Sunzi

I know I promised last time to write about three titans of Chinese philosophy, but I found that attempting to tackle all three in one blog post would either create a summary barely worth anything, or make a post so long as to be unwieldy. Instead, I'm going to tackle Confucius later, when I get to an examination of Emperor Wu of Han, and talk about Sunzi now, since he will be quite influential during the examination of the Warring States period.

Do note that this will form the first of several blog entries dedicated to Chinese military history/theory, and I will endeavour to cite a bit better in it than I have been in the previous posts.

Sunzi (Wade-Giles: Sun Tzu), born Sun Wu, was a famous general of the state of Wu, traditionally considered to have lived from 544BCE to 496BCE. His most obvious claim to fame is that he is considered to have been the author of the Art of War 《孙子兵法》(sun zi bing fa). Although there is some debate over his having existed, it is generally agreed that he lived in the State of Wu in tail end of the Spring and Autumn period. His birthplace is disputed. The Spring and Autumn Annals state that he was born in Qi, whilst the Records of the Grand Historian claim that he was a native of Wu.

An artist's representation of Sunzi from a later dynasty

There is also some debate as to whether or not he penned the Art of War. Historian Ralph Sawyer is of the opinion that it is likely that Sun Wu both existed and penned the core of the Art of War, though he acknowledges that a fair amount of the text consist of commentaries and later additions to the core work (1).

Of Sun Wu's life, one memorable tale stands out. According to Sima Qian's Record of the Grand Historian, Sun Wu was tested by King Helu of Wu before being employed by him, giving him a harem of 180 women to train into soldiers. Sun Wu split them into two companies and appointed the King's two favourite concubines as officers. He then ordered them to face right, and was met by giggles. He stated that the general was responsible for ensuring that soldiers understood the command, and reiterated his order. They giggled again, and he then ordered the execution of the two 'officers'. Sun Wu insisted on his order when the King protested, stating that if the soldiers understood the general's commands and failed to heed them, it was the fault of the officers. He also maintained that once a general was appointed, it was his duty to carry out his orders, even if the king protested. Once the concubines were executed and new officers appointed, the rest of them followed the orders flawlessly.

The Art of War

No discussion of Sunzi is complete without a discussion of the Art of War. Divided into thirteen chapters, the Art of War is one of the foundation texts of the Chinese military canon. Combined with five other texts of the Spring and Autumn/Warring States Period and a later work from the Tang Dynasty, it forms an integral part of the Seven Military Classics. Despite what its name implies, the text touches on several points of governing a country as well as the role of the general in relation to the ruler.

The Art of War on Bamboo pages

The Art of War is important in several ways. Firstly, it emphasises the strategic level of operations rather than the tactical. Second, it exalts the usage of maneuvre to outfox your enemy, rather than throwing bodies at him. Thirdly, the positioning of troops, the preparation of the field and the prior calculations to fighting are defined as equally as important if not more important than the battle itself. Finally, the importance of deception is talked about in large amounts as a foundation of warfare (2).

In relation to the larger strategic canon, the Art of War is reflective of how the Chinese wage war.

Firstly, the teachings within the Art of War have been exalted to a large degree by many influential military thinkers and generals throughout history. It is important to note however, that the teachings reflect the time period in which Sun Wu was writing. The strategies that form the core of the Art of War are useful primarily against other states with which one engages in war with. Various generals through history whom have had the task of pacifying the barbarian tribes to the north, primarily the Mongols, have had less than stellar reviews for the Art of War.

Beyond this, one may still see the influences of the Art of War on modern day Chinese strategic thinking. Above the campaigns of Imperial China, the influence of the Art of War can be seen in the Korean War, the Chinese Civil War and other campaigns fought by China in the 20th century.

There is much more that can be said of the Art of War, but this blog post is already getting on in length.

Further Reading

From Red Cliffs to Chosin: The Chinese Way of War - An excellent overview of the strategic development of Chinese military history over two thousand years. http://www.dtic.mil/cgi-bin/GetTRDoc?AD=ADA523450  

The Art of War - The text of the Art of War, worth a read, it's quite short. http://ctext.org/art-of-war/laying-plans

The Seven Military Classics - These were the texts that were required reading for the exams to get into military posts from the Song Dynasty onwards. http://www.amazon.com/Military-Classics-Ancient-History-Warfare/dp/0465003044/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1364082824&sr=1-1&keywords=seven+military+classics+of+ancient+china

References

1. Sawyer, Ralph D. (2007), The Seven Military Classics of Ancient China, 150-151

2. Pangelinan, Games G. (2010), The Chinese Way of War, 6-7

The Spring and Autumn Period

The Spring and Autumn period represents the zenith of Chinese philosophy and political thought. The decline in power of the Zhou Kings and the resultant rise of many disparate states formed an atmosphere where political and philosophical thought would be able to flourish in ways that would not be seen in China for centuries.

The Spring and Autumn is the period of Confucius, Laozi, Mozi and Sunzi. It saw the rise of the four main schools of philosophical thought that dominated the Spring and Autumn and the Warring States periods; Confucianism, Taoism, Mohism and Legalism. Of the two, only Confucianism and Taoism survive in recognisable form today.

Following the sacking of the Zhou capital at Zongzhou near modern day Xi'an by the Marquess of Shen and his Quanrong barbarian allies, the Zhou moved their capital eastwards, to Chengzhou in the Yellow River valley. This marked the ending of the Western Zhou Dynasty, and with it the ending of central Zhou authority. During the period in which the Zhou had consolidated their power upon ascending to primacy in China, states in the East had been carved up and given to members of the royal family. Though this had kept those potentially volatile states under Zhou control, by the fall of Zongzhou states that had once been ruled by royal brothers were now ruled by third and even fourth cousins.

Further complicating matters for the Zhou was the fact that their new capital was removed from their traditional power base in the Wei river valley. This double blow of a military defeat, combined with the removal of their power base meant that the Zhou were essentially reduced to a figurehead ruler of China.

The shifting of the capital occurred in 771BCE, and that is typically the date that historians associate with the beginning of the Spring and Autumn period. The name of the period comes from the Spring and Autumn Annals, a chronicle of the state of Lu between 772 and 479BCE. Traditionally, this piece of literature is ascribed to Confucius, but in reality was likely put together by chroniclers from the state of Lu.

Courtesy of Wikipedia

Over the course of the Spring and Autumn period, some 148 states rose, though were eventually unified by one of the seven major states that would arise by the Warring States period. The Spring and Autumn saw several important changes to the traditional Chinese methods of governing.

Firstly, the Feng Jian or Feudal system that had been in place during the Western Zhou dynasty was rendered obsolete. The rendering of the King of Zhou to a figurehead meant that real power lay in the rulers of the various states that were now vying for hegemony in China.

Secondly, the rise of these various states led to the development of a hierarchical alliance system. In it, the strongest state leader would be given the title of Hegemon or ba, who would be obliged to protect the weaker Zhou states and the Zhou royalty from intruding armies. Whilst this still had shades of the old Feng Jian system, in reality the Zhou royalty were not as important in the determination of the hegemon as might be implied.

Thirdly, the rise to power of the first hegemon, Duke Huan of Qi (Qi Huan Gong) was due largely to reforms passed by his adviser, Guan Zhong. Among these was the centralisation of power in the hands of the state, direct levies applied to the villages to bypass the reliance on the aristocracy for manpower, he devised a better method for choosing talent to be governors. During his tenure, Qi shifted from a traditional model whereby the aristocracy was responsible for governing to a system of professional bureaucrats. He also created sponsored government brothels to fund the government treasury. He also created a uniform tax code and used state power to encourage the production of salt and iron.

The success of Guan Zhong led to the emulation of his policies, which contributed further to the decline of the Feng Jian system.

Somewhat unique among the major states in the period was the state of Chu, which was not considered to be part of the Zhou cultural group, and as such were regarded as barbarians. Indeed, the state of Chu was not subservient to the Zhou at all, declaring that its king was equal, if not superior to, the King of Zhou. Many of the wars waged by the hegemons were against the state of Chu.

Following the death of the second hegemon, Duke Wen of Jin in 628BCE, tensions that had been simmering in the central plans area began to rise, and constant skirmishing erupted between Qi, Qin, Jin and Chu. By the time those four states sat down to discuss disarmament, it had become readily apparent that the traditional role of hegemon was outdated, as each state had acquired their own spheres of influence. The integration of non-Zhou peoples into various states, combined with the occupation by Chu of various areas recognised as Zhou blurred the line between Zhou and non-Zhou peoples.

When Jin and Chu backed off each other, Wu in modern Jiangsu and Yue in modern Zhejiang rose. In 583BCE Jin negotiated an alliance with Wu, which meant that even as Jin and Chu agreed to a truce in 546BCE, Jin was able to fight a proxy war via Wu, peaking in a full scale invasion of Chu by Wu in 506BCE.

Even as this was developing, the power of the Jin dukes was declining, resulting in a civil war in 497BCE, which lasted until 453BCE, the results of which were the elimination of most noble lines. The remaining families divided Jin into three states: Han Wei and Zhao.

This left seven major powers in the Zhou world: the three partitioned states of Jin, the three remaining powers of Qin, Chu and Qi, and the weaker state of Yan near Beijing. This set the stage for the Warring States period, which will not be covered next. Instead, I will be examining a few of the major characters of the Spring and Autumn period, namely Confucius, Laozi and Sunzi.

The (Western) Zhou Dynasty

This is going to be the last update for a while. I'm going to be switching to weekly rather than daily updates after this post.

I ended the last post with an overview of how the Shang lost power to the Zhou. I'll be talking primarily in this blog post about the rise of the Zhou, and giving an overview of the Western Zhou Dynasty.

The first King of the Zhou Dynasty was King Wu of Zhou who overthrew King Zhou of Shang at the Battle of Muye in 1046BCE. However, his father, King Wen of Zhou is credited as the actual founder of the Zhou Dynasty. King Wen was born Ji Chang, and the Kingdom of Zhou in his youth was a small state along the Wei River in present day Shaanxi.

At one point in his reign, King Zhou of Shang had Ji Chang imprisoned in Youli, near present day Tangyin in Henan, fearing his growing power. His son, Ji Fa, the future King Wu of Zhou, along with King Wen's adviser Jiang Ziya, came up with a cunning plan to get his dad out of prison.

I've got a cunning plan...

They showered King Zhou of Shang with gifts of good horses, women, good wine, treasure of all sorts, and King Zhou, being an idiot who succumbed to the age old trap of filling a lake with wine, took the bait, released Ji Chang, bestowed upon him gifts of many kinds, including weapons and supplies, and gave him a commission to guard the West of the Empire.

Ji Chang then went home and started building up his power base. He was careful though to appear slovenly, as if he'd given up his ambitions so that King Zhou wouldn't throw him back into prison. The ruse worked, and King Zhou stopped keeping such a close eye on Ji Chang. At some point during his reign, year of which is in debate/unknown, Ji Chang unleashed his forces on a variety of small states to the West, increasing Zhou territory whilst King Zhou of Shang was busy fighting Dongyi barbarians in the East. Simultaneously, he pronounced himself King of Zhou, taking the name of Wen.

In 1056BCE, King Wen of Zhou kicked the bucket. His son Ji Fa ascended the throne, and took the name King Wu of Zhou. He initially wanted to go straight out and fight the Shang straight up, but his dad's adviser, Jiang Ziya, who was now his adviser, told him to be patient.

In 1044BCE, King Wu of Zhou called a meeting of zhu hou, or dukes/minor kings. The meeting was held at Meng Jin, a district of present day Luoyang in Henan Province, and according to legend, King Wu of Zhou crossed the Yellow River in force, conducting military exercises with his army. Over eight hundred zhu hou went to the meeting.

Following his show of force, the gathered zhu hou accepted King Wu's hegemony, declaring that they would follow him in opposition to the Shang. However, King Wu was still not certain of his greater strength, and not wanting to attack until all preparations were made, declared that man could not know Heaven's will, and dispersed the gathered zhu hou, to await his instructions for when the time was right.

Within two years, King Zhou of Shang's Eastern Campaign had ground to a halt, and so he redirected the entirety of his best troops Eastward. Sensing that the time was right, King Wu of Zhou called for the zhu hou to now assemble and overthrow the Shang.

And in 1046BCE King Wu of Zhou unleashed his forces; three hundred chariots, 3,000 elite troops, 45,000 infantry. Combined with his zhu hou allies, he commanded an army of over 60,000 men. The lead strategist for this army was his dad's old adviser, Jiang Ziya. Waiting for him at Muye (located south of modern day Qi County in Henan Province) was King Zhou of Shang. Although his main strength was now diverted East, he had an army of 530,000 men. To secure his victory, he had also armed 170,000 slaves, who now took the opportunity to say "Fuck you" to King Zhou and defect to the uh... Zhou.

What ensued was a very bloody battle, and many Shang soldiers held their spears upside down in a sign that they did not wish to fight. Some defected outright. However, many loyal Shang troops did fight, and they fought to the death. Despite their resolve, the Zhou soldiers were better trained, and their morale was high. In one of his chariot charges, King Wu broke through the Shang's line, forcing King Zhou to flee to his palace. The Zhou showed no mercy to the Shang loyalists, leaving none alive, shedding enough blood to "float a log".

That's how the traditional history goes, anyway. Modern estimates place the Shang force at somewhere between 50,000 and 70,000 men, along with a large contingent of armed slaves.

Anyway, King Zhou of Shang committed suicide, and King Wu of Zhou emerged as the leading figure in Chinese politics, ushering in the Western Zhou Dynasty. Here, have a handy map of the political situation in China during the Western Zhou!

Just read the damn title.

One thing to keep in mind for the Xia, Shang and Zhou Dynasties is that the Empire as such did not exist yet, and would not exist until Qin Shi Huang united China for the first time. As such, multiple kingdoms existed, mostly subservient to the most powerful kingdom, but this was not always the case.

The Western Zhou Dynasty lasted from 1046BCE to 771BCE. The entirety of the Zhou Dynasty, both West and East constitutes the longest Dynasty in Chinese history. However, the Zhou's authority and power was only throughout China during the Western Zhou Dynasty.

During the Zhou Dynasty, China's bronze making reached its zenith, although the introduction of iron to China saw the shift towards its usage in weapon making, replacing bronze. King Wu of Zhou died three years after his ascension to power, and his brother, the Duke of Zhou ruled as regent while King Cheng of Zhou, the son of King Wu, was young. The Duke of Zhou conceived of one of the enduring elements of Chinese Dynastic history: The Mandate of Heaven.

Facing something of a legitimacy challenge in the years following the conquest, the Duke of Zhou came up with the Mandate of Heaven to counter the claims of Shang loyalists of a divine right to rule. The Mandate claims that only Heaven can appoint a ruler, and that a dynasty loses its right to rule when Heaven demands it. This is typically seen by a series of natural disasters and the dissatisfaction of the people.

The Duke of Zhou further cemented the Zhou's power base by giving fiefs to royal relatives in the East, which was a great idea at the time, but ultimately spelled the end of the Zhou dynasty a couple of centuries down the line.

China at this point was basically a feudal society, known as fengjian in Chinese. A rather nasty tradition in China, by which executing a political opponent also led to the execution of the person's spouse, their children, their childrens' spouses, their spouses' extended family, their grandchildren, their grandchildrens' spouses if they have them, their extended family, the executed person's parents, their extended family etc. led to the eventual cannibalization of the nobility, which is why I theorise that Feudal China didn't last all that long.

I will continue the examination of Chinese history next week with the Spring and Autumn period, part of the Eastern Zhou Dynasty.

The Shang Dynasty

Don't expect the current pace of updates to last - I'm going to blow through the first three dynasties in short order, and then spend some amount of time on the Spring and Autumn and Warring States periods.

As is however, let our examination into Chinese history continue with the Shang Dynasty!

The Shang Dynasty is the first Dynasty where we have archaeological and written records of its existence. The most famous of these are the oracle bones which were usually carved onto ox bones or turtle shells, and have on them ancient Chinese characters. These were used mainly as, the name would imply, divination, seeing into the future.

An Oracle Bone

The Shang Dynasty is said to have ruled from 1600BCE to 1046BCE, according to the Xia-Shang-Zhou Chronology Project.

I ended the last blog post with a rather vague statement about the last King of Xia being a tyrant. Well let's see what the Chinese myths have to say about him.

King Jie of Xia is supposed to have lived a lavish lifestyle with a lot of slaves, and treated his people with cruelty. He is said to have been infatuated with a concubine called Mo Xi, who (as a running theme in these early Chinese Dynastical failings) was fair of flesh but had no virtues. She liked to drink, and according to myth, she had Jie build her a lake filled with wine. He apparently had his food carted in from the corners of the Kingdom, and had people beheaded who messed with his food. Guy was in love with his eating!

Here he is, riding around with a halberd and being carried by two women. #AncientSwag

Sadly for him, his opponents in the Kingdom of Shang were growing in power, and in the 39th year of Jie's reign, he was demolished in the Battle of Mingtiao, and up rose the Shang as the dominant power in the Chinese heartland. Jie himself escaped and fled, was captured at Jiaomen, and deposed him. He was released to Nanchao, and eventually died of illness.

The first king of the Shang dynasty was King Tang of Shang, and his was a good one.

I mentioned in the previous post that the Xia dynasty is probably mythic, but I do find it possible that Jie of Xia existed. It's probable that a kingdom of some kind existed concurrent with the Shang, and were likely rather powerful. The Battle of Mingtiao may well have happened, and the Kingdom of Xia may have eventually evolved into the Xia Dynasty in Chinese folklore. Regardless, let's now take a look at the Shang Dynasty's development.

The Shang Dynasty moved its capital five times, the last time to Yin in the reign of Pan Gang, following which evolved the 'Golden Age' of the Dynasty. Bronze working developed over the course of the Shang Dynasty, with Bronze weapons being integrated into use as part of the Shang infantry. The ge or dagger-axe emerged as a weapon during the Shang Dynasty's reign.

One of these, but on a stick. That's a ge.

There's not a lot else to be said about the Shang, apart from the myths about the end of the Dynasty.

The last King of Shang was King Zhou of Shang, born Di Xin. He ruled from 1075BCE to 1046BCE. It gets kind of confusing at this point, because King Zhou of Shang was overthrown by King Wu of Zhou, but we'll get to that later. Anyway, King Zhou of Shang was said to have been pretty awesome early in life, able to win all his arguments and strong enough to hunt beasts with his bare hands. He is said to have expanded the territory of the Shang in a series of campaigns against the Dongyi to the East.

Later in life, he, surprise surprise, took to drinking, sex, and a complete lack of morals. He hosted a tonne of orgies and various other activities, and in legends, he was said to have, guess what? fallen in love with a wicked concubine called Daji. And guess what he did to impress her? He built a lake, and filled it with wine! But not only that, he had an island made in the middle of it, and put a bunch of trees there, and stuck meat to them.

Going on a tangent for a moment, given that China has such a long history, you'd think their myth makers would be a bit more creative when it came to showing how decadent someone is. Having two freaking Dynasties ending with a King who made a lake full of wine is both lazy and boring. Come on, Ancient Chinese dudes, get your act together.

Anyway, all this partying didn't go down well with his subjects, and eventually King Wu of Zhou put together an army, kicked King Zhou of Shang's ass to next week in the Battle of Muye. King Zhou was like "Well fuck you all", gathered his treasures together in his palace, and then set fire to himself and his palace and died with his treasure.

We'll return to the rise of the Zhou next time. Hope you enjoyed this post!

The Beginning

Hello! This is going to be a blog that I'll be maintaining, probably haphazardly, largely dealing with Chinese history. As most readers are probably aware, China has a long and storied history, dating back (depending on who you ask) between four and five thousand years. Throughout that vast span of time, the Chinese historical canon sees the rise and fall of heroes and tyrants, emperors and kings. The history of CHina saw the rise and fall of 11 or 12 great Dynasties (again depending on who you ask), wedged between times of great chaos and the splitting of the Empire. Indeed, the opening line of Luo Guanzhong's famed Romance of the Three Kingdoms is as follows:

話說天下大勢，分久必合，合久必分

Translated, it means “It is a general truism of the world, that that which is long united must divide, and that which is long divided must unite”.

If any general trends were to be seen in Chinese history, that truism must be at the forefront.

I will start this blog with an examination into what is considered by most Chinese to be the first Dynasty – the Xia Dynasty.

The Xia Dynasty is one which is shrouded in myth. No written record can be traced to the time period in which it was reputed to have existed – starting between 2205BCE and 1989BCE, and ending between 1766BCE and 1558BCE. As such, many modern scholars discount the Xia Dynasty as having existed at all.

Why then begin the blog with an examination into a Dynasty that may not have even existed? Because even if it were true that the Xia was a story invented by the Zhou as has been contended by some scholars, the Xia remains an important part of Chinese history, even as a foundational myth.¹

The Xia Dynasty was supposedly founded by Yu the Great, who must have been an awesome guy indeed to be granted the posthumous epithet of ‘The Great’. What was so great about him?

Chinese Heartland, or the Central Plains. We'll be seeing a lot of this area.

Well, according to myth, the Chinese heartland (which is located in the Yellow River basin, in modern day Henan, South Hebei, the southern part of Shanxi and the western part of Shandong provinces) was at the time of his life inundated with constant flooding and other water related unpleasantness. Yu’s father had spent nine years trying to control the flooding, building a large network of dikes and dams along the banks of the Yellow River. His plan failed, and he was duly executed. (Or not, depending on the version of the story you read).  As such, the task was left to Yu. Yu had different ideas to his poor old dad, and decided to build a bunch of irrigation channels and the like, rather than damming the flood itself.

The result of all this work? Chinese myth and traditional history credit Yu with the creation of the agricultural society that graces China for the next four thousand years.

 Historically, the story is generally thought to be an allegory for successive settlements on the Yellow River which steadily shifted towards agricultural pursuits.² Yu ascended the throne after it was bequeathed to him by Shun, who deemed him the most worthy. Yu in turn handed it to his son, beginning the Dynastical tradition of inheritance deeming succession, not ability. The last king of the Xia, Jie, was said to be corrupt, and was overthrown by Tang, the first king of the Shang Dynasty.

As said above, the Xia Dynasty is shrouded in myth. Most historians tend to think it as fictional, but it is still deemed to be the first Dynasty in most lists of Dynasties.

1. The Shape of the Turtle: Myth, Art and Cosmos in Early China, Sarah Allan

2. David Hawkes