Crossbow in China

In our history, we put a great deal into finding new and better ways to kill each other for various reasons, let it be finding new lands to live on, gaining more resources, having different imaginary fr... religion or just because we felt like it (looking at you, Manifest Destiny). This, of course, means that although getting close and personal is great, being able to kill your opponent at a distance is even better. This led to the development of multiple methods to throw deadly projectiles at people's faces, like the topic of today: the crossbow. 

 

Despite being seen as an icon of the European medieval era, the crossbow actually sees its origins in China’s late bronze age, around the year 650 BC. We don’t have a specific date for when these weapons were first designed, but the excavations of complex trigger mechanisms made of bronze found in archeological sites can still give us an approximate timeline. However, these early iterations saw little military usage and instead were more of a fancy novelty, which saw limited usage in the military. We need to keep in mind that the concept of crossbows could have predated these times, as the mechanisms found were quite refined for a ‘first try’. But unfortunately, no records of earlier works were ever found about such weapons, so we can’t prove anything. 

Crossbows would be used in the militaries of China during the warring state, when the region was divided into 7 competing kingdoms, with further refinement in design and tactics being noted. For example, mass crossbow men were employed in three lines, taking turns firing a volley while the other two reloaded and thus providing a constant barrage. However, the state of Qin was by far the most adept at using the weapon and after a series of brutal campaigns under the leadership of Qin Shi-Huang, as stated in a previous post, would defeat the other kingdoms and formally unite China under a single central dynasty. It is at this point we need to point out the distinct difference between the design that the Chinese used and what the Europeans would later come up with. 

The Chinese crossbow was of a shorter build, more akin to an enlarged handgun, which allowed it to be drawn much further and thus made it more powerful for its size. On the other hand, the European style adopted a more ‘riffle’ appearance, allowing better aiming. We also must bring up the Chu-Ko-Nu, the legendary repeating crossbow of the far-east which, due to a simple lever system, allowed it to fire in rapid succession until the 10-12 bolt magazine was emptied. Unfortunately, its reputation has been blown quite a bit out of proportion, as although its firing speed was quite unmatched until automatic weapons, it was done at the cost of everything else.  

Chu-Ko-Nus had one of the weakest to draw weights out of any bow-like weapons, standing at a measly 30-50 pounds from analyzing a Ming dynasty replica. This is a big deal, as this was the thing determining how hard a projectile would punch at a certain distance, and thus its ability to hurt people. For comparison, a hunting bow stood around 55 pounds, and warbows were double that number. Meanwhile, single-shot crossbows could go into the hundreds of pounds so yeah, the Chu-Ko-Nu was cool and all, but it was severely underpowered compared to its mainstream brother. Added to this was its short range, even for crossbow standards, as well as poor accuracy, which made it a weapon relegated to peasants living on the outskirts of the empire to defend themselves from raiders and bandits. This was a role it would excel at, as its cheapness and ease of use mean that it was easy to get 100 peasants to use that thing, and when they are all shooting at the same thing, bolts are bound to hit. 

Returning to the crossbow, just like in Europe, this was primarily a siege weapon, either in assault or defence. Here, its slower firing speed wasn’t really an issue at all due to the nature of facing fortified positions, while its improved accuracy was much more important to snipe soldiers on the other side. It was noted that a giant version of these weapons was designed, some getting so big that they needed to be installed on wooden platforms and reloaded using a winch.... wait, isn’t that a ballista? 

China wasn’t the only power in Asia to use crossbows, and their immediate neighbours would soon come to adopt them with their own style. Vietnamese would use them on top of elephants, since these things weren’t deadly enough as it is, while the Mongols would be the ones to bring crossbows to the steeps, but deciding they weren’t hardcore enough, they attached explosives on the bolts from time to time. Mongols, why do you have to be so much cooler than everyone else?  Most bizarre of all comes from Japan, because they always have to be the weird kid in the block, and loaded huge stone in a Frankenstein abomination mix of a mangonel and a ballista. They did use a more standard version but were quickly relegated to naval operations after deciding to rely on mounted archers for land battles.  

Crossbows would remain a staple of the Chinese military for centuries to come until firearms proved superior to everything else.