A century-old tiger-hunting giant crossbow hidden in a farmer's home, weighing eight jin with a range of up to 500 m

Wu Zhanwu, a 61-year-old Miao villager living in Panzhai Village, Yuankou Town, Tianzhu County, was born into a "hunting family" and still keeps at home 3 "century-old giant crossbows" handed down from his ancestors, said to be used specifically for hunting tigers; in the year with the most hunting, as many as 14 tigers were caught.

According to Wu Zhanwu, these three giant crossbows have been passed down to the present day for at least four generations. Each crossbow weighs about 8 jin; the two long crossbows have arms 1.6 m long, and the short crossbow has arms 1.5 m long. The range of these giant crossbows can reach 500 m, but the best distance for killing a tiger is about 200 m, and it must be a one-shot kill, otherwise you will face retaliation from a wounded tiger.

As the only son in the family, Wu Zhanwu was forbidden to go along hunting. Although he never saw a tiger being shot and killed with his own eyes, when he was five or six years old he saw the family elders carry a tiger down from the mountain into the house.

Because the Wu family were expert tiger hunters, they held considerable prestige in the village, and the village is named after them. In the 1950s and 1960s, these 3 giant crossbows made great contributions to helping the villagers solve the problem of food and clothing and improve their meals. But as tigers in the mountains became fewer and fewer, the hunting family long ago gave up the trade.