The origin of archery

Archery is the originator of ancient sports in China. According to archaeological discoveries, it appeared more than 28,000 years ago. With the development of arrow from stone to metal, the form of archery has changed a lot. For example, in the Zhou Dynasty, archery was included in the education at that time. At that time, politeness, music, shooting, imperial, calligraphy and mathematics were six arts, of which shooting was a very important content. At that time, archery was a kind of etiquette, and archery required drinking and playing music, which can be said to be the earliest archery activity in the ancient history of China. At that time, Confucius, Xunzi and Mozi were all archery enthusiasts. They not only practiced by themselves, but also encouraged students to shoot arrows.

During the Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties, professional archery competitions appeared.

Archery is also very popular in other countries in the world. According to historical records, in the Middle Ages, the first European archery competition was held in Switzerland, and the Swiss national hero William Tell was an archery expert.

Modern archery began in England. Since 1673, the Fang Scotton Silver Arrow Competition held in Yorkshire, England has continued to this day.

Archery was listed as an Olympic performance in 1900 and 1904, and as an Olympic competition in 1908.

Archery visited the Olympic Games several times from 1900 to 1920, but it disappeared for more than 50 years and didn't come back until 1972 Munich Olympic Games. Archery has been an official event of the Olympic Games since 1972 Munich Olympic Games. At present, in addition to the Olympic archery competition, important international archery competitions include the World Archery Championship, the World Outdoor Archery Championship and the International Field Archery Championship.