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There was also an official exam for becoming a military officer. One part of it was manipulating an extremely heavy guan dao (which is likely where the stories
by harimau777 2y ago
There was also an official exam for becoming a military officer. One part of it was manipulating an extremely heavy guan dao (which is likely where the stories of Guan Yu wielding a pole arm between 40 and 90 lbs come from).
Training for the test is still around in the cultural practices of some people groups in China:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XqnulYO5890 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XqnulYO5890
- lupusreal 2y agoI have seen some pictures of PLA soldiers aiming their rifles with weights hanging off the end of the barrel. I wonder if this is a distance relative of that old practice.
- Terr_ 2y ago> aiming their rifles with weights hanging off the end of the barrel That sounds like it has a practical explanation: Strengthening certain muscle-groups so that the soldiers won't easily tire of handling their weapon. It might be even better if the rifle had a laser on it, so that the exercise involves not just lifting the barrel but also centering it onto a target. (However shooting live-rounds could metaphorically backfire, since users would be getting trained to expect the wrong recoil.)
- LarsDu88 2y agoAnd the manchurian qing dynasty had a test where you had to be able to draw a 300 plus pound composite recurve bow! Which folks were still doing in the 20th century!
- LarsDu88 2y agoEdit I was mistaken: https://www.mandarinmansion.com/glossary/wuke-gong-wukegong https://www.mandarinmansion.com/glossary/wuke-gong-wukegong These military exam bows went up to 160 lbs. In at least one instance a 240 lbs bow was manufactured which a single elite archer was able to pull