Chinese Culture and the Chinese Military

Haizong Lei

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English

Cambridge University Press
06 November 2025

Series: The Cambridge China Library

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.

By: Haizong Lei
Imprint: Cambridge University Press
Country of Publication: United Kingdom
Weight: 417g
ISBN: 9781108749459
ISBN 10: 1108749453
Series: The Cambridge China Library
Pages: 288
Publication Date: 06 November 2025
Audience: General/trade , ELT Advanced
Format: Paperback
Publisher's Status: Forthcoming

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.

Lei Haizong (1902–1962) was Professor of History at Tsinghua University and Director of World History at Nankai University.