Chinese (Age of Empires III)

The Chinese are a civilization in both Age of Empires II and Age of Empires III. The Shang in Age of Empires were also a Chinese civilization. The Chinese civilisation is one of the three new Asian Civilisations available in the Age of Empires III: The Asian Dynasties Expansion. They are widely considered to be an offensive civilisation due to their strength early in the game and are a popular faction to utilize.

Warfare
Along with a higher population cap, many Chinese wonders spawn free units, giving the Chinese a numerical advantage. In addition, the Chinese also train units relatively fast, although these units, like the Russians, are slightly weaker than ordinary units. Nevertheless, not all of the Chinese units are weak. The Flying Crow, a form of ballistic rocket, can be spawned with the Confucian Academy wonder. The flamethrower, a devastating anti-infantry unit, can be trained from the castle from The Fortress Age. Also, instead of a separate barracks and stable, the Chinese train their troops in the joint War Academy. The Chinese army has various units not seen in other civilisations, such as the Chinese Chu Ko Nu, a crossbow unit with an enhanced firing rate and easy to mass, but with low hit points, or the Changdao Swordsman, a cheap hand infantry unit, like a very weak version of the samurai , that can serve as an anti-cavalry troop in numbers. The Chinese also have interesting cavalry units such as the Iron flail, a heavy horseman, the steppe rider, a raiding unit, the Keshik , a cheap mounted archer, and Meteor hammer , which specialises in wrecking artillery.

Economy
The Chinese have access to unique Migration cards which replace the Villager shipments. These cards spawn one villager at every village and town center. It also has cards to spawn a goat and a buffalo in the same way. Instead of the house, the Chinese build villages, which are a combination of an outpost, a house and a livestock pen. Villagers are even able to garrison in it, and with cards, it can even fire upon enemies. Villages provide 20 pop. slots but this number can be upgraded to a maximum of 35. The Chinese are a favourite among many players as it access to an extremely impressive card deck. There is a card that ships an additional Shaolin master. Another card spawns a fully fattened goat and a villager at every village and town center. One card allows the irregular, the Asian militia, to be trained at all villages. The "Confucius' Gift" card allows technology to be researched very quickly. The Chinese can also send special banner armies from the home city such as Iron Cap Prince's army or Ever Victorious army, but at a high price.

Banner Armies
A unique ability of the Chinese is the it those not train units individually. Instead the civilisation recruits Banner Armies, which train a set combination of different units. The Banner armies allow specific sets of soldiers to be massed quickly, however, it is not without drawbacks. For example, if the enemy masses large numbers of cavalry, the Chinese are not able to counter this by specifically recruiting anti-cavalry units. Also, cheap units such as Arquebusiers are often mixed with expensive units such as artillery, negating the advantage of low costs.

The Banner Armies available for recruitment

The Old Han Army: 3 Chu Ko Nu, 3 Qiang Pikeman 255 Food, 180 Wood, available in the Colonial Age.

Standard Army: 3 Chu Ko Nu, 2 Steppe Rider 255 Food, 170 Gold, available in the Colonial Age.

Ming Army: 2 Qiang Pikeman, 3 Keshik 345 Food, 120 Wood, available in the Colonial Age.

Territorial Army: 3 Changdao, 3 Arquebusier 285 Food, 255 Gold, available in the Fortress age.

Forbidden Army: 2 Iron Flail, 2 Meteor Hammer 480 Food, 350 Gold, available in the Fortress Age.

Imperial Army: 3 Arquebusier, 2 Iron Flail 480 Food, 255 Gold, available in the Fortress Age.

Mongolian Army: 3 Keshik, 3 Hand Mortar 495 Food, 270 Gold, available in the Fortress Age.

Black Flag Army: 3 Arquebusier, 1 Flamethrower 170 Wood, 425 Gold, available in the Fortress Age.

History
The Chinese faction in Age of Empires 3 is based on the army of the the Great Qing Empire during the reign of the Kangxi Emperor. The Qing Dynasty, or Manchu Dynasty, was the last imperial dynasty to rule China, being founded in the year 1644 and ending in 1912. Originally named the Later Jin Dynasty, it was renamed the Qing (clear) in 1636. The house of Aisin Gioro, which founded the Qing Dynasty, was flourishing in Manchuria and was planning to invade China when Li Zicheng, a Ming official, revolted, forcing the last Ming Emperor to commit suicide. The Manchus allied with a Ming General, Wu Sangui, to overthrow Li Zicheng's short-lived Shun Dynasty. Wu is still considered by traditionalist scholars as a traitor to both Ming and Qing Dynasties after attempting to declare himself Emperor. Under the third Qing emperor, the Kangxi Emperor, China was finally united and pacified around 1683. The empire entered a so-called third Golden Age under the new regime's rule.

The banner army system in the game reflects the real-life "Eight Banners" system during the Qing dynasty under which all families of the Manchus were systematically placed. The banner system had three ethnic components: the Manchus, the Han, and the Mongols. At first, Chinese additions were merely sprinkled into existing banners as reinforcements, but eventually, the vast numbers of Han Chinese available were simply too large, prompting the ruling Manchus to form the first Chinese banner army, the "Old Han Army" as an infantry support. Soon after, by 1631, a Chinese artillery banner army was also formed. By 1639, four were formed, and finally by 1642 there were eight banner armies.

The Banner system proved only effective for the pacification of China. By the eighteenth century, the Qing Empire had reached its acme, with both population and commerce booming. However, following this period, the regime was thoroughly weakened by internal strife and centralised control was marred by frequent rebellions. It became increasingly apparent of the uselessness of the system in the face of the new modern warfare the Europeans were bringing to Chinese shores. The weakening of the Qing is reflected in-game as the eventual weakening of the Chinese civilisation in the later ages of the game.

As the end of the Qing Dynasty drew close, massive disorder throughout society had begun. In response to these threats, the Empress Dowager Cixi issued an imperial edict, officially opening the empire to western reform by abolishing the 1300 year-old Chinese Imperial Examinations and founding a national education system. The decree proved to be an utter failure when Cixi and the Guangxu emperor both died in 1908, leaving an unstable power vacuum led by the child emperor, Puyi, who was only two. This eventually led to the Wu Chang uprising, with its leader, Sun Yat-Sen declaring their headquarters in Nanking independent as the Republic of China. One after another, provinces began revolting against Qing authority. A desperate Qing dragged the reluctant Yuan Shikai, whom they had recently removed, to retake command of the Beiyang army with the objective of crushing the revolution. Yuan negotiated to have Puyi's regent removed, firmly putting him in complete control of the empire. Yuan decided that it was not beneficial for the country if he were to fight the rebels. He then proceeded to negotiate with Sun Yat-Sen, who was seeking republican reform. After several discussions, it was decreed that the last emperor, Puyi, was to abdicate, ending the Qing Dynasty.

Wonders
Like other Asian civilisations, the Chinese age up by building Wonders. The following is a list of wonders available to the Chinese and the bonuses they provide. This Wonder auto-spawns the Flying Crow unit. Similar to the factory in European civilisations, the tower provides a small trickle rate of resources or XP, depending on the players choice. Like the Japanese Dojo, this Wonder spawns a Banner Army of the player's choice. This enables an aura which causes all Chinese units on the map to auto-heal. It also gives the Shaolin master the ability to heal units not engaged in combat. Increases the attack and hit points of the Shaolin master and his Disciples. Also, it increases the number cap for Disciples.
 * Confucian AcademyChina_-_confusian_temple.jpg
 * Porcelain Tower
 * Summer Palace
 * Temple of Heaven
 * White Pagoda