Gabtan-i jorin / Shedi 射的

Shedi 射的 (also called Shedishuo 射的說), Manchu name Gabtan-i jorin (i gisuren), is a bilingual book (hebi 合璧) on archery written by the Manchu Bannerman Canggiyūn (Ch. Changjun 常鈞, 1702-1789) in 1770. It is an essential text reflecting an integral part of the martial aspects of Manchu culture and was part and parcel of the Qianlong Emperor's 乾隆帝 attempts to revive and preserve Manchu virtues in an age when they were quickly declining. The title is translated as "Targets in shooting" (Eijk and Sam-Sin 2018) or as "Aims of archery" (Hudgins 2021).

Figure 1. Chapter of the Gabtan-i jorin

Chapter on holding the bow. As Manchu is the guiding language, the text begins to the left. The Chinese version is written in small characters to the right of Manchu words. Translation see below.

Canggiyūn was a descendant of the Yehe Nala clan 葉赫那拉 and was a member of the Bordered Red Banner (Manzhou xianghong qi 滿洲鑲紅旗). In 1726, he was appointed secretary of the Grand Secretariat (neige zhongshu 內閣中書). He was later transferred to the post of secretary in the Ministry of War (bingbu zhushi 兵部主事), which allowed him to carry out the function of Secretary in the Council of State (junji zhangjing 軍機章京). During the last Junggar war, he was made vice director in the Ministry of Works (gongbu yuanwailang 工部員外郎). In 1760, he was made Vice Commander-in-chief of the Chinese Plain White Banner (baizhengqi Hanjun fu dutong 正白旗漢軍副都統) but was two months later elevated to Vice Minister of Justice (xingbu shilang 刑部侍郎). At the end of the same year, he took over the temporary function of governor (xunfu 巡撫 ) of Jiangxi, then of Anhui, Henan, and finally Gansu. After the final pacification of the Western region, Canggiyūn was made 雲騎尉. In the years to come, he was governor of Yunnan, then of Hunan, but was dismissed in 1766. He then took over the post of Amban (banshi dachen 辨事大臣) of Kašɣar in Xinjiang 喀什噶爾, then of Qarašahar 哈喇沙爾. In 1771, he returned to Beijing and was made imperial guardsman of the third rank (sandeng shiwei 三等侍衛).

His book was available in print form and as a manuscript. Copies are available in many Libraries in China and Japan. The Manchu version is dominant, leading the Chinese text in the unusual order from left to right. The text consists of 13 chapters, namely:

There is an appendix explaining the skill of shooting from horseback as well as the inspection of horses.

The text of the Gabtan-i jorin strongly resembles Gu Gao's 顧鎬 Sheshuo 射說, and it is therefore very probable that the latter was the model for Canggiyūn's book. Even if the book basically deals with the martial aspect of archery, cultural and ceremonial elements are not missing. It might even be said that while Li Chengfen's 李呈芬 Shejing 射經 and Li Shugu's 李恕谷 (Li Gong 李塨, 1659-1733) Xueshelu 學射錄 focused only on the skill of archery, Gu's Sheshuo and the Gabtan-i jorin expounded the "way" (dao 道) of archery.