Bull's eye

It's not easy to find the slingshot men. Cross the dirt road south of Beijing's Third Ring Road that leads past the Chengshou Temple to a dense growth of small trees, and there you will spot Xu Qicheng, and his slingshot mates.

The 32-year-old handles his home-made slingshot with aplomb and rarely misses his target.

At Beijing's First Slingshot Competition last week, Xu was clearly the top shot. Standing 10 m away to hit 20 pop cans, the sharp shooter squinted through his Y-shaped weapon. Without hesitation, he started his first short, produced a silvery "bang", and he finished the rest with extraordinary moves in just a minute, missing only four cans.