A Military History of China (review)

The essays in this volume follow the course of China's military history from earliest times down to the present, to the best of the authors' knowledge, given the general lack of serious attention to military affairs in the traditional sources and the scarcity of solid information about many essential aspects of that history. Perhaps for this reason the focus is chiefly on that portion of the historical past that deals with the results of wars, and much less on weaponry, tactics, strategies, and other factors that shaped the outcomes of wars. Given this bias, the book is well written, supplied with an adequate number of maps, a chronological table, a table of place names given in both "post office" and pinyin spellings, and an index. Each chapter is followed by "Suggestions for Further Reading" and "Suggestions for Further Research," which are obviously intended to facilitate the volume's use as a textbook.

Chapter 1, "Introduction," by the editors, is a general survey of the subject, where it is stated that the scope of the book has been limited by considerations of space and the lack of research thus far in many relevant fields. Topics of much complexity are of necessity treated rather generally; for example, there are the statements that periods of dynastic decline were marked by great peasant rebellions, or that the Former Han and Tang dynasties dominated Xinjiang.

In chapter 2, "Continuity and Change," Edward L. Dreyer outlines three eras in Chinese military history: (1) ancient times to the fifth century, during which period the importance of the Bronze Age chariot and the aristocratic and "feudal" social order is noted; (2) the imperial period, from the fifth century B.C. to the Opium War, where Dreyer discusses the persistence of Confucian values, the Legalist state, and the threat from the nomadic societies of Inner Asia; and (3) modern China, from the Opium War to the present, which he characterizes as a time during which China's attempt to respond to the West has led to drastic change. This is a lot to cover in one short chapter, and one may quibble with one point or another. The brief description of armor on page 27 is misleading since the scale and lammelar types of armor are quite different; the latter is not sewn onto a cloth lining, the Chinese in this early period did not use scale armor, and, finally, the armor of the soldiers in the Qin pit would have been of lacquered leather, not metal. Iron lamellar armor is found first in the Han, but lacquered leather continued in use beyond that period. Much emphasis is placed on the opposition of the Confucian scholar-officials to military expansion without any suggestion that behind their recitation of Confucian teachings there were competing agrarian interests and a fear of rising military power and mercantile interests. Dreyer's point that the modern Chinese terminology of military organization harks back to the Zhouli is an interesting example of continuity, however.

In chapter 3, "State Making and State Breaking," David A. Graff concentrates on internal conflict, which he says is the major component of the military history of China; here Graff differs from other authors in this volume who claim that distinction for the struggles with the northern nomads. Graff does an excellent job discussing a state structure that made use of fragmented authority to protect itself against the rise of powerful regional leaders emerging from within its own administrative system, and outlines the threat to the state from peasant uprisings stemming from such crises as droughts, famines, and floods. The discussion really goes far beyond a "military" history and provides an excellent survey of the history of China in general.

Chapter 4, "The Northern Frontier," by David C. Wright, is a summary, brief because of limitation of space, of the involvement of the Chinese with their northern neighbors, often...