Introduction: Early Chinese Military Texts from the Yi Zhou shu

Abstract

This introductory chapter presents a passage in the Chinese classical period asserting that an enlightened ruler gains substantive achievements only through winning a war and invading new territories. The sentiments expressed in this manuscript found in 1973 in a tomb near Changsha, Hunan, in central China, opposes the Chinese thought of Confucianism, which rejected violence and warfare, and embraced pacifism and harmony. Against the backdrop of this notion, the Chinese classical period had seen constant, bloody warfare and the violent destruction of the old Zhou social structure and much of the Zhou culture as armies continued to grow and proliferate, weapons of destruction were created, and sophisticated strategic models were developed.