Mural guide
Two strategists consider a weiqi position above a mountain route where a disciplined column passes through fortified gates.
Halberds, swords, armour, tiger tallies and military texts: strategy and war in objects
Formlessness in supreme statecraft, deception in grand strategy: the top-level control and maneuvers of classical military arts and geopolitical dynamics.
Strategies
Great form has no shape, and war admits deception: the stratagems of classical military thought and the contests of strategy among rival states.
Art of WarSpring and Autumn period to presentSun Wu's thirteen chapters, weighing war through politics, terrain and psychology, first of the Song Seven Military Classics.
Board Game StrategySpring and Autumn period to presentGo's contest for space and xiangqi's ranks of pieces: the 19-line board of the Tang and the 32-piece game of the Song.
Weapons & FormationsShang dynasty to late QingShang bronze dagger-axes and chariots, Sun Bin on formations, and Qi Jiguang's mandarin-duck formation: an army fighting as one.
Balance of PowerWarring States period to presentWarring States alliances and counterweights, seeking local advantage despite weaker resources.
Thirty-Six StratagemsNorthern and Southern dynasties to presentSoldiers' and popular stratagems, such as 'running away is the best plan', for facing an opponent from a weak position.
Scorched EarthLate Eastern Han to presentTrading geographic depth and emptied supplies for time against a stronger enemy.
Longzhong PlanLate Eastern Han to presentZhuge Liang's plan to hold Jing and Yi, ally with Wu against Cao and divide the realm in three.
Firearms EvolutionSouthern Song to late QingFrom the bamboo fire lance at De'an and the Yuan bronze gun to the European-style Hongyi cannon at Ningyuan.
Loose-Rein RuleHan dynasty to Qing Yongzheng reignA flexible system that governed frontier regions indirectly through enfeoffed hereditary chiefs.
Tai Chi PrinciplesLate Ming-early Qing to presentMilitary ideas of 'moving later, arriving first' carried into the force and sparring of Chen and Yang style boxing.