Ethnographic Arms & Armour - View Single Post - "Ratio" of weapons of "civilian" S.Chinese... ?

yuanzhumin · 24th March 2011, 09:56 AM

Hello Kukulza,

Here are all the infos I have on the Taiwanese crossbows:

- See Material Culture of the formosan Aborigines , by Chen chi-lu.
PP152 153 154
To sum up what's in the book: Crossbow is found in Formosa only among the Tsou and Saisiat tribes; no more in use among Formosan tribes; it is a mainland culture trait ; introduced by Chinese settlers and diffused to the mountain tribes; in general, the crossbow appear to be a combination of bow and blowgun, what is confirmed by the facts that crossbows darts were often used with poisoned tipped - something that didn't diffuse into Taiwan together with the crossbow
See the drawing from Chen chi-lu of a Saisiat crossbow in the collections of the Nat. Taiwan Univ.

- my own info:
From my collection:
http://www.formosatribal.com/show.php?item_id=108
From my memory, i have seen few years ago aboriginal hunters -- poachers, I would say to be more exact :-) -- equipped with a crossbow. It was in central Taiwan (Alishan area) but I don't remember if they were Bunun or Tsou. (Kukulza, i'm listening now to the last Matzka CD!)

Best

Nicolas

24th March 2011, 09:56 AM	#2
yuanzhumin Member Join Date: Sep 2005 Location: Ex-Taipei, Taiwan, now in Shanghai, China Posts: 180	Hello Kukulza, Here are all the infos I have on the Taiwanese crossbows: - See Material Culture of the formosan Aborigines , by Chen chi-lu. PP152 153 154 To sum up what's in the book: Crossbow is found in Formosa only among the Tsou and Saisiat tribes; no more in use among Formosan tribes; it is a mainland culture trait ; introduced by Chinese settlers and diffused to the mountain tribes; in general, the crossbow appear to be a combination of bow and blowgun, what is confirmed by the facts that crossbows darts were often used with poisoned tipped - something that didn't diffuse into Taiwan together with the crossbow See the drawing from Chen chi-lu of a Saisiat crossbow in the collections of the Nat. Taiwan Univ. - my own info: From my collection: http://www.formosatribal.com/show.php?item_id=108 From my memory, i have seen few years ago aboriginal hunters -- poachers, I would say to be more exact :-) -- equipped with a crossbow. It was in central Taiwan (Alishan area) but I don't remember if they were Bunun or Tsou. (Kukulza, i'm listening now to the last Matzka CD!) Best Nicolas Attached Images