• Part I. Military Technology: (a) Introduction; (b) Chinese Literature on the Art of War Krysztof Gawlikowski; 1. The military theoreticians; 2. The military encyclopaedists; 3. Basic concepts of the classical Chinese theory of war; general principles of action; 4. Combat and competition; 5. Other components of the classical Chinese theory of war; 6. The main controversies within Chinese military thought; (c) Distinctive Features of Chinese Military Thought: 1. Reasons for its perennial vitality; 2. A syncretistic tradition; the non-military approach to war and the duties of soldiers; 3. The great popularity of military thought among the people; 4. Military thought in civil life; 5. The place of the military element (wu) in the Chinese world order; (d) Projectile Weapons: I. Archery (with Edward McEwen): 1. The bow; 2. The crossbow; 3. The social role of the bow and crossbow; Part II. Ballistic Machinery: (with Wang Ling); 4. Spring, sinew, sling and swape; definitions and distribution; 5. Forms of the arcuballista; 6. Trebuchets, manned and counterweighted; 7. Distribution and diffusion; (e) Early Poliorcetics: the Mohists to the Sung Robin D. S. Yates: 1. Early cities; 2. The twelve types of attack; Bibliographies.

'For this immense and astonishing work of erudition no praise can be too high … we have a volume authoritative, fascinating and illuminating … of contemporary Eastern and Western progress in the sciences.' W. M. Smart, Nature