What changes in Chinaa_Ts modern military policy reveal about military organizations and strategy Since the 1949 Communist Revolution, China has devised nine different military strategies, which the Peoplea_Ts Liberation Army (PLA) calls a_ostrategic guidelines.a_? What accounts for these numerous changes? Active Defense offers the first systematic look at Chinaa_Ts military strategy from the mid-twentieth century to today. Exploring the range and intensity of threats that China has faced, M. Taylor Fravel illuminates the nationa_Ts past and present military goals and how China sought to achieve them, and offers a rich set of cases for deepening the study of change in military organizations. Drawing from diverse Chinese-language sources, including memoirs of leading generals, military histories, and document collections that have become available only in the last two decades, Fravel shows why transformations in military strategy were pursued at certain times and not others. He focuses on the military strategies adopted in 1956, 1980, and 1993a_"when the PLA was attempting to wage war in a new kind of waya_"to show that China has pursued major change in its strategic guidelines when there has been a significant shift in the conduct of warfare in the international system and when Chinaa_Ts Communist Party has been united. Delving into the security threats China has faced over the last seven decades, Active Defense offers a detailed investigation into how and why states alter their defense policies.