Hou Yi Shooting Nine Suns
In the ancient times, there were once ten suns in the sky. Their heat parched fields, wilted crops, and left people lying breathless and unconscious on the ground. Ferocious animals and birds fled boiling rivers and flaming forests to attack human beings.
The immortals in heaven were moved by the people’s suffering. The Emperor of Heaven sent the archer Hou Yi to help bring order to the earth. Hou Yi, descended to earth carrying a red bow and white arrows given to him by the Emperor of Heaven.
He tried to persuade the Suns to come out one every day alternatively, to bring warmth and light to the world but not too much heat. But none would listen to him. So he had to begin his battle. He drew his bow and arrows, and took aim at the imperious suns. In an instant, one after the other, nine suns were shot down from the sky. Thus the severe drought was gone. He also got rid of those fierce animals for the people.
Different from the purpose of archery in ancient times for hunting and combat, in modern times it has become a precision sport, which involves shooting arrows at a target for accuracy from a set distance or distances. The archery competition shall be organized in the ranking round and the Olympic round. The Olympic round consists of the team eliminations, team finals, individual eliminations and individual finals for both women and men.
By Liu Fang
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