Yang Fuxi---the Only Continuator

Alongside the development of science and technology, the traditional technique of bow and arrow making is facing permanent extinction.

Yang Wentong is more than 70 years old. His son, Yang Fuxi, worried that the tradition could wither and die in his hands, so in order to pass on the technique, Yang Fuxi undertook the responsibility to save it.

When Yang Fuxi first learned how to make the bow and arrow, he was already 40 years old.

To master this craft, Yang Fuxi resigned from his work, and worked as a taxi driver for 4 years. During this time all the money he saved was used to purchase material. Starting from 1998, Yang Fuxi devoted himself to making the bow and arrow.

Bows and arrows are complex to make, demanding in their construction and particularly needing an accumulation of experience. There is no way to train someone in a few short years to undertake the whole process: At best people might get very skilled with one part of it.

In the first year, Yang Fuxi made 40 bows, but he only sold one.