Intelligence Acquisition in Early China

Authors

  • Ralph Sawyer

Abstract

Long fundamental to China’s approach to political interaction and military conflict, to “winning through wisdom,” intelligence efforts and assessments continually evolved until they assumed essentially final form in the Han dynasty. All source in nature, they consisted of actively acquiring information about recent developments from a wide range of sources; focused investigations of strengths and weaknesses based upon detailed criteria; and the ongoing compilation and utilization of massive repositories of historical, political, and topographical knowledge, including dossiers on foreign peoples.

Author Biography

Ralph Sawyer

Ralph Sawyer is an independent historical scholar, lecturer, and consultant, to both government agencies and international conglomerates. He has specialized in Chinese military, technological, and intelligence issues for nearly four decades, most of which have been spent in Taiwan, Korea, Japan, China, and Southeast Asia. A former Fulbright Fellow, following undergraduate work at M.I.T., graduate study in Chinese studies at Harvard, and advanced language study at the Stanford Center, and with local scholars throughout Asia, Sawyer has continued the traditional Chinese practice of public activity and private scholarship over the decades. His written works focus on Chinese military history and martial writings while his lectures and strategic consulting emphasize the reformulation and applicability of paradigm lessons and theoretical concepts in modern contexts, including their integration into contemporary PRC doctrine. 

Downloads

Published

2022-02-01

Issue

Vol. 21 No. 2

Section

Articles