Modern Chinese Warfare (Warfare and History)

Rating:
Summary: History From the "Winner's" POV
Review: One of the worst-kept secrets in academia is that Western historians of Asian History feel a sense of superiority over their Asian counterparts. The former generally think that their views are more accurate and deserve more consideration than the views of the latter, and sometimes go as far as putting down the latter as misled, ignorant, or egotistical. The author of this book is no exception.

To the author's credit, the book is well-researched and written. It serves as a credible one volume history of Chinese warfare.

To the author's discredit, he doesn't hesitate to remind readers that the Chinese are unjustified in thinking of themselves as victims of the West. To give an example, the author states that Great Britain only wanted free trade, not territory, when it engaged in the Opium War with China. Funny how she didn't mind getting Hong Kong as part of her victory (followed by Kowloon and the New Territories). Funny how Britain retained control of Hong Kong for 100 years until having it snatched away from her by Japan during WWII. Funny how during that period, Britain strove to regain Hong Kong after the war, and did. It would seem to the reader that imperialism was such a benign concept that anyone who was against it was an idiot. No doubt China was a backward, decadent country during the period covered in the book, but just because she was didn't mean that the West had a right to add fuel to the fire. Yes, Western influence did bring about some benefits, but not every Chinese shared in them immediately or even eventually, and benefiting the natives wasn't the primary purpose of imperialism.

Rating:
Summary: Triumphalism
Review: The framework of this book provides a useful outline and an avenue of research, which hopefully someone with better insights will some day pick up. Unfortunately the derisive Elleman shows absolutely no understanding of the Chinese side, politically or culturally. Like all too many of the wars he attempts to deconstruct, this book itself is a high-tech weapon slamming into the "backward peasant" that is China and its history.