Playing Soldiers: The War Game in Late Qing and Republican China

Abstract

Abstract In the early twentieth century, Chinese military reformers introduced the war game to improve the training of officers and professionalize their education according to foreign role models. The war game or Kriegsspiel was a tabletop device used to simulate tactical and strategic problems, which originated from the Prussian army and was very popular among German officers. It was adopted in other European countries and the United States as well as Japan, and was eventually played in the late Qing New Armies and the Guomindang’s National Revolutionary Army. From its inception at the turn of the century until the end of the Republican era, it was supposed to increase tactical abilities, leadership skills, discipline, and knowledge of specific procedures and regulations. Besides improving their skills as military commanders, wargaming enabled Chinese officers to incorporate transnational military cultural codes of conduct, and thus emulate and perform “modern” military professionalism.