Zhou's Invention

In the 4th century B.C the crossbow (which originated from the bow and arrow) was invented in China during the Zhou (Joe) dynasty. This was an important invention of the time period because it gave soldiers  and hunters a good, efficient,strong,accurate weapon that was able to take down a target from long distances.This invention enabled people to easily reload quicker by a basic pulley system and also allowed them to strike down animals or enemies from long distances (much longer than the original bow and arrow) and the arrow was released by a trigger mechanism.
      The crossbow was created by a group of specialized workers and first used in war against enemies of the Zhou. Prior to the invention, people mainly used the bow and arrow which was effective but did not have the benefits the crossbow had like interchangeable parts, so if a piece of the crossbow broke you would be able to get that same piece to fix it unlike the bow and arrow which was all one piece besides the rope. Also before the invention of the crossbow war was mostly hand to hand combat, yes there was the bow and arrow but was not as effective in range, accuracy, or damage. Hunting was also another challenge before the crossbow because usually animals were hunted by the bow and arrow which isn't bad but for big animals very rarely did one arrow take them down. Also another reason is that the bow and arrow wasn't able to shoot as far and as accurately as the crossbow and it was hard to get close to animals without scaring them away.
     The crossbow has really changed people's lives in Ancient China in many ways. For example  it gave soldiers much stronger weapons which fired with much more precise accuracy than the bow and arrow, fired much farther and much faster, was easily reloadable, and had exchangeable parts in case a part broke. This weapon not only helped the Zhou army but its people too. It helped the Zhou people because it gave them a better weapon to hunt with and they were able to fire from longer distances to kill their prey. The crossbow strongly benefited the Zhou armies and their people. Also the crossbow is still even evolving today and helping hunters of this day and age.

 -The crossbow the Zhou soldiers used

-Soldier with a crossbow