General Chiang Pai-Li and his Military Thought Book

From the Opium War in 1839 to the Japanese invasion in 1937, China went through the darkest period of more then one hundred years. The country and its people were struggling for survival. The ideas of one man gave them great inspiration and hope, and his principles of strategy helped the nation to endure eight years to win the war. But he and his principles on national defense were forgotten after the war ended General Chiang Pai-li (1882-1938) started his education with the ancient Thirteen Classics, had less than one year in college for economics, graduated from the Japanese Military Academy in 1905, and spent four years in the German Army for advanced training. He was not merely a soldier, but a rounded man: an eloquent speaker, a penetrating writer, diplomat, educator, poet, philosopher, and patriot. Above all, he was a humanist: an admirer of Kant and Goethe, a student of Sun Tzu, Lao Tzu, Buddhism, Christianity, and essentially a Confucius disciple who always maintains an "infant's heart" and an insatiable urge for learning. The utmost concern of General Chiang was preparation for war against Japanese aggression. Before the war, he advised the nation to delay it from happening as long as possible; once the war started, he firmly admonished "Never negotiate with them." His military thought was developed, from his study and interpretation of the social and economic life of mankind: "Nations whose living and fighting conditions are integrated will be strong; those separated will be weak; when those conditions opposing each other, they will perish." The pillars in his national defense programs are the Civilian Arri1y System and the "Integrated Education of the Civilian and Military." He professed that national defense war is a total war, and he was against the idea of absolutism in war.