Medieval Chinese Warfare 300-900 (Warfare and History) [Hardcover]

David Graff (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0415239540 | ISBN-13: 978-0415239547 | Publication Date: December 14, 2001

Shortly after 300 AD, barbarian invaders from Inner Asia toppled China's Western Jin dynasty, leaving the country divided and at war for several centuries. Despite this, the empire gradually formed a unified imperial order. Medieval Chinese Warfare, 300-900 explores the military strategies, institutions and wars that reconstructed the Chinese empire that has survived into modern times.
Drawing on classical Chinese sources and the best modern scholarship from China and Japan, David A. Graff connects military affairs with political and social developments to show how China's history was shaped by war.

Editorial Reviews

Review

'This is an important addition to the rapidly growing literature in English on Chinese warfare.' - The Journal of Asian Studies

'A superlative history of medieval China ... the best historical account in English available.' - War in History

About the Author

David A. Graff is Associate Professor of History at Kansas State University. He received his PhD in East Asian Studies from Princeton University in 1995.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 304 pages
• Publisher: Routledge (December 14, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0415239540
• ISBN-13: 978-0415239547
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 6.3 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.3 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #8,484,497 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

32 of 34 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars An indispensable reference, unless you can read Chinese, December 13, 2002

By 

Yang Shao-yun - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Medieval Chinese Warfare 300-900 (Warfare and History) (Paperback)

This is, for now, the best survey of Chinese military history during the long fragmentation of 300-589, a formative period that saw the introduction of the stirrup, heavy cavalry and siege warfare techniques that later served the Tang army so well. It provides a clear and readable account of the many wars in this period, and indeed is often forced to devote more space to narrative than analysis because of the general readership's lack of familiarity with the subject matter.

David Graff is perhaps the only academic currently specialising in medieval Chinese military history, and his impressive and very helpful bibliography demonstrates the level of research that has gone into the book. Still, the format of a single book can scarcely contain the fruits of that research. The issue of whether the pivotal Battle of the Fei River was a mere myth, first suggested by Michael Rogers and largely ignored since then by experts in both China and the West, at least gets a mention but not the discussion it deserves. Similarly, the evolution of tactics and weapons in response to horse archery and armoured cavalry is briefly described, but not really placed in the context of the key battles narrated elsewhere. Where he does excel is in considering the different problems of logistics facing the cavalry-based North and the riverine South in the chapter "North versus South". In addition, the Introduction's overview of past historiography and scholarship (or rather the lack of it) in Chinese military history is sufficient to make this book a worthwhile read for readers who, like myself, always wondered why the field was so disgracefully neglected.

Graff does make some errors in transliteration, mostly in the tedious process of converting earlier English-language sources from the Wade-Giles system to Hanyu Pinyin. His maps are also too sketchy and few to help the reader much - those fluent in Chinese are encouraged to read Bo Yang's translation of the "Zizhi Tongjian" into modern Chinese (published in Taiwan) for the best available battle maps for this period. Nonetheless, David Graff must be credited for writing a long-needed introduction to early Chinese warfare for Western military enthusiasts. Anyone looking for richer historical detail would proabably have to learn Chinese and read the excellent series by Bo Yang.