Chinese Siege Warfare
Mechanical Artillery and Siege Weapons of Antiquity
Review:
"After carefully perusing Liang's Chinese Siege Warfare I find myself in complete agreement with the high praise accorded the work by Prof. Robin Yates and Duncan Head. The explanations are masterful and the traditional woodblock illustrations well produced. Even more valuable are Liang's explications of uncertain points and his remarkable models that allow the reader to grasp the nature of the mechanism in an instant. Clearly the product of many years of painstaking research and profound understanding, it not only makes a substantial contribution to the history of siege technology in general but also unfolds the essence and accomplishments of the Chinese tradition in detail."
- Ralph D. Sawyer, author of "Tao of Spycraft" (Perseus Books Group, 2004) and "Fire and Water: The Art of Incendiary and Aquatic Warfare in China" (Westview Press, 2004)
Packed with real history, color photos of ancient writings, drawings, models and sculptures, this exciting work is a new perspective on the art of ancient siege weapons and their use. 160 pages, 11.5 x 8.25 inch wide format.
Front Cover:
For millennia, Chinese armies dominated their rivals by having superior weaponry on their side. So successful was this dominance in arms that the early rapid growth and expansion of the Chinese sphere of influence and control, was halted only by physical geographical barriers such as the mountain ranges of the Tibetan Plateau, the deserts and grass steppes of the northwest and the Pacific Ocean to the east. Since the early years of Chinese civilization, warfare has been an integral part and parcel of life. Much of this was fought in the mountain passes, the fortified towns of the open plains, the river gorges, the open steppes, the vast deserts, the long convoluted coastline, and in the varied and rugged geography of the Chinese heartland. The rise and development of Chinese siege technology was but one facet of Chinese warfare, but one no less important in the continuous struggle for the Chinese to survive as a people and as a political entity. The drive to innovate and to gain the upper hand over rivals, both within the country as well as outside the country, pushed military Engineers to dazzling heights of inventive excellence. Reaching a peak in the late Song dynasty, decline began when the devastation of the Mongol invasion and the Ming and Qing dynasties' inability to compete in the new gunpowder arms race
with the new threat from the West proved the undoing for a proud Chinese tradition in siege warfare, much of which remains sadly unknown and unacknowledged to this day.
This book traces the development of Chinese siege technology from ca. 8th century B.C. to the end of the Qing dynasty and makes comparisons with siege weapons of several other world civilizations. Bringing together the development history of catapults from the Islamic world, the ancient Greco-Roman catapults, the mysterious catapults of India, the simple catapults of pre-Columbus America, the catapults of medieval Europe, and East Asian catapults, a fairly comprehensive picture emerges within this book, on the progression of catapult technology, showing how each civilization contributed and interacted in a fascinating global exchange of ideas.
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