it's about fun.

[Justin Ma]

Shall I include you in the head count, Jack?

[jack farrell]

Justin and Stephen; I am very tempted. Let me think a few days, do some googling etc. Just know it will be a good event.

Dongle, a la Coree?

[Justin Ma]

Here is the official announcement for the Qinghai International Traditional Bow Competition: http://www.lieku8.com/thread-21005-1-1.html

A translation of the announcement is forthcoming...

[jack farrell]

Ginny alerted me to this link for pictures of last year's festival in Qinghai.

http://www.alibow.cn/page/wenhua/index.php

[Justin Ma]

<b>Qinghai International Traditional Archery Competition --- Registration Open</b>

The dates for the annual Qinghai International Traditional Archery Competition are set, and we are accepting registrations.

The annual grand "feast" for traditional bow enthusiasts --- the curtains have opened for the "Qinghai International Traditional Archery Competition" on June 13, 2011. The local government and partners from the archery industry have been dedicated in promoting the event for the past three years. Now, the Qinghai International Traditional Archery Competition" has become a widely broadcasted event, as well as a cultural exchange for traditional archery. As with competitions in previous years, "Friendship, Exchange, Openness, Fairness and Dignity" have been the guiding principles for the event. As such, the international scope of the event has expanded, and there will be more than 300 Chinese and foreign archers from more than 20 countries on the same field competing, as well as having a good time. The event is also a platform for promoting traditional archery domestically, and China's traditional bow enthusiasts are invited to participate.

Days: June 13th (reporting in), 14th, 15th, 16th (competition activities).

Schedule:
June 13th PM: Check In and Registration at Ledu (Qinghai)
June 14th AM: Opening Ceremonies
June 14th PM: Practice on the Competition Field
June 15th--16th: Competition

Cost: Participants are responsible for their own travel expenses. The organizing committee will be responsible for accommodations.

Transportation: The organizers will set up receptions at Xining (Qinghai) Railway Station and Xining Airport to help direct participants to Ledu.

Registration Instructions:

Please complete and send the following form and send an identifiable photo of yourself to the following email address: [email protected] . International participants should cc [email protected] in their registration email to chinasheyi. Spaces are limited to 40 international participants, so please confirm your registration first before purchasing travel.

* Name:
* ID type:
* ID number:
* Gender:
* Age:
* Address:
* Phone:
* Email:

Requirements:
1. Archers from the provinces should follow these instructions to participate. (Archers from Qinghai and Tibet can go directly to Ledu to register.)

2. Participants who register but fail to show up for the event will not be allowed to participate in future events.

3. The application deadline is June 5, 2011, but we ask archers to please register early. No registrations will be accepted after the deadline, even if there are vacancies.

4. Sichuan and Chongqing participants should contact Qing Yang. Phone 13996178282. QQ54539172

5. Jiansu, Shanghai and Zhejiang participants should contact Wen Yang. Phone 13867429856. QQ302653524

6. International participants should contact Jake at [email protected] (cc Jake in your registration email)

[Justin Ma]

(TL note: This took a little more time to translate because I had to ask the organizers some clarifying questions. Also, I changed the term "&#29616;&#20195;&#20256;&#32479;&#24339;/Modern-Traditional bow" to simply "Traditional bow" to make the description more succinct.)

2011 Qinghai (Ledu) International Traditional Archery Invitational Competition

Regulations

To ensure that the Qinghai (Ledu) International Traditional Archery Invitational Competition held in June 2011 will be a smooth, fair, just and orderly affair, the following regulations will be implemented.

I. Competition Rules
There are three event categories: Recurve, Hornbow, and Traditional. Recurve is a 7-team competition, Hornbow is a 7-team competition, and Traditional is a 16-team competition (split into A and B groups). Each archer can only participate in one category, and archers are responsible for bringing their own bows and arrows.

1. Recurve: targets at 80 m and 60 m, no sights or stabilizers or added weights allowed
2. Hornbow: targets at 50 m and 30 m, only wood/bamboo arrows allowed (plastic nocks allowed)
3. Traditional: targets at 60 m and 40 m, wood, bamboo, all-carbon and all-aluminum arrows allowed, but carbon-aluminum composites (such as ACE, X10, etc) are not allowed.

Note: Bows in the "Hornbow" category must be horn-wood/bamboo-sinew composite bows constructed using the traditional hornbow making process. Bows in the "Traditional" category can be made of modern materials as long as they do not have arrow shelves, sights or stabilizers. Examples of permitted Traditional bows: longbows, yumis, laminated bows, fiberglass bows.

II. Competition Approach
1. The three categories are Recurve, Qinghai Hornbow, and Traditional (with the splitting of the groups determined by drawing of lots). Competitors will shoot 24 arrows total (12 arrows at each distance). There will be 6 ends, with four arrows per end (thus, 3 ends at each distance).
2. (TL note: The original says "&#27604;&#36187;&#20013;&#31661;&#25645;&#19978;&#24339;&#21518;&#23556;&#20986;&#21457;&#23556;&#32447;&#32773;&#19968;&#24459;&#25353;&#26377;&#25928;&#31661;&#35745;&#31639;", which I'm having difficulty translating.)
3. Arrows that touch the ground will receive no score. Arrows that do not touch the ground will be scored according to the ring they hit.

III. Scoring
1. Five archers at a time will shoot for each end. After finishing their shots, the archers together with the referees will go to the target to score their arrows before retrieving the arrows.
2. Individual and team scores are calculated by the cumulative score of the rings. In the event of a tie-breaker, the individual/team with more higher-valued rings will be the winner.
3. Any arrows that cut the line between two rings of different values will be given the score of the higher-valued ring.

IV. Placing and Awards
1. The Recurve, Hornbow, Traditional-A and Traditional-B categories will each be awarded individual and team 1st, 2nd and 3rd places.
2. Teams with less than 10 individuals will not be counted in the team competition.
3. The top-3 places in team competition will receive cash prizes and medals. The top-3 places in individual competition will receive cash prizes and certificates.

V. Other Issues
1. A team consists of 10 competitors. Each team can designate one of their competitors as team leader and one of their competitors as team coach.
2. The competition will have allocations for 40 international competitors and 80 competitors from outside the province, and these competitors are only allowed to compete in the Hornbow and Traditional category. There will be 180 spots for local Qinghai competitors, who are allowed to compete in Recurve, Hornbow and Traditional. At the same time, to reflect traditional culture, we highly encourage participants to dress in traditional costumes.
3. Female competitors do not compete separately from men are incorporated into the men's competition.
4. Once the teams have received their invitation from the Organizing Committee and the athletes have been registered, the team cannot change its composition. Teams that change their composition or have athletes that do not attend will forfeit their eligibility.
5. For oustanding issues, notifications will be sent ahead of time.

-The Organizing Committee

[ginni]

Few pictures from a previous edition:

http://qun.51.com/ledu/topic.php?pid=11045

[Stephen Selby]

Thanks, Justin. I've copied your information to the ATARN FaceBook page.

[martinsadlon]

I'm a Canadian with experience in Korean Traditional Archery. I'll be in Japan from May toJune, and would really like to visit this festival. However, since I'm not 'passport'-Korean, they may not appreciate me showing up and competing with a Korean bow, something similar to what is happening with the WTAF in Korea. Anyhoo, I was wondering if you know of other Korean archers coming to tibet, and if so, would you be able to pass my info onto them??? I might be more help in a group! Cheers, Martin

[Justin Ma]

I'm a Canadian with experience in Korean Traditional Archery. I'll be in Japan from May toJune, and would really like to visit this festival. However, since I'm not 'passport'-Korean, they may not appreciate me showing up and competing with a Korean bow, something similar to what is happening with the WTAF in Korea. Anyhoo, I was wondering if you know of other Korean archers coming to tibet, and if so, would you be able to pass my info onto them??? I might be more help in a group! Cheers, Martin

You're more than welcome to shoot with your Korean bow --- this event is much less restrictive than WTAF. If you're shooting a Korean synthetic bow, you would fit in the Traditional category. If you're shooting a Korean horn bow, you would fit in the Hornbow category. Even if you don't belong to a team, you can still participate as an individual. Just be sure to register and confirm with the organizers that there are still places available.

One of things that amaze me from reading about Tibetan traditional archery (as it is practiced today) is that they use a variety of styles --- thumb draw, finger draw, arrows on the left and right side --- and a variety of equipment --- traditional bows, barebow recurves and barebow compounds (!). To them, the act of shooting as a community bonding activity is the most important thing (as it should be). The equipment details are rather secondary. The only common thread is that all shooters don't use sights or stabilizers.

As an aside, Bhutan has a similar tradition of using heterogeneous equipment without sights --- do an image search and you can find images of King Jigme Khesar Namgyel Wangchuck using a barebow compound at a traditional Bhutanese archery festival: http://www2.pictures.gi.zimbio.com/Bhut ... Gn-Afl.jpg http://www3.pictures.gi.zimbio.com/Bhut ... FswJUl.jpg

[martinsadlon]

Thanks for the reply!! I'll check my schedule in Japan, and confirm the exact day I'll be finishing there. I'm on an exchange for May and the beginning of June at Hokkaido University, so I'm not sure that I can make this event, since I don't know right now what day my placement finishes. I will hopefully find this out on Thursday, and then make plans to come to Tibet if it is possible.

Thanks again,Martin