The history of crossbows in the far east is as follows. According to Needham, though there is no way of answering the question of whether the crossbow first arose among the cultures neighbouring ancient China before the rise of Chinese culture in their midst, or whether it spread outwards from China to all the environing peoples; the former seems the more probable hypothesis given linguistic evidence, which posits that the Chinese word for 'crossbow' came from an Austroasiatic language. Bronze crossbow bolts dating as early as mid fourth century BC were found at a State of Chu burial site in Yutaishan, Hubei. The earliest handheld crossbow stocks with bronze trigger, dating from the sixth century BC, comes from Tomb three and twelve found at Qufu, Shandong, capital of the State of Lu. Other early finds of crossbows were discovered in Tomb 138 at Saobatang, Hunan dated to mid 4th century BC. Repeating crossbows, first mentioned in the Records of the Three Kingdoms, were discovered in 1986 in Tomb 47 at Qinjiazui, Hubei dated to around 4th century BC.

The earliest Chinese document mentioning a crossbow is in scripts from the 4th€"3rd century BC attributed to the followers of Mozi. This source refers to the use of a giant crossbow in the 6th to 5th century BC, corresponding to the late Spring and Autumn Period. Sun Tzu's influential book The Art of War (first appearance dated in between 500 BC to 300 BC refers in chapter V to the traits and in XII to the use of crossbows. One of the earliest reliable records of this weapon in warfare is from an ambush, the Battle of Ma-Ling in 341 BC. By the 200s BC, the crossbow was well developed and quite widely used in China. A miniature guard wielding a handheld crossbow from the top balcony of a model watch tower, made of glazed earthenware during the Eastern Han era (25€"220 AD) of China, from the Metropolitan Museum of Art. The earliest textual evidence of the handheld crossbow used in battle dates to the 4th century BC. Handheld crossbows with complex bronze trigger mechanisms have also been found with the Terracotta Army in the tomb of Qin Shihuang (that are similar to specimens from the subsequent Han Dynasty (202 BC€"220 AD).

While crossbowmen described in the Qin and Han Dynasty learned drill formations, some were even mounted as cavalry units, and Han Dynasty writers attributed the success of numerous battles against the Xiongnu to massed crossbow fire. The bronze triggers were designed in such a way that they were able to store a large amount of energy within the bow when drawn, but was easily fired with little recoil when the trigger were pulled (this allowed it for precision shooting). The metal portions of the crossbow were also mass produced with precision, with the bronzer mechanisms being interchangeable. Finally, the Qin and Han Dynasties also developed crossbow firing lines, with alternating rows of crossbowmen firing and reloading similar to a musket firing line. Different varieties of crossbows were also developed, such as the repeating crossbow, multi-shot crossbow, and repeating multi-shot crossbow.