Hi All,
As you may know, china already famous in their strategy and general.

Did anyone have something about china's troop formation?
Because I'm sure most of the battle is fought in open area
And troop formation must be develop, like roman legion and alexander phalanx.

This is a frequently asked question...refer to

>>Warring States Battle Formation
Initiator: Yun
Thread Info: Contain discussion about different forms of battle formation of during warring states period.
Location: http://www.chinahistoryforum.com/index.php?showtopic=100

>>The Force Structure of the Army of Qinshihuang
Initiator: Thomas Chen
Thread Info: An article on the military formation of Qin's terrocotta army
Location: http://www.chinahistoryforum.com/index.php?showtopic=234

>>Ji Phalanx
Initiator: ih8eurocentrix
Thread Info: Discussion of "Ji Phalanx"..whether it is similar to Greek Phalanx
Location: http://www.chinahistoryforum.com/index.php?showtopic=2515

>>Loose vs Concentrated Formation
Initiator: ih8eurocentrix
Thread Info: A comparison between these two forms of formation
Location: http://www.chinahistoryforum.com/index.php?showtopic=3289

>>Infantry Formation from Warring States to Han
Initiator: Daniel
Thread Info: A discussion about infantry formation from Warring States period to Han dynasty
Location: http://www.chinahistoryforum.com/index.php?showtopic=5593

>>Eight Array Maze & Formation (Bagua formation - 八卦阵)
Initiator: vng78
Thread Info: A discussion about Bagua formation supposingly perfected by Zhugeliang.
Location: http://www.chinahistoryforum.com/index.php?showtopic=7021



In Chinese military history, not all battles are fought in open area, as in open combat. Due to China's terrain and geographical climates, some battles are fought in valleys, or even naval battle along YangTze River. There are also lots of battles involving siege warfare (i.e. capturing and defending a city).

Most chinese warfare involves some elements of deception, where one lures the enemy into a trap and then followed by an ambush.

Nex time you might want to try to search function or the sticky threads before you ask a question.

Slight modification of GZ post, Chinese warfare were rarely fought on open field. Most are fought with terrain advantage to one side or the other. Open field is only a good choice if you have overwhelming numbers because then you can put alot of your men into action and cut losses. If the two sides a equal, it just means that both army will destroy each other and risks a third party picking up the pieces. But if you have that kind of advantage in numbers, the other side normally won't choose to fight on those terms.

Generally, the only times Chinese fight on open field is when they are fighting in the north over the great wall. Inside the barrier, people normally just stay behind city walls.

Have any one heard the formation of 'The Eight Docked Gates'? It was used by Cao ren during confronting liu Bei while Xu Shu was with Liu Bei as advisor. Eventually Xu Shu advised Zhao Yun to break the formation. Any one know the formation or any linkage about the formation?

Complete fiction.
Since you know about it, you have surely read the Romance of the Three Kingdoms. In that case, there is all the information you will ever get on that subject in that book. Historically, no such formation exists

Anyone else who is genius enough to enlighten us?

wait wait wait, are you implying that the Romance of the Three Kingdoms is historically accurate ?
That such a formation actually existed in history ??

Here comes genius no. 2.

Yes, the "Eight Locked Gates" formation is fictional.

How to know it is fiction or non-fiction? I go to find Liu Bei and Xu Shu then tell u all

if it was written in medieval times maybe they also tried using it then to

Tell Santa Claus that I said hi while you're at it. And remember to remind King Arthur I want my laptop back.


The fact that we have comic books these days about people with adamantium claws doesn't mean us use them now.

Because it is a work of fiction. Which is not to say a work of fiction may not contain historically accurate facts or details but you would not use works of fiction as your sources, right? The Romance of the Three Kingdoms does not have a very good reputation here at CHF because of historical inaccuracies (sometimes falsely attributing actions to the wrong person) and the way it misrepresents many historical figures, either making them more heroic, honourable than they are, or make them more evil, despicable than they really are. All in the name of poetic licence.

You are in good company here however, there are many fans of the Three Kingdoms here (both historically and the novel) so you should find lots to discuss about.

Since you are very interested in the Three Kingdoms period I highly recommend you read the Sanguozhi.

Anyone here got English version of san guo zhi's website link? What i was reading and watching were Romance Of Three kingdoms.

http://www.chinahistoryforum.com/index.php?showtopic=3675

You might find the above thread useful. Try reading Sanguo Zhi in Chinese. Are you a Chinese Singaporean? Still in school? Can't use "I don't know Chinese" as an excuse then!