Based on the reasonable understanding of wars and military problems in the slavery and feudalism societies, ancient Chinese military thoughts experienced a consistent development in the past thousands of years with the advancement of the society.

 Burgeoning Perio

China founded the slavery society in the 21st or 22nd century BC, and war has since become the highest form of struggles among different classes. People's understanding of wars remained in the rudimentary period, and the central content of the military thoughts was to carry out wars under the guidance of God's will.

In the name of going on punitive expeditions against those who "disobeyed God's will" the slave owners initiated looting wars against the other nations, or suppressed the resistance from the slaves. With augury, the so-called heaven's intention was used. By both cruel punishments and abundant rewards, soldiers were directed to fight in the field. The way of war was frontal fighting.

By theShang Dynasty(16th-11th century BC), the vehicle soldiers on chariots were the main body of troops. The commands required action unity and rigid management. The idea directed the military confrontations in the Xia, Shang, and Zhou dynasties as well as the Spring & Autumn and theWarring States periods (about 21st century-221BC).

After many military practices during the period, people gradually summarized some basic notions about war like making moves according to the specific situation, acting according to one's own ability, that a larger troop could defeat the smaller one, and the stronger could defeat the weaker. It is said that some military works appeared in the WesternZhou Dynasty(11th century-771BC), which was lost later, but some fragments were included in later military works like Zuo Zhuan(Spring and Autumn Annals), and Sun Zi Bing Fa(Sun Zi's Art of War).

 Rapid developing period

From the 8th to 3rd century BC (during the Spring and Autumn and Warring States periods), Chinese society gradually turned from a slavery system to a feudalistic one. The development of productivity and the change of social system caused changes in the training of soldiers and the improvement of weapons, which in turn led to changes in the military system and ways of war.

To adapt to the new needs, professional generals appeared; strategists and books on the art of wars representing the interest of the newly emerged landlord class also abounded. The celebrated Sun Zi Bing Fa signified the military thoughts maturity of the governing feudal class. As the earliest comprehensive and systematic military theoretic work, the book unveiled a series of laws and regular patterns of wars, built the infrastructure for Chinese military thoughts, guided the military actions and military theory researches in the later ages, and gained a huge reputation internationally.

According to Sun Zi Bing Fa, tactics must be deliberately used in military confrontations, and the most ideal ending of war for brilliant strategists is to defeat the enemy without fighting. The book broke the fatality notion of the slavery society, and the victory of a war did not hinge on gods orghosts. Instead, the party in the war who knew one's own situation and that of the enemy would never lose. Meanwhile, the book also pointed out that the factors that decide the war include politics, economy, good timing, geographical convenience, and harmonious human relations and so on. Thus, the book said, the feudal ruling class must enlighten their politics and follow the wishes of the people. These ideas were also highly valued by other peer military works.

During the Warring States Period (475-221BC), people furthered their understanding about war. For instance,Wu Zi, said to by strategist Wu Qi, explored the essence and origin of war, classified wars into several types, and raised different solutions for different types of wars.

Sun Bin Bing Fa(Sun Bin Art of War) written by Sun Bin, suggested that wars should end the social chaos, and defeating the enemy by a surprise action and momentum of war were emphasized. All these views were the inheritance and development of Sun Zi's military thoughts.

 Enriching and Improving Period

From the end of the third century BC to the 13th century, China witnessed many dynasties including the Qin, Han, Jin, Sui, Tang, Song, and Yuan. In this long historical period, the military thoughts of the pre-Qin Dynastystill played an important guiding role. Meanwhile, with the development of social economics, politics, culture, and wars, military thoughts experienced substantial further enrichment and improvement.

In the term of classification of war, there were wars unifying the territory of the feudal dynasties, many large-scale peasant and national uprisings, and fights among the domestic local warlords for the dominance of the central government.

In the term of the development of troops, arms of services and weapons experienced noticeable changes. Calvary as an individual branch of the army appeared, and the navy participated in more wars, which required the commanders to strengthen the coordination and cooperation among the infantry, cavalry, and navy. As a result, the use of tactics and strategies as well as the art of commanding both experienced substantial development.

Innumerous wars also produced a lot of strategists and generals, as well as many books on art of war summarizing the experiences of military confrontations.

EmperorQin Shihuang's military measures of building theGreat Walland large-scale roads and guarding the border with a large number of forces were very influential for frontier defense in later ages.

In the famous battle between the Chu and Han states, Zhang Liang, the military counselor advisedLiu Bang, who later became the first emperor of the Han Dynasty(206BC-220AD), to conform to the will of the people, disintegrate the enemy, strive for more allies, and isolate Xiang Yu, king of the Chu State. Liu Bang followed the advice and finally won the war.

In the counterattack war against the Huns in theWestern Han Dynasty(206BC-24AD), famous generals Wei Qing and Huo Qubing developed the tactics and strategies of using large-scale cavalries in a creative way.

Liu Tao(The Six Principles of War), a noted military book, raised the notions of rehabilitation and recuperation, cherishing the wealth of the people in the light of frequent wars, and also discussed coordinated fighting with the integration of infantry and cavalry.

San Lue(Three Tactics), another book on war of art, further expressed the discrimination thought that "the weak can also beat the strong." He also pointed out the superlative rulers must extensively admit various talents, and attach importance to the influence of the people and soldiers.

From the Han to the Sui Dynasties, there were many large-scale wars in which troops from Huanghe River(Yelloe River) drainage area marched southward to theYangtze River. Most of the wars were coordinated fights involving infantry, cavalry, and navy, amongst which the most noted ones include the Chibi War at the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty(25-220), the war that the Jin Dynasty (265-420)fought against the Wu Kingdom (222-280), the Feishui War in the Jin Dynasty, and the war in which theSui Dynasty(581-618) defeated the Chen Dynasty (557-589). In all of these wars, political and military struggles were combined; stratagem, decision-making, and the commanding all had a very high level.

From the Song Dynasty (960-1279) to the Yuan Dynasty(1271-1368), many governments of different ethnic groups co-existed and opposed each for a long time. War frequented. With the development of productivity and the needs of war, firearms and complicated equipments appeared and exerted great influence on the wars.

The nomadic ethnic groups built several regimes in North China, and all of them were known for their cavalry troops. The most prominent of them was the Mongolians who built a system that combined military and herding. The advantages of cavalry were fully elaborate. The high ingenuity and ability to quickly learn from the advanced technology of the enemy all contributed to their success in defeating all the other regimes at the time in China.

The abovementioned wars and military books have greatly developed and enriched ancient China's military thoughts.

 The period of gradual advance in the conflicts of conformism and innovation

From the end of the 14th century to the 1940s, feudalism gradually became corrupted with continuous large-scale peasant uprisings, national insurgences, and also foreign invasions. With advancement of the firearms and introduction of some advanced weapons in this period, independent navy, artillery, engineering corps, and some other technological arms of services appeared. Furthermore, the changes of the enemy also led to changes in building the army and commanding.

In the term of military thoughts, on one hand, the conservative notion, which focused only on defending the cities and strongholds, strengthened, while on the other hand, highly innovative military thoughts epitomized from war practices also appeared in many books on the art of war.Ji Xiao Xin Shu and Lian Bing Shi Ji, two military books by the famous anti-Japanese general Qi Jiguang, are the representatives of the innovative thoughts.

Ancient Chinese military thoughts are a summarization of thousands of wars throughout Chinese history. Its rich content, as a legacy from the Chinese ancestors, is an important component of brilliant Chinese culture. The military thoughts of the modern times or even the current time have learned much from it.

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