Chinese Culture and the Chinese Military

The first English translation of Lei Haizong's unique study of the Chinese army, first published in 1940.

Haizong Lei (Author)

9781108479189, Cambridge University Press

Hardback, published 23 April 2020

282 pages, 1 b/w illus. 6 tables
23.5 x 15.9 x 1.9 cm, 0.58 kg

This is the first English translation of Lei Haizong's study of the Chinese army, reappraising Chinese civilisation from a military perspective. Born out of concern for China's military circumstances during the Second Sino-Japanese War, Lei traces the development of military culture from the ancient world to the 1930s. Completed during the second year of the war, Lei wrote in direct proximity to harrowing events that were taking place in China, attempting to lay out a more hopeful path which resonated greatly with its readership at the time. Avoiding traditional national narratives and employing a new system of periodisation that uses neither dynastic cycles nor Western ideas, Lei's study emphasises unique features of Chinese history whilst embracing the broader global context. Although today China has risen as a global military power, Lei's work stands as a powerful assessment of Chinese military history from the stance of scholar writing during the Japanese occupation.

Preface
Introduction to the English edition by Xin Fan
Part I. Overview: An Assessment of Traditional Culture: 1. China's military
2. Chinese clans
3. China's heads of state
4. A military culture
5. The two cycles of Chinese culture
Part II. Overview: Resistance against Japan and State-Building
6. The place in history of the war of resistance against Japanese aggression
7. State-building: hope for a third cycle of culture
Appendices.

Subject Areas: Military history [HBW], Social & cultural history [HBTB], Asian history [HBJF]