enemy when he and his horsemen charged their ranks.^13 Perhaps the most
famous account of a skilled spearman, however, is the story of Zhang Fei
single-handedly cowing a pursuing force at a broken bridge by standing
there with his spear and challenging them:“I am Zhang Yide [Zhang Fei],
you can come and together we’llfight to the death.”Since no one had the
courage to face him in individual combat, his army was able to escape.^14
Some other notable warriors of the Three Kingdoms period demonstra-
ted interesting combinations of weapon use that included the spear in
individual combat, as one Chen An did:“[Chen] An held a seven foot
great sword in his left hand, an eighteen foot snake spear in his right.”^15
Chen was strong enough to use these two weapons in concert. An interest-
ing comment on steppe women also shows the widespread use of the spear
at that time;“The women bear halberds and wield spears, draw bows and
carry arrows, how could they be sofierce?”^16 Here we see the attitude of
the Chinese historian commenting on non-Chinese women who practiced
martial arts. The steppe people were sofierce that their women bore the
regular arms of the battlefield.
Archery grew in importance with the introduction of so many steppe
warriors into north China. Both foot and horse archery were regularly
practiced on trainingfields and archery platforms constructed for the
purpose. The regular practice of archery became necessary as steppe
warriors moved out of their steppe environment where archery was part
of ordinary life. Emperors promoted the practice of archery by rewarding
participants for hitting the target. Hunting was also a useful training
activity in these martial arts. Archers were noted both for their strength
(Liu Yao was said to be able to drive an arrow through an inch thick piece
of iron)^17 and their accuracy (Murong Han shot an arrow through the ring
of the pommel of a sword at one hundred paces).^18 Strength was also
remarked upon with respect to the draw weight of an archer’s bow.
Another distinguishing accomplishment was to be able to shoot accurately
to the left and right from horseback. Although the particular values of
archery and horse archery were initially more characteristic of non-
Chinese, over the course of the Six Dynasties they were absorbed into
Chinese culture as well. Elite Chinese, of course, had to be taught these
martial arts as a purely martial set of skills outside the daily need for them
in the steppe.
Cao Pi, Cao Cao’s son, noted that he began training in archery at the age
offivesui(four orfive years old) because times were tumultuous. By sixsui
he knew or understood archery and began to learn to ride a horse. When he
was eightsuihe was able to ride and shoot. As a consequence of this early
80 The Six Dynasties