Greatest warriors of ancient China

Hi, Recently I started to gain an interest in Chinese warriors.
I myself am of Chinese descent but know very little about Chinese history.
I tried google, but I rather hear it from real people.

What are the greatest warriors of Ancient China? And what did they accomplish?
and by warriors I mean generals or a chinese Alexander the great

Time frame: Qin Dynasty to Ming Dynasty
Excluding: Yuan/Qing Dynasty

There's quite a few. Guan Yu, Yue Fei are some of most famous and widely accepted as heroes. If you mean merely fighting skills, Lu Bu has it in the legend.

I think having good momentum on horseback can help you a long way

Also it depends under what kind of condition you are talking about, and the sort of history sources you are willing to consider legitimate.

btw Musashi was not Chinese, but if his claim of cutting down 70 odd men in one setting on foot can be believed I think that's pretty damn impressive. Cutting down 70 men is going to wear you out even if they were just standing around doing nothing.

If you are talking about battlefield warriors they tend to be generals and their legend is dependent on their fame and ability to win battles rather than actual fighting abilities.

Btw the spring and autumn period did have many folk heros, many of them were assassins or people under personal employment of feudal lords.

I have always thought that finding the greatest warriors of Ancient China is a difficult task, so I am interested in what people can come up with.

Most of the famous warriors appearing in the earlier eras are hard to identify, as reliable historical records are scarce. Later on in Chinese history the physical prowess of individuals became almost insignificant, and as such was rarely documented, the ones that do exist are often fictions created by influential men.

For example, let's say Musashi was really able to cut down 70 men, how long do you think he will last against 10 Chukonu on the open battle field? Or how about against 5 Mongolian mounted archers? He's just going to be among a field of corpses like a common soldier, peppered by arrows, or impaled by heavy cavalry, or blasted by gunpowder.

xywdx said:

I have always thought that finding the greatest warriors of Ancient China is a difficult task, so I am interested in what people can come up with.

Most of the famous warriors appearing in the earlier eras are hard to identify, as reliable historical records are scarce. Later on in Chinese history the physical prowess of individuals became almost insignificant, and as such was rarely documented, the ones that do exist are often fictions created by influential men.

For example, let's say Musashi was really able to cut down 70 men, how long do you think he will last against 10 Chukonu on the open battle field? Or how about against 5 Mongolian mounted archers? He's just going to be among a field of corpses like a common soldier, peppered by arrows, or impaled by heavy cavalry, or blasted by gunpowder.

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I don't think the archers are that difficult to counter. It's always been part of the old manuals of swordfighting in the East and in the West that you can deflect projectiles. A very capable warrior like Musashi would be more than likely to stand his ground, but he would most likely prefer to have a shield/mantlet and a friend with a ranged weapon.

airsuperiority said:

There's quite a few. Guan Yu, Yue Fei are some of most famous and widely accepted as heroes. If you mean merely fighting skills, Lu Bu has it in the legend.

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Guan Yu cannot be compared to Yue Fei in the same sense, as the two are completely different. Guan Yu, in my opinion, did not have the kind of impact that Yue Fei had in Chinese history.

Talking about the greatest warrior, I would say Xiang Yu. He is the bench mark that everyone else in the 2000 years after him compares to. With his shear strength and his skill to wield a spear, no one, no matter how arrogant he is, dares to say he is on par with Xiang Yu.

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Kurt said:

I don't think the archers are that difficult to counter. It's always been part of the old manuals of swordfighting in the East and in the West that you can deflect projectiles. A very capable warrior like Musashi would be more than likely to stand his ground, but he would most likely prefer to have a shield/mantlet and a friend with a ranged weapon.

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Let's stop the Musachi discussion as he is not a Chinese...

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xywdx said:

I have always thought that finding the greatest warriors of Ancient China is a difficult task, so I am interested in what people can come up with.

Most of the famous warriors appearing in the earlier eras are hard to identify, as reliable historical records are scarce. Later on in Chinese history the physical prowess of individuals became almost insignificant, and as such was rarely documented, the ones that do exist are often fictions created by influential men.

For example, let's say Musashi was really able to cut down 70 men, how long do you think he will last against 10 Chukonu on the open battle field? Or how about against 5 Mongolian mounted archers? He's just going to be among a field of corpses like a common soldier, peppered by arrows, or impaled by heavy cavalry, or blasted by gunpowder.

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true, but I´m looking for a chinese Alexander the great or even legendary warriors like the Spartans.

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Who is that in your Avatar

greatboi said:

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true, but I´m looking for a chinese Alexander the great or even legendary warriors like the Spartans.

---------- Post added at 11:36 AM ---------- Previous post was at 11:35 AM ----------

Who is that in your Avatar

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The Chinese Alexander would be Huo Qubing of the West Han dynasty. He conquered anything and everything. He's the one who destroyed the Huns and pushed them out of Asia once and for all. Under his command, the Chinese army pushed all the way to east Europe. I think you can still find Chinese monuments in Afghanistan built by Huo, warning the Huns never to come back to Asia. Otherwise, they would be crushed. And he did all this before he was 24. Like Alexander, he died young as well. AND like Alexander, he drank questionable water and died of infections.

greatboi said:

true, but I´m looking for a chinese Alexander the great or even legendary warriors like the Spartans.

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There are plenty of generals that would outmatch Alexander. Yue Fei, Han Xin, Bai Qi. Remember, armchair generals talk strategy, real generals talk logistics. Most of the famous battles in Chinese history involved numbers far larger than what Alexander and the Persians could muster. Fielding and supplying those numbers is what logistics is all about. Alexander's Macedonians had nothing on the Chinese when it came to logistics.

As for "groups" of warriors like the Spartans (do you have a lot of Greek friends or something?), the Shaolin Monks come to mind. The difference is, Shaolin Monks are not soldiers. They trained in martial arts for self defence and personal enlightenment, not for warfare.

There is a legend of 13 Shaolin Monks who rescued the future Emperor of Tang Dynasty from the armies of a warlord. However, modern historians dispute that account, saying that the Tang Emperor (Li Shiming) never mentioned being captured or rescued. What they did find, however, was an account of 13 monks infiltrating into a fortified city and capturing the leader of the enemy army alive, causing chaos amongst the enemy ranks and allowing the Tang army to capture the city.

My point is not about Musashi, it's about how even the greatest warriors have trouble displaying their prowess on the Chinese battlefield.
But I digress and will watch for now.