practice archery every day. In thefield, he was armed with sword, spear, bow
and arrows, and wore a suit of armor. During the winter,fubingunits drilled
and trained together to maintain battlefield skills and check on the martial
arts of the soldiers as a whole.
Men were enrolled forfubingservice at twenty-one and continued in
this status to the age of sixty. The percentage of male population actually
serving in this capacity varied across China, from zero, in areas that for a
variety of reasons had nofubingunits, to essentially 100 percent in areas
on the northwest frontier. In the latter areas, martial arts practice would
have been virtually universal among all adult males. Martial arts skills
thus marked not only the different threat levels of a region but also cultural
traditions that grew out of a locality’s relationship to the central govern-
ment. Because the martial arts of thefubinghad to integrate with other
fubingunits on campaign or on duty in the capital, their martial arts would
have necessarily been uniform across the empire. While the prevalence of
those skills varied from place to place, the content of the skills was the same.
A minority offubingunits were cavalry, with most cavalry forces pro-
vided by steppe groups who served under their own leader. While members
of the Tang imperial family and aristocrats like them, at least in the early part
of the dynasty, spanned the Chinese-steppe/Türkic cultural and martial
divide, in the army modes offighting were closely linked to ethnic identity.
The Chinese were infantry, and the Türks or other steppe groups were
cavalry. After the initial establishment of Tang authority throughout the
empire, the military problems shifted to the northern border. Whilefubing
units were very effective on campaign, they were relatively slow-moving
infantry designed to serve for short periods of time. On the border, however,
problems with steppe groups could be endemic, far ranging, and fast moving.
The best response for these problems was standing bodies of light cavalry.
Tang light cavalry marked thefinal shift over from the heavy cavalry of
the Six Dynasties. Even in the Sui, heavy cavalry, with both horse and rider
armored, remained in use within China to break through infantry forma-
tions. In the battles following the Sui collapse, however, Tang cavalry
lightened its load by removing armor from the horses. Tang cavalry forma-
tions might still charge into infantry, but this was usually done on a vulner-
ableflank or rear, or when the infantry was weak or in disorder. Light
cavalry was faster and offered a wider range of tactical and strategic uses
than heavy cavalry. It was also able to engage and pursue light steppe cavalry
forces.
Once the dynasty was established, however, the military problems
facing it changed. The need to maintain garrisons on the borders clashed
98 The Sui and Tang Dynasties