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The Dragon's Teeth: The Chinese People’s Liberation Army―Its History, Traditions, and Air, Sea and Land Capabilities in the 21st Century
"With the tense situations we are now seeing in Asia, it is a perfect time to look at the armed might of one of the largest players." ― A Wargamers Needful Things
When Mao Zedong proclaimed The People’s Republic of China in 1949, China was a poor and wrecked society after years of continuous wars. For centuries, in fact, China had been seen as a sort of plunder-zone to be invaded, and then a backwater until the late 1980s, when domestic policy brought about monumental changes. The result was that in the past quarter-century China has grown to be the second largest economy in the world, and its military has grown proportionately.
Successive decades of economic growth have transformed China—in addition to the weapons revolution during the computer age—so that by now the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) has become a modern fighting force. No longer having to rely on massed infantry attacks, it now features a formidable arsenal including nuclear submarines, ICBMs, stealth fighters, and modern battle tanks. Perhaps ominously for other maritime powers, the Chinese have also focused on beyond-the-horizon missile technology, as well as anti-aircraft systems, and have also explored the possibilities of cyber-warfare.
What is today’s PLA really like? What are its traditions and histories, and how is it armed and equipped? How does it recruit and train? This book describes some of the lesser known battles and wars the Chinese have undertaken, and the development of their key weapons systems. The United States, having opened the door to “drone warfare,” have had an attentive audience for such technologies in Beijing.
The last chapter provides thoughts on how the Chinese view matters of security. It is not yet known whether foreign powers can still enforce their territorial wills on China, but future attempts will meet an increased challenge. This book will be of interest not only to general readers but to policy-makers and militaries in the West, who may not yet realize that a new China has replaced the old.
Table of Contents
Acknowledgements
Abbreviations
Preface
1 Early Years of the Chinese PLA
2 Post-1949 Developments
3 The Chinese PLA Today
4 Key Arms
5 Chinese Weapons and the Armaments Industry
6 China’s Strategic View
Afterword: The New Model PLA?
Appendices
Bibliography
Index
When Mao Zedong proclaimed The People’s Republic of China in 1949, China was a poor and wrecked society after years of continuous wars. For centuries, in fact, China had been seen as a sort of plunder-zone to be invaded, and then a backwater until the late 1980s, when domestic policy brought about monumental changes. The result was that in the past quarter-century China has grown to be the second largest economy in the world, and its military has grown proportionately.
Successive decades of economic growth have transformed China—in addition to the weapons revolution during the computer age—so that by now the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) has become a modern fighting force. No longer having to rely on massed infantry attacks, it now features a formidable arsenal including nuclear submarines, ICBMs, stealth fighters, and modern battle tanks. Perhaps ominously for other maritime powers, the Chinese have also focused on beyond-the-horizon missile technology, as well as anti-aircraft systems, and have also explored the possibilities of cyber-warfare.
What is today’s PLA really like? What are its traditions and histories, and how is it armed and equipped? How does it recruit and train? This book describes some of the lesser known battles and wars the Chinese have undertaken, and the development of their key weapons systems. The United States, having opened the door to “drone warfare,” have had an attentive audience for such technologies in Beijing.
The last chapter provides thoughts on how the Chinese view matters of security. It is not yet known whether foreign powers can still enforce their territorial wills on China, but future attempts will meet an increased challenge. This book will be of interest not only to general readers but to policy-makers and militaries in the West, who may not yet realize that a new China has replaced the old.
Table of Contents
Acknowledgements
Abbreviations
Preface
1 Early Years of the Chinese PLA
2 Post-1949 Developments
3 The Chinese PLA Today
4 Key Arms
5 Chinese Weapons and the Armaments Industry
6 China’s Strategic View
Afterword: The New Model PLA?
Appendices
Bibliography
Index
320 pages, Paperback
First published October 19, 2014
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63 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
October 21, 2021
A dry, basic primer on the PLA - its organization, weapons, and general history to about 2015. Informative, but the author gets bogged down in the boring minutiae of tank development and procurement at the expense of analysis of current capabilities and intentions.
August 14, 2016
Review originally published at Book of Bogan
I received a copy from the publisher through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
In under a century, communist China has risen from somewhat humble beginnings to take its place amongst the world's super-powers. A significant part of that rise has been the development of its armed forces - the People's Liberation Army, Navy and Air Forces, as well as other paramilitary forces. The Dragon's Teeth serves as a history lesson of significant events and milestones - primarily since the Second World War - which contributed to the development of those forces. For the most part, it stays out of the political realm, which one might have expected in such a history.
From an outside perspective, I have always thought of China as something of a little brother to Soviet Russia, with a lot of their military developments either being derived directly from, or copied from weapons systems which originated in that country. The Dragon's Teeth outlines how that is true to an extent, but also covers the domestic development and armament industries which exist. While not going into the political side of the relationship, it also examines the rifts which occurred between the two countries in the late 20th Century, and the military consequences which resulted from that.
I found the book to be an extremely comprehensive read, although I did skip over a few parts which did not particularly interest me. I realise that it was written primarily as a historical look at the PLA, but I would have appreciated more information about China's cyber operations. There are several off-hand mentions of the development of cyber capability, but the author didn't explore this in any depth. I acknowledge that this may have resulted from a lack of available material, and that to some degree it was beyond the scope of the book; but at the same time, it is a future battlefield that the world is going to have to compete on.
This is a well-researched, and well-sourced history of the Chinese military.
I received a copy from the publisher through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
In under a century, communist China has risen from somewhat humble beginnings to take its place amongst the world's super-powers. A significant part of that rise has been the development of its armed forces - the People's Liberation Army, Navy and Air Forces, as well as other paramilitary forces. The Dragon's Teeth serves as a history lesson of significant events and milestones - primarily since the Second World War - which contributed to the development of those forces. For the most part, it stays out of the political realm, which one might have expected in such a history.
From an outside perspective, I have always thought of China as something of a little brother to Soviet Russia, with a lot of their military developments either being derived directly from, or copied from weapons systems which originated in that country. The Dragon's Teeth outlines how that is true to an extent, but also covers the domestic development and armament industries which exist. While not going into the political side of the relationship, it also examines the rifts which occurred between the two countries in the late 20th Century, and the military consequences which resulted from that.
I found the book to be an extremely comprehensive read, although I did skip over a few parts which did not particularly interest me. I realise that it was written primarily as a historical look at the PLA, but I would have appreciated more information about China's cyber operations. There are several off-hand mentions of the development of cyber capability, but the author didn't explore this in any depth. I acknowledge that this may have resulted from a lack of available material, and that to some degree it was beyond the scope of the book; but at the same time, it is a future battlefield that the world is going to have to compete on.
This is a well-researched, and well-sourced history of the Chinese military.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews