and were only accomplished with considerable bloodshed. Chinese forces did not
attack the third geographical objective, Lang Son, until ten days after the war
began, and, after four days of hard fighting, were only able to capture part of the
city. 36 Shortly thereafter, in early March, the PLA began to withdraw from
Vietnam practising a scorched-earth strategy. Thereupon, Beijing declared its
military action had succeeded in teaching Hanoi a ‘lesson’.
Thus, the orthodox and unorthodox methods have both been employed in
Chinese campaigns over the centuries with varying degrees of success. The record
clearly shows that one has not been neglected at the expense of the other.
Man and technology
Bravery, physical prowess, skill in combat, and strength in numbers—not to
mention human ingenuity—have all been important in Chinese warfare. However,
technology has never been ignored. Indeed, technological advances have proved
dramatic on numerous occasions. Nevertheless, in ancient times, some discov-
eries, such as gunpowder (in approximately AD 1000), were never fully developed
as instruments of war. In modern times, China has proved more adept at adapting
to confront new technologies fielded by military adversaries. By the late twentieth
century, although China was no longer a pioneer in military technology, it had
become skilful at developing its own versions of modern weaponry, such as
seagoing vessels, armour, nuclear weapons, and ballistic missiles.
Ancient China
Technological advances in agricultural productivity permitted greater wealth and,
in turn, the creation of larger and more powerful states. By the Warring States
Period (403–221 BC), the number of Chinese states had shrunk from many dozen
to some twenty, a number of which had accumulated great wealth and were able
to channel substantial resources into building armies numbering in the hundreds
of thousands. The invention of cast iron and the crossbow dramatically trans-
formed the conduct of and approach to warfare in China. Cast iron became
widely used for weapons and implements in the fifth century BC, while the
crossbow began to enjoy extensive use in the fourth century BC. 37 While there
was really no such thing as operational art in the Spring and Autumn Period,
during the Warring States Era the conduct of war professionalized with the
widespread use of massed armies. Prior to these advancements in technology
and state building, war fighting had been the province of noblemen battling each
other from the platforms of horse-drawn chariots supported by small bands of
foot soldiers—the equivalent of stylized combat between individual knights in
Europe of the Middle Ages. These changes replaced ritualized contests between
duelling aristocratic charioteers and heralded the emergence of military cam-
paigns between sizeable forces from larger rival states. Not only was the conduct
The Chinese Way of War 205