歡迎光臨高雄市新聞局

Growing Interest in Archery

◎Written by Huang Zih-rou

◎English translation by Hou Ya-ting

◎Photos by Guo Chen-jhih

◎Photos courtesy of Wuchan Archery Room

　Some of Taiwan's professional archers have become internationally acclaimed and rank among the world's best. The Taiwanese have recently won several high-ranking international archery tournaments, which has inspired a new interest in archery throughout Taiwan. In order for more people to practice and enjoy this sport, several archery rooms have opened around Kaohsiung.

Nanzih Archery Room

　Nanzih Archery Room is a public archery room. It has ranges of 100 meters in length and 60 meters in width, with loose ranges of 90 meters. Kaohsiung City Government created the venue to encourage the people of southern Kaohsiung to learn about archery. It is managed by Kaohsiung Sport Association's Archery Committee. Committee Executive Secretary, Coach Jhuang Chang-wun hopes that Nanzih Archery Room will cultivate students into professional archers. He states that they will focus mostly on training during the weekdays and will only open on the weekends when events are specially booked beforehand. 

Lian Gong Fang Indoor Archery Room

　Lian Gong Fang literally means “practicing archery” in Chinese. It is located on Sanduo 4th Road. It offers archery lessons and a bright indoor archery space. Director, Coach Chen Ming-jhih opened it in order to spread enthusiasm for the sport. In order to make sure the archery room can stay in operation, Mr. Chen also works a day job outside of the archery room. The indoor archery room is well equipped with recurve and traditional bows for beginners.

　Director Chen Ming-jhih believes archery can be a great sport to relieve stress. After he pulls back on the bowstring and releases it for several hours, he gains a sense of peacefulness. He also explains that releasing an arrow exercises the upper part of body, which is good for regulating breathing and improves concentration. He believes archery can benefit both mind and body. He hopes everyone will come to Lian Gong Fang to find out how fun archery can be.

Wuchan Archery Room

　Wuchan Archery Room has branches in Cianjin and Yanchao Districts. The Cianjin branch is an indoor archery room and offers traditional bow archery lesson. It is geared for archers that are not only hoping to improve their scores but also for those that hope to improve their archery technique.

　Besides archery, they also offer dagger throwing, darts and classes in making traditional bows. The Yanchao branch has a designated outdoor archery field. Coach He Ming-jheng points out that by being on the archery field, people can fully enjoy traditional archery. He explains how fun it can be when releasing an arrow and watching it go up and down through the leaves. Archers can fire arrows at targets that are up to 100 meters away.