Understanding Chinese

China's strategic culture has converged around Tao ("the way") three important ideas that emerged from prehistoric Confucian thought and belief: Shih, Hsing, and Lee. Any analysis of China's strategic culture and uses of force must begin with an understanding of these:

Shih

Congealing over several centuries around Sun Tzu's thought China's strategic culture that has formed solidly around the ancient Chinese abstraction-Shih-and its paired opposite-Lee. Several generations of strategists - Tai Kung, Sun Tzu, Wu Tzu, Wei Liao Tzu and their successors - developed and taught Shih as a coherent body of strategic thought. The defining theme in Sun Tzu's The Art Of Warfare, the essence of Shih was the dynamic power that emerged in the combination of men's hearts, military weapons, and natural conditions.

Strategic thinking focused on Shih was Shih-strategy, which converged Shih along three broad dimensions of warfare: the people, the context, and the enemy. Shih-strategy concentrated the power of the people in the soldiers and their weapons. The power of context appeared in opportunity, timing, and logistics. The enemy's power lay in the relative skill, competence, and will of the opposing force.

Since men and their hearts were critical to Shih-strategy, commanders and rulers needed to understand how to mobilize them. A ruler's adherence to the right way - Tao - brought the people into accord with the ruler in internal harmony. The ruler with a great Tao gained the deep, sincere, heartfelt support of the people. The ruler who had or created Tao could build a strong Shih for his people and his army. Without Tao, even the best commanders could not build or rely on Shih.

Hsing

Sun Tzu understood Hsing as the outward appearence of an object or situation. As a military term, Hsing described the deployment and employment of forces. In war, commanders could transform equipment, weaponry, and troops into Shih through Hsing. Although some scholars and historians interpret Shih and Hsing as near synonyms, Hsing is explicitly the tangible, visible, and determinate shape of physical strength. Shih also includes intangible factors - morale, opportunity, timing, psychology, or logistics - that are often dynamic and always difficult to ascertain. In contrast to Hsing, which is static, Shih changes in some predictable pattern as flourishing and fading succeed each other in battle.

Lee

The counterconcept of Shih with its forward-looking perspective, Lee refers to self-interest or material gain and carries a definite priority for the present. Arising from materialistic thought and theory, Lee-strategy does not recognize intangible human factors as important elements of power. Instead it focuses on visible, material assets and enemy forces.