Mao's army goes to sea : the island campaigns and the founding of China's navy / Toshi Yoshihara.

Author/creator Yoshihara, Toshi author.
Format Book
PublicationWashington, DC : Georgetown University Press, [2022]
Descriptionxii, 159 pages : maps ; 23 cm
Subjects

Contents Introduction -- An Overlooked History -- The East China Navy -- The People's Navy -- The Xiamen, Jinmen, and Zhoushan Campaigns -- The Hainan and Wanshan Campaigns -- An Assessment of the PLA's Seaward Turn -- Discerning Institutional Continuities -- Conclusion.
Abstract "This is a history of the creation of China's People's Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) and Mao Zedong's attempt to end the civil war with the conquest of key offshore islands. The civil war had been fought with a peasant army, yet to complete the consolidation of power and pursue its rivalry with Nationalist China, Mao had to develop maritime capabilities. Drawing extensively from newly available Chinese-language sources, this study shows that the navy-building process, the sea battles, and the contested landings on offshore islands had a lasting influence. Even today, the PLAN's identity, strategy, doctrine, and force structure are conditioned by these early experiences and myths. By providing the definitive account of this little-known, yet critical, moment in China's naval history, this book overturns the conventional wisdom that the People's Republic of China was inattentive to naval affairs during the early years"-- Provided by publisher.
Bibliography noteIncludes bibliographical references (pages 147-150) and index.
Issued in other formOnline version: Yoshihara, Toshi. Mao's army goes to sea Washington, DC : Georgetown University Press, 2022 9781647122836
Genre/formNaval history.
LCCN 2021062356
ISBN9781647122829
ISBN9781647122812 hardcover
ISBN1647122813 hardcover
ISBN1647122821 paperback
ISBNelectronic book