Date: October Friday 16th to Sunday 18th
Featuring WildWall walks and talks, slow-cooked food, home-baking and home-roasted in the yard and just-ground WildWall coffee!
Weekend guest residence of Mr Yang & son, whose ancestors migrated to Peking in the 1720s to make bows and crossbows for the Manchu monarchy and military
Display of bow-making raw materials
Display of crafted bows and crossbows
Opportunity to order a true masterpiece of Chinese craftsmanship
Days of awesome fall season colours in the mountains
New hiking routes for return guests
Fee of 3,000 yuan per person. Children under 13 at reduced rate of 2,000 each.
Transport from Beijing included. Pickup at 4pm from the Hilton Hotel (near Liangmaqiao).
Everything is included in price, even beer and red wine and our increasingly acclaimed coffee!
William’s books for sale during the weekend
Sign up for this special WildWall event by contacting William byWechat using the QR code at the end of this posting
Spot the walkerson the Wall,amidst the autumn colours
Three centuries ago in 1720 a Manchu bow-maker travelled from China’s northeast to Peking to begin a new life and work — to seek a life making weapons in the imperial capital of the Great Qing Empire.
A Manchu Archer in Peking
To mark the 300th anniversary of the bow-maker’s migration, I am launching a new series of experiences, WildWall Heritage Weekends. The inaugural event is being hosted as a very special weekend in mid October, commencing Friday evening on October 16th in the yard of the Barracks for welcome drinks, followed by a grand dinner to celebrate 『William of the Wall’s』 birthday (more history, and a Beatles song!).
MrYang revived his family's craft of bow making when the reforms of China began in the late 1970s
Our special guests for the whole weekend are Mr Yang and his son, Yangyi, 10th and 11th generation Manchu bow makers. The Yangs are one of only four traditional bow-makers that remain at work in the whole of China and Mongolia. They continue to produce ancient weapons in the time-honoured way as handed down by the previous generations of craftsmen.
It takes many months and and many procidures to make a traditional composite bow.The bow was the stawarrt weapon used in the Great Wall theatre of war for most of its long history.
This Heritage Series weekend is also scheduled to coincide with the best of the autumn season’s colours, when leaves of oak, beech, walnut, chestnut and maple will be turning red, yellow and gold some 4-6 weeks earlier than in the city of Beijing — because the Barracks, our WildWall base, is located at 680 metres altitude.
Keeping with tradition, this WildWall Weekend will feature our signature early walks out on the Wall on Saturday and Sunday for sunrise. When we return from our Saturday dawn excursion we will enjoy listening to the first part of Mr Yang’s remarkable family story of pursuing and preserving the craft of making bows, crossbows and arrows over the last three centuries.
Autumn comes early in the mountains.We will enjoy warm sunshine and golden colours by day and the glow of a log fire durin the evening.
Mr Yang and his son will talk our guests through the long bow-making process, showing what materials are used while explaining and demonstrating the advantages of the composite bow and crossbow. Vivid interpretations of the Yang’s story and explanations will be presented in English by younger members of the WildWall team, James Lindesay, a Peking University history graduate and Thomas Lindesay, currently an undergraduate at PKU and an avid student of ancient Chinese weaponry.
Mr Yang is an appointed intangible world heritage of China it will be possible for guests to be 『measured』 to order one of Mr Yang’s collectible (and usable!) masterpieces, which take up to one year to craft and involve scores of step-by-step procedures.
Mr Yang and his son make around 100 pieces per year,made upof bows,crossbows and larger replica siege weapons for museums.
Join us for what promises to be a WildWall
Tableset in the Barracks for dinner
A guest room at the Barracks
Jim is a coffee aficianado, roasts his own beans and ensures a good brew is had by all
The resident star, the Wall within our backyard at the Barracks