The Sharp Shooter 百步穿杨

The Chinese idiom 百步穿杨 (bai3 bu4 chuan1 yang4) literally means shooting an arrow through a willow leaf one hundred paces away. The expression comes from a story about a legendary archer named Yang Youji who lived in the State of Chu during the Spring and Autumn Period (770-476 BC).

Yang started learning martial arts and archery when he was a child. It quickly became clear that Yang was in a class of his own and it was not long before he became the top archer in his home district.

One day, Yang was watching a group of archers competing near his home. They were shooting a target erected beneath a willow tree at a distance of fifty paces. Most of the archers were able to hit this target, so it was difficult to separate the wheat from the chaff.

Then Yang had a brainwave that would enable the best archer to come to the fore. He suggested that the competition organisers paint a willow leaf red and then ask the competitors to shoot at the leaf from a distance of one hundred paces. All the competitors tried and failed. Yang finally asked if he could have a try. Yang took the bow and concentrated on the red leaf quivering gently in the breeze. He slowly released the bow string. The arrow flew through the air with a powerful whoosh and pierced a hole in the leaf.

The crowd applauded and cheered, but one sceptical competitor demanded that Yang repeat the feat. Yang collected one hundred arrows, and the crowd watched in awe as he hit the target one hundred times.

Today the Chinese idiom 百步穿杨 (bai3 bu4 chuan1 yang4) is widely used to describe the unfailing accuracy of an expert marksman - a sharp shooter - regardless of whether he or she uses an arrow, stone, knife, gun or missile. I have not been able to think of an equivalent English idiom.