为什么古代中国人不擅战？ [美国媒体]

Why were ancient Chinese not good at war?

为什么古代中国人不擅战？



Liu LiSong, lives in China
It seems that we don't seem to be good at war. But, just seems.
Because we have completed the expansion process 2400 years ago, and extended our boundaries to the limits of geography. The core territory of traditional China is surrounded by mountains, jungles, deserts and snowfields that were insurmountable in ancient times. There are also some grasslands that we are not interested in.

貌似我们看起来确实好像不擅战。但，那只是看起来。
因为我们在2400年前就已经完成了扩张过程，将我们的边境延伸到了地理上的极限。古代中国的核心区域被高山，丛林，沙漠和雪地包围，这在古代是不可逾越的。还有一些草原是我们不感兴趣的。



There is another element that deepens your misunderstanding. We have faced many powerful enemies, mostly from the northern nomads. They almost all disappeared into history.
Believe me, you don't want to know how they disappeared.

还有一个因素加深了你的误解。我们面临过很多强大的敌人，大部分是北方游牧民族。所有这些敌人几乎都在历史中消失殆尽了。
相信我，你不会想知道他们是怎么消失的。

Tamta Marjam
This a well written summary! Thank you. It makes me curious to learn more.

楼上你的总结很好，谢谢。导致我对中国历史更好奇了。

Yuri Zga
You gotta be kidding me, in reality, Mongolian tribes still exist and strong, Manchurian tribes still exist, Turk tribes still exist and strong.

你开玩笑吧，蒙古部落不是直到现在还存在吗，满族部落也还存在。突厥部落也是如此。



Unlike the Romans, who had peer competitors with strong state structures, like the Persians and the Carthaginians… the ancient Chinese were so successful at warfare that, by the time of the Han dynasty, their peer competitors were all beaten and absorbed into China.
There were still people to fight against, but they resisted the Chinese through the terrain of high mountains in South and West China and through the endless Steppe of North China. China’s borders were not stopped by enemy armies, but by the terrain.

不像罗马人，其竞争者都拥有强大的国家结构，比如波斯人和迦太基人。而古代中国人是很擅战的，以至于到汉朝时，其对手都被打败并且被中国吸收。
当然还是有人在反抗，但是他们凭借的是西南部的高山和北方无尽的草原。中国的边界不是被敌军阻止，而是被地形阻止。



John Hopkins
Actually, I think they were. I’ve only read three books of the period Sun Tzu (four different translations), Seven Military Classics of Ancient China and Ancient Chinese Warfare by Ralph Sawyer so I am, by far, not an expert……but I have a number of reasons I believe the Chinese were far better than popularly thought. 1. They were very innovative in the development of weaponry and willing to try new techniques for using them. 2. Given the size of the country internal issues concerned them more than external. 3. There are over 50 different cultures - hell, if you ask any southerner in the US what they feel about our northern brethren - want to know what they would say? With the cultural diffusion in China internal conflict was inevitable and pervasive.

我认为他们是擅战的。原因如下：1、他们武器开发上很有创意，而且愿意尝试新技术。2、由于中国面积巨大，所以内部问题比外部问题更紧迫。3、中国有超过50种不同的文化，如果你问美国南方人对北方人作何感受，你知道他们会怎么说吗？中国的文化传播，意味着内部冲突是不可避免的。