Judges for the July 2026 Heavy Bow Draw Online Competition

We are hosting a fun event focusing on bow drawing for this month of July. It is intended to be a fun event, but Heavy Bow Drawing () itself is a serious martial art exercise. It is a traditional Chinese Kung Fu exercise not only for the purpose of strengthening oneself but also developing good body structure and agility. Heavy Bow Drawing was also part of the Qing Miliary Exam, so it held a historical cultural and social significance dividing the common civilians and those who were able to advance into the military gentry caste of Imperial China. The ability to draw heavy bow was definitely part of the Qing military culture.

It is my honor to present to you: Master Li Qing Yang and Shifu Illya Profatilov; both have agreed to be the judges evaluating you bow draw. Note that it’s called heavy bow draw. Any draw weights are welcomed depending on one’s capacity. See details of the event and scoring criteria in the link below.

Make Archery Great! Heavy Draw July: Show Your Strength and Honor the Tradition

We are still looking for a third judge. This post will be updated once the final judge accepts our invitation.

Brief bio of our Judges

Li Qing Yang

Master Li Qing Yang is a renounced horn bow maker and Manchu archery teacher based in the beautiful mountain city of Chongqing. His horn bows are true artwork with good performance. Anyone fortunate enough to own one of his bows will certainly testify the above statement. Since Master Li is well known amongst the asiatic archery community, further introduction is unnecessary.

Illya Profatilov

Since most asiatic archers might not be familiar with Shifu Profatilov, below is a self introduction from him; and photos of him and his students training in strength bows.

“My background is somewhat different from that of most modern practitioners of Qing-style archery. I have been training and teaching Mantis boxing for more than thirty years. About ten years ago, I began studying the Combat Athletic System “Skills and Courage” (技勇; Jìyǒng), with a particular focus on traditional strong bow pulling. My training is conducted through the Qunying Martial Arts Society (QYWXS), founded in 1904 and recognized as a direct inheritor of the Qing dynasty combat athletics tradition.

Within our system, strong bow pulling is regarded as the foundation of Qing dynasty military archery. Rather than being practiced as an isolated discipline, it forms part of a comprehensive martial curriculum that also includes examination stones, examination halberds, and other methods of developing practical martial strength.

I was recently formally accepted as an official disciple of Masters Zhang Yong and Li Jianxin during the anniversary celebration of the Qunying Martial Arts Society in Tianjin. My own areas of specialization include examination stones, strong bows, heavy halberds, and Mantis boxing.

Over the past decade, I have had the privilege of learning from several senior members of the Qunying Martial Arts Society who practiced traditional Manchu archery and patiently explained its principles, technical details, and nuances. I also studied strong bow pulling methods, pellet bow techniques, and traditional archery under Grandmaster Zhang Shaojie, a legendary figure of the jianghu and the fourth-generation inheritor of his family’s Qing dynasty tradition of archery, examination halberds, and examination stones.

Both our judges have social media. Should you be interested in their teachings, our association strongly recommend you reaching out to them directly. We could also help you in connecting with them upon request.