success to appeal to the ethnic identity of the northern Chinese, inciting
them to rise up against the Mongols in aid of Song military efforts. Similarly,
Li Quan’sson,LiTan,wouldattempttoformanallianceofChinese
strongmen when he rebelled against his Yuan masters. Ethnicity was not
the overwhelming interest of the forces contending for power. Men like the
older and younger Li straddled the Mongol and Chinese worlds in politics
as well as martial arts.
The Yuan Dynasty crumbled rather than being destroyed by an outside
power. It was the inherent instability of Mongolian politics that distracted
and diminished Yuan authority. These internal leadership struggles allowed
rebellions to develop and expand, and in the end they prevented even effective
government officials from defeating them. The Yuan empire broke up; some
Mongols retreated and others were pushed north as a new dynasty, the Ming,
emerged from decades of warfare. The destruction across China was deep
and widespread. Vast armed groups, some professing a version of Buddhism,
pillaged and fought for territory. The Shaolin Temple, like so many other
places, was burned to the ground in 1351 by the Red Turbans, a rebel group
that arose in the fourteenth century to oppose the Mongols, just as it had been
destroyed in the seventh century. As then, the temple was a repository of
wealth, with gold-covered statues and other valuables. The same destruction
was repeated in countless homes and temples. War once again brought
weapons and martial arts back after a few generations of peace.
Archery
Archery for the Mongols and other steppe peoples, as well as Tibetans, was
more than just a martial art. As it was among the Chinese far in the past,
archery had religious and spiritual implications. Shooting arrows could be
both religious and apotropaic, that is, archery was done as part of religious
ceremonies and was used to drive away bad spirits. Shooting had power,
over both life and death, but also over the spirit world. Archery was basic
to steppe life through hunting andfighting, and a key part of steppe
identity. Given its ubiquity in the steppe among both sexes, but particularly
for men, skill with archery would not require mention in a biography of a
warrior or general. On the contrary, however, virtually every great warrior
or general is noted in the Chinese sources as being a skilled archer. Archery
was a definitive marker of steppe character.
There are far fewer non-Chinese historical sources available for the
Mongols or any of the other steppe groups. Those few sources are less
routine in their mention of horse archery skills, assuming that a steppe
142 The Yuan Dynasty