to the government.^10 These edicts reflect a serious problem of recruitment
and training for the Yuan army among the northern Chinese population. If
even men registered for military service received weapons only when they
went on campaign, then they would not have the martial arts skills to use
them well. Yet again, for the government to insist on these practices shows
that, in fact, the northern Chinese population was already armed. Yuan
policy with respect to arms and martial arts reflects a conqueror’s anxieties
when ruling a restive and highly militarized population.
Control of archery through restricting access to bows and arrows was
a critical aspect of Mongol rulership. Without bows and arrows the
Chinese population could not practice archery and would be handicapped
in resisting Mongol authority. In that sense, every edict prohibiting Chinese
archery was a sign of Mongol anxiety and perhaps real weakness. Even if
the prohibitions could not be completely enforced, they would still reduce
the number and quality of skilled Chinese archers. From the Chinese
perspective, of course, particularly the non-archery-practicing literati, arch-
ery was now tightly connected to barbarians and military men.
Weapons
The Mongols were also concerned about other weapons and martial arts
practice among the Chinese. As with archery, the problem was how to keep
people opposed to the Yuan Dynasty and Mongol power from learning
how tofight and obtaining the means to do so. The Mongols themselves
did use close combat weapons in addition to their bows, and there were
some modifications and shifts in martial arts practice during the Yuan.
Mongols often used a set of close combat weapons different from those
of the Chinese, though they were heavily influenced by Chinese practice.
Chinese manufacturing prowess more than anything else amplified the
effects of Chinese choices about martial arts and weapon preferences.
The phrase“The Eighteen Martial Arts十八般武藝”first appeared
during the later part of the Song Dynasty referring to a vague set of
eighteen weapon skills. It was not until the Yuan Dynasty that someone
delineated what those eighteen martial arts were. The phrase was popu-
larized in Yuan period theater, where it was used as a standard shorthand
for complete martial arts knowledge. Over time a specific list of weapons
was developed in the realm offiction,first in the theater and then in oral
tales. An anonymous play presents a list of twelve weapons in its discussion
of the eighteen martial arts:“Bow, crossbow, spear, shield, ge-halberd,
spear, long sword, ji-halberd, whip, chain, truncheon檛, and mallet槌.”
146 The Yuan Dynasty