Quote of the week

"Mongolian archery today is not what it was, having been robbed of its power by three centuries of Chinese rule. Though archery is still one of the three 'manly sport', today's bows are sloppy things, with pathetic range and arrows tipped by fat pads that are fired at, would you believe, nothing more than rows of wickerwork baskets a few down metres away. The bows I have tried send their arrows wobbling like a reed in a gale for not much more than 50 metres. I have not heard of anyone in Mongolia making bows in the old style, or of anyone backing a revival of old-style archery." —from a modern writer