Andersson, Lennart Chinese Military Aviation 1912-1937. Band 1: Air Forces in Beijing and Guangzhou, 1912-1927

A volume from the series Asia @ War. This work offers the first detailed and comprehensive study of the earliest Chinese military air forces, focusing on their establishment and development in Beijing and Guangzhou between 1912 and 1927. Drawing on a wide range of archival sources in Chinese, English, French, German, Russian and Japanese many of which are newly accessible or previously overlooked this work reconstructs the emergence of aviation as an instrument of state power and warlords in early Republican China. After the 1911 revolution, both the central government in Beijing and the rival regimes in the south recognised the potential of aviation for exercising power and prestige. The book documents the founding of the Nanyuan Aviation School near Beijing in 1913 and Sun Yat-sen's competing efforts to establish an air force in Guangzhou. It examines in detail the personalities involved Chinese pioneers, foreign instructors and advisers, warlords and political leaders and shows how fragile institutional frameworks attempted to sustain these fledgling air services amid political chaos, financial constraints and shifting loyalties. The study traces the acquisition of French, British, American, Japanese, and Italian aircraft, the involvement of Western aviation companies, and the impact of international arms embargoes on Chinese procurement efforts. It also details China's early attempts to manufacture its own aircraft and the establishment of local repair and production workshops. Operations during internal conflicts such as the White Wolf Rebellion, the Zhili-Anhui and Zhili-Fengtian wars, and the bandit suppression campaigns are analysed, showing how aviation was used sometimes symbolically, sometimes operationally in China's fragmented military landscape. Through meticulous research and a critical approach to sources, this volume refutes simplistic portrayals of Chinese aviation as merely derivative or dependent. Instead, it presents a nuanced picture of a complex and often chaotic process of technological and institutional adaptation under extreme conditions. Dozens of rare photographs and extensive appendices listing aircraft types, air force commanders, and aviation students further enhance the work's value as a reference work. Volume 1 lays the foundation for a multi-volume series tracing Chinese military aviation from its beginnings to the eve of the war with Japan. It is an indispensable resource for historians studying modern China, air power, military innovation between the world wars, and international arms transfers.