Course Description: This course is an intensive reading and research course in Chinese strategic thought from the Warring States period to contemporary China. Much of the secondary literature on Chinese strategic thought argues there are key continuities in approaches to war and peace which cut across time and historical context. Mao Zedong, some argue, borrowed freely from Sun Zi's The Art of War. From the mid 1980s on there has been a renewed attention to Sun Zi inside the Chinese military professional education system. Contemporary strategic thinkers in China and on Taiwan refer explicitly to ancient texts when talking about everything from modern revolutionary guerilla warfare to nuclear strategy. The United States Department of Defense is increasingly interested in how traditional strategic concepts from Chinese classics may influence current Chinese approaches to deterrence, crisis management, pre-emption, and deception. Yet few students of Chinese strategic thought have explicated precisely what those elements of continuity are, how influential these have been, or whether there are elements of discontinuity, contestation and debate within a more amorphous and less unified strategic tradition. Any answers to these questions will be relevant to how we analyze contemporary China's conflict behavior. If, indeed, there are clear elements of continuity this suggests that an understanding of the core concepts in a unified Chinese strategic tradition is critical for understanding contemporary China's conflict behavior. If there are multiple traditions, then an interesting question is which traditions does contemporary China draw on and why? If there are clear discontinuities, then this may require both a revision of our understanding of contemporary Chinese approaches to war and peace and an inquiry into the 'sociology' of any misreading of Chinese strategic tradition.

The course has a couple of goals. The first is to provide an introductory understanding of the nature of strategic thinking throughout Chinese history. The second is to provide the conceptual tools to put Chinese strategic thought in a comparative perspective. In other words, although this is not a course in comparative strategy, we will look at some concepts, questions and methods which can be used to put Chinese strategic thought in a comparative framework. The central organizing question of this course is: What do Chinese texts on strategy tell a strategist to do in a conflict situation? Beyond this, there are a number of critical questions and issues which you should keep in mind when reading the texts. These are as follows:

Conceptual: These deal with the content of Chinese strategic thought

• what is security?

• what is the nature of conflict in human affairs?

• what is the nature of the enemy?

• how efficacious is the use of violence (including, Chinese views on deterrence, offense, defense, grand strategy and operational strategy)?

• what role does diplomacy play in the achievement of security?

• what is the relationship between 'internal rectification' and external security, between civilian and martial affairs?

• is there a concept of just war?

• what is the relationship between these strategic ideas and broader philosophical schools

Methodological: These are the tough but interesting analytical issues:

• to what extent is there continuity or discontinuity in strategic thought? what is inherited, what is discarded and why (e.g. process of inheritance)?

• How does strategic thought relate to behavior? Is the influence direct, indirect, delimiting or determining? How do we know?

• what is relationship between declared doctrine and 'theories-in-use'?

• what is unique about Chinese strategic thought?

• how do we extract answers to all these questions from texts? Is decontextualization a problem? What methodologies are useful for analyzing the texts?

Assignments: Since this is a reading AND research seminar, the primary assignment will be to write a research paper on a topic of your choice. The paper is due by the first week of January 2004. The paper will be worth 50% of your grade. The other 50% will be comprised of seminar participation (which may include short written assignments) (25%) and participation in a student conference in January (TBA) at which you will present your papers and comment on some one else’s paper

Readings: The following books are available for purchase from the COOP:

Ralph Sawyer trans., The Seven Military Classics of Ancient China (Westview 1993)

Kidder Smith et al, The Art of War: The Denma Translation (Shambhala 2001)

Roger Ames, trans., Sun Tzu: The Art of Warfare (1993)

Thomas Cleary, Mastering the Art of War: Zhuge Liang's and Liu Ji's Commentaries on the Classic by Sun Tzu.

Ralph Sawyer et al, One Hundred Unorthodox Strategies (Westview 1998)

Readings marked with an '* ' are available in a reading pack which can be purchased from Gnomon Copy. Required readings marked with an ' R ' are on reserve at the Yenching Library. The reference readings provide useful background information or different perspectives on a topic. These are not required.

Students with Disabilities: Anyone in the class who has a disability that may require some modification in seating, testing or class requirements please see me as soon as possible. The Student Disability Center at 20 Garden Street (496-8707) has additional information and resources which may be useful.

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September 16: Organizational meeting

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September 23: Conceptualizing Strategic Thought: What is Strategy?

READINGS

Andre Beaufre, An Introduction to Strategy. pp.19-50. *

John Collins, Grand Strategy: Principles and Practices. (1973) esp 14-43 *

Barry Posen "Explaining Military Doctrine." from Sources of Military Doctrine: France, Britain and Germany Between the World Wars. (1984) pp.13-33 *

Alastair Iain Johnston, "Thinking About Strategic Culture" International Security 19:4 (Spring 1995)

Colin Gray, "Strategic culture as context: the first generation of theory strikes back" Review of International Studies 25:1 (January 1999) pp. 49-69

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September 30: Confucianism, Taoism, Moism, Legalism

READINGS

Mencius, (W.A.C.H. Dobson, trans) 1.5, 1.6, 1.15, 1.16, 1.18, 1.22, 1.26, 3.15, 4.4, 4.5, 5.2, 5.5, 6.7-6.11, 6.47, 6.61 R

Lao Zi, (Robert Henricks, trans) Te-Tao Ching pp.7-89, (or any other version of the Dao De Jing) R

Mo Zi, (Burton Watson, trans) Basic Writings of Mo Tzu, Hsun Tzu and Han Fei Tzu pp. 37-61, 128-129 R

Shang Yang (J.J.L. Duyvendak, trans) The Book of Lord Shang. (Chaps 3,4,10,11,12,18, 22,25) R

John Fairbank, "Varieties of the Chinese Military Experience." in Frank Kierman ed., Chinese Ways in Warfare. (1974) 1-26. *

Christopher Rand The Role of Military Thought in Early Chinese Intellectual History. (Harvard University PhD Dissertation, 1977) -- read for context over the next 5 weeks. R

REFERENCE

Benjamin Schwartz, The World of Thought in Ancient China.

Hans van de Ven, ed., Warfare in Chinese History (Leiden: E.J. Brill, 2000).

Ralph Sawyer, The Tao of War (Westview 2002)

Kung-chuan Hsiao and F.W. Mote, A History of Chinese Political Thought. Vol.1: From the Beginnings to the Sixth Century AD.

Roger Ames, The Art of Rulership.

Richard Walker, Multi-State Relations in Ancient China.

James Crump., trans. Ch'an Kuo t'se.

Christopher Rand, "Chinese Military Thought and Philosophical Daoism" Monumenta Serica 34 (1979-80) pp.171-218.

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October 7 and October 21 (no class October 14): Sun Zi's Art of War

READINGS

Ralph Sawyer, The Seven Military Classics. pp. 1-18,149-186

Kidder Smith et al, The Art of War: The Denma Translation(Shambhala 2001)

Roger Ames, trans., Sun Tzu: The Art of Warfare (1993) pp.3-96, especially 39-96; skim the text

Thomas Cleary, trans., The Art of War. 41-172 (read the commentaries, skim the original text)

Francois Jullien, Propensity of Things: Toward a History of Efficacy in China (New York, 1999) pp.25-38 *

REFERENCE

Edmund Balmforth, A Chinese Military Strategist of the Warring States Period: Sun Bin (Rutgers PhD Dissertation, 1979) Chapters 1, 2 (pp 1-99) on Sun Zi and the Eastern Chou period, and Appendix on Sun Bin’s art of war (pp.310-473)

Robin Yates, "New Light on Ancient Chinese Military Texts:" T'oung Pao. 74 (1988) 211-248.

Edward O'Dowd and Arthur Waldron, "Sun Zi for Strategists" Comparative Strategy. 10 (1991).

Scott Boorman "Deception in Chinese Strategy." in William Whitson, The Military and Political Power in China in the 1970s. (1973) pp.313-337.

Carl-A Seyschab "The 36 Strategems: Orthodoxy Against Heterodoxy." in Carl-A Seyschab et al, Society, Culture and Patterns of Behavior. (1990) 97-155.

Chao Chien, "Chinese Strategic Behavior. " in Carl-A Seyschab et al, Society, Culture and Patterns of Behavior. (1990) pp.71-95

Benjamin Wallacher, "Two Concepts in Early Chinese Military Thought." Language. 42:2 (1966) pp.295-299.

Emerson Niou and Peter Ordeshook, "A Game Theoretic Interpetation of Sun Zi." (Social Science Working Paper 738, Californian Institute of Technology, May 1990).

Mark Lewis, Sanctioned Violence in Ancient China, Chapters 3, 5

Alastair Iain Johnston Cultural Realism: Strategic Culture and Grand Strategy in Chinese History (Princeton, 1995)

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October 14: NO CLASS

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October 28: Wu Zi, The Methods of the Si Ma (Si Ma Fa), Wei Liaozi

READINGS

Ralph Sawyer, The Seven Military Classics 191-224, 111-143, 225-275

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November 4: Three Strategies of Huang Shigong (San Lue), Tai Gong's Six Secret Teachings (Liu Tao), Questions and Replies (Wen Dui).

READINGS

Ralph Sawyer, The Seven Military Classics 281-306, 19-105, 307-361

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November 11: NO CLASS (Veterans’ Day)

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November 18: Zhuge Liang, Liu Ji, and the 100 Strategies

READINGS

Thomas Cleary, Mastering the Art of War: Zhuge Liang's and Liu Ji's Commentaries on the Classic by Sun Tzu. pp.35-134

Ralph Sawyer et al, One Hundred Unorthodox Strategies (Westview 1998)

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November 25 and December 2: Mao Zedong

READINGS

Mao Zedong, Selected Military Writings, "Problems of Strategy in China's Revolutionary War","Problems of Strategy in Guerilla War Against Japan", "On Protracted War", "Problems of War and Strategy"

Mao Zedong "On Contradiction." Selected Works. Vol.1 pp.311-347 *

John Bryan Starr, Continuing the Revolution: The Political Thought of Mao ('On Conflict') pp.3-45 *

Edward S. Boylan, "Chinese Cultural Style of Warfare." Comparative Strategy. 3:4 (1982) 341-364. *

Scott Boorman The Protracted Game: A Wei-ch'i Interpretation of Maoist Revolutionary Strategy. (New York, 1969) pp. pp11-37 (skim), and pp. 154-184

Lin Chong-pin China's Nuclear Weapons Strategy. Chapters 2,6 *

Alastair Iain Johnston, "Cultural Realism and Strategy in Maoist China" in Peter Katzenstein ed., The Culture of National Security (New York 1996)

Allen S. Whiting, "China’s Use of Force, 1950-96,and Taiwan," International Security, Vol. 26, No. 2 (Fall 2001), pp. 103-131
 
 

REFERENCE:

Alice Langley Hsieh, Communist China's Strategy in the Nuclear Era. (1962)

Davis Bobrow, "Peking's Military Calculus." World Politics. (1964)

Allen Whiting "The Use of Force in Foreign Policy by the Peoples' Republic of China" Annals (1972) 55-65

Andres Onate, "The Conflict Interactions of the People's Republic of China, 1950- 1970." Journal of Conflict Resolution 18:4 (December 1974) 578-594

Allen Whiting, The Chinese Calculus of Deterrence (1975)

Steve Chan, "Chinese Conflict Calculus and Behavior: Assessments from a Perspective of Conflict Management. World Politics 2 (1978).391-410.

Alexander Atkinson, Social Order and the General Theory of Strategy. (1981) chapter 2

Melvin Gurtov and Hwang China Under Threat: The Politics and Strategy of Diplomacy. (1980)

Gerald Segal, Defending China. (1985)

Paul Godwin "Changing Concepts of Doctrine, Strategy and Operations" China Quarterly (December 1987) 572-590

Nan Li "The PLA's Evolving Campaign Doctrine and Strategies" in The People's Liberation Army in the Information Age, (Santa Monica: RAND 2000)

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December 9: Post-Mao

READINGS

Strategic Studies (Zhanlue xue) (Beijing, Academy of Military Sciences, 2000) chapters 3, 10

Operational Studies (Zhanyi xue) (Beijing, National Defense University, 2000) chapters 3, 6

Michael Pillsbury, China Debates the Future Security Environment (Washington, National Defense University, 2000) chapter 6

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December 16: China and "The West": Problems of Comparison

READINGS

Carl von Clausewitz, On War. Bk 1: Chps 1,2; Bk 3 1-18; Bk 6: Chps 1-5 *

Laure Paquette, "Strategy and Time in Clausewitz's On War and Sun Tzu's The Art of War ." Comparative Strategy. 10 (1991) 37-51. *

Michael Handel, Masters of War, Sun Tzu, Clausewitz and Jomini. (London, Frank Cass, 1992) pp.32-50, 61-64, 75-132

David Graff. "The Art of War in China and Byzantium: A Preliminary Comparison of the Military Writings of Li Jing and Maurice" (Paper presented at the fifth annual conference of the Chinese Military History Society, Marist College, Poughkeepsie, New York, May 10, 2003.

Robert Holmes, On War and Morality.114-145 (St Augustine) *

Gregory Brunk et al, "Military Views of Morality and War: An Empirical Study of the Attitudes of Retired Military Officers." International Studies Quarterly. 34 (1990) pp.83-109. *

Sheldon Levy, "Attitudes Toward the Conduct of War ." (Paper prepared for 4th World Peace Science Congress, Rotterdam, May 19, 1992) *