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Chinese (Age of Empires II)

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This article is about the civilization in Age of Empires II: The Age of Kings. For other appearances of the Chinese in the series, see Chinese.
Civilization Technology tree Strategy
Civilization Technology tree Strategy

“ Receive the Mandate of Heaven, nourish a large population with the bounty of the fertile river valleys of China, and command your people to build an empire stretching to the four corners of the earth! Guide your scholars and craftsmen towards outstanding technological discoveries and apply them to your vast armies. Will your fearsome Chu Ko Nu, armed with rapid-firing mechanical crossbows, be enough to lead your armies to victory against the wily enemies beyond your borders? ”
—Description[1]

The Chinese are an East Asian civilization in Age of Empires II. They are descendants of the Shang civilization, which inhabited the same area. The Chinese civilization is based on the Tang, Song, Yuan, and Ming dynasties of medieval China. In the game, they focus on archers and gunpowder units.

The Chinese appear as the Shang in Age of Empires, and as a civilization also appear in subsequent games (Age of Empires III: The Asian Dynasties, Age of Mythology: Tale of the Dragon, and Age of Empires IV), making the Chinese the only playable civilization that appear in every Age of Empires game. In all future installments of the Chinese civilization, they share the same characteristic of the Chinese of Age of Empires II being a "jack of all trades" civilization with very complex gameplay mechanics.

With update 141935 preceeding the release of The Three Kingdoms, the Chinese were reworked to represent the early developments and innovations of gunpowder during the Jin–Song wars (such as the Rocket Cart, Fire Lancer, and Lou Chuan), and the Jurchens and Khitans were added to represent the ethnic diversity of the Sinosphere. Additionally, the Wei, Wu, and Shu civilizations represent the major kingdoms during the Three Kingdoms period of China.

Characteristics[]

Unique unit[]

Unique technologies[]

Civilization bonuses[]

Team bonus[]

Farms and Pastures contain +10% food.[note 1]

Overview[]

The Chinese are a very versatile civilization with an overall incredible technology tree. Their foot archers get every upgrade available, and their Cavalry Archers only lack Parthian Tactics. Their unique unit, the Chu Ko Nu, has a massive damage output thanks to its extra arrows and is relatively effective against the standard archer counters. Another powerful ranged option is the Chinese Scorpion, as Rocketry grants them +25% attack. While not the strongest, their infantry and cavalry are decent, with a strong array of technologies and upgrades available.

The Chinese's flexibility is mainly brought on by their technology discount, saving a lot of resources throughout the game, and keeping them ahead of the technology curve. Furthermore, they start with an additional 3 Villagers from the start of the game, giving them a large head-start that persists for a while. Their Farms also have +10% food, which is also shared with their teammates. Their navy is solid, missing only the Cannon Galleon, but gaining the Dragon Ship and the Lou Chuan. Their Monks are average, lacking Redemption but still having every other upgrade. Their defenses are particularly good, with the only hole being Hoardings, as well as Great Wall and a fairly diverse mix of counter units.

While the Chinese are very well-rounded, they do have several notable weaknesses. The most notable is that they start with -200 food, -50 wood. This means that they are forced to manually drop off and require more practice and micromanagement to start than the average civilization. Even when the player knows what they are doing, they must still watch out for poor resource locations or laming by opponents. Their siege tree is mediocre, as they lack Siege Engineers and the Bombard Cannon, though the Heavy Rocket Cart is more effective against units than the generic Siege Onager. The lack of Bombard Cannons in particular, along with the lack of Redemption, means they are forced to use their cavalry options against enemy siege.

Overall, the Chinese is a well-rounded civilization with a multitude of strong options throughout the mid and late game. While they have a higher learning curve than most civilizations due to their difficult start, the practice is well worth it. Their strong economy and wide array of options lead to them being a powerhouse that can counter most civilizations while being hard to counter themselves.

Changelog[]

The Age of Kings[]

The Conquerors[]

  • Now start the game with –50 wood (from standard starting wood).
  • With patch 1.0b, they start the game with less food (–150 food → –200 food).
  • Town Centers provide +5 population space.
  • Their Fire Ship could not be upgraded further (to the Fast Fire Ship).
  • They have a civilization bonus: Demolition Ships have +50% hit points.
  • Rocketry has a base cost of 750 wood, 750 gold. It increases Chu Ko Nu attack by +2, and Scorpion attack by +4.

The Forgotten[]

  • New civilization bonus: Town Centers gain +5 Line of Sight.
  • Non-Elite Chu Ko Nu train faster (19 → 16 seconds).

Definitive Edition[]

  • With update 34699:
    • The Chinese receive Block Printing.
    • Their three extra Villagers are tied to their initial Town Center, so in Nomad type maps, they will show up when the Town Center is constructed. Previously, they generated at the start like the standard three Villagers.
  • With update 36202, Redemption is removed from their tech tree.
  • With update 37650, Supplies was removed from their technology tree.

Dawn of the Dukes[]

Return of Rome[]

  • With update 87863, technology bonus decreased by 5% (10% (Feudal Age)/15% (Castle Age)/20% (Imperial Age) → 5%/10%/15% cheaper).

The Mountain Royals[]

  • With update 99311, Town Centers provide +10 population space and +7 Line of Sight.

Chronicles: Battle for Greece[]

  • With update 141935, several aspects of the civilization were reworked:
    • The Chinese are described as an archer and gunpowder civilization.
    • The Chinese gain the Dragon Ship as a unique upgrade for the Fire Ship, where previously their Fire Ships were not upgradeable.
    • They gain access to the new regional units Rocket Cart, Fire Lancer, and Lou Chuan.
    • They lose access to the Mangonel, Camel Rider, and Cannon Galleon lines.
    • They lose the Demolition Ship hit point bonus and gain a new civilization bonus: Fire Ships and Fire Lancers move 5%/10% faster in the Castle/Imperial Ages, respectively.
    • Elite Chu Ko Nu have a base pierce attack of 10.
    • The Elite Chu Ko Nu upgrade has a base cost of 1,300 food, 1,300 gold.
    • Rocketry has a base cost of 1,100 food, 900 gold. It increases the attack of Lou Chuans, Rocket Carts, and Scorpions by +25%, and allows Lou Chuans to fire rockets at enemy units.

Campaign appearances[]

The Chinese are the playable civilization in the Lake Poyang (reworked version of Langshan Jiang before the Definitive Edition) scenario from the Historical Battles campaign (Battles of the Forgotten before the Definitive Edition) and the scenario Xie An in Victors and Vanquished. They also appear as AI players in:

Genghis Khan[]

  • Into China
    • Engineers - Enemy
    • Jin - Enemy
    • Xi Xia - Enemy
    • Tanguts - Enemy
    • Song - Enemy

Battles of the Conquerors[]

Alaric[]

Battles of the Forgotten[]

  • Langshan Jiang (This scenario is played as the Chinese)
    • Peng Yanzhang - Enemy
    • River Pirates - Enemy → Ally
    • Temple Complex - Ally
    • Chinese Peasants - Ally
    • Wu Army - Enemy
    • Wuyue - Ally → Neutral
    • Wu Navy - Enemy

Historical Battles[]

  • Lake Poyang (This scenario is played as the Chinese)
    • Admiral Chen - Enemy
    • Pirates - Enemy → Ally
    • Nanchang - Ally
    • Chinese Peasants - Ally
    • Han Army - Enemy
    • Nanchang Temple - Ally
    • Han Navy - Enemy

Gajah Mada[]

Bayinnaung[]

Le Loi[]

Victors and Vanquished[]

  • Temujin
    • Xi Xia - Ally → Potential enemy
    • Great Jin - Ally → Potential enemy
  • Xie An:
    • Xie Shi - Ally
    • Fu Rong - Enemy

Liu Bei[]

Cao Cao[]

The Art of War[]

In-game dialogue language[]

In-game, Chinese units anachronistically speak modern Mandarin Chinese (Chinese: 普通話, Hanyu Pinyin: Pǔtōnghuà). Historically, the Chinese would have spoken either Old Mandarin during the later Jin dynasty and Yuan dynasty, or Middle Chinese during the Tang and Song dynasties.

Villager
Military
Monk
King

AI player names[]

When playing a random map game against the computer, the player may encounter any of the following Chinese AI characters:

  • Chen Qingzhi (陈庆之/陳慶之): A prominent general of the Southern Liang. He is best known for his campaign in 530 to crush Northern Wei.
  • Li Jing (李靖): A Chinese military general, strategist, and writer who lived in the early Tang dynasty. Was most active during the reign of Emperor Taizong.
  • Li Shimin (李世民): Personal name of Emperor Taizong, the second emperor of the Tang dynasty; lived 598–649. His reign brought forth the golden age of Chinese history, as China saw its empire expand into central Asia and flourished economically, militarily, and politically.
  • Su Dingfang (蘇定方): A general of the Chinese Tang Dynasty who succeeded in destroying the Western Turkic Khaganate in 657.
  • Wen Tianxiang (文天祥): A scholar-general from the Southern Song dynasty known for resisting Kublai Khan's invasion and refusal to submit before the Yuan dynasty; lived 1236–1283.
  • Wu Zetian (武则天/武則天): Empress-consort of the Zhou dynasty and the only female sovereign of China; lived 624–705.
  • Yang Jian (杨坚/楊堅): Personal name of Emperor Wen of Sui, the first emperor of the Sui dynasty; lived 541–604.
  • Yue Fei (岳飞/岳飛): A general from the Southern Song dynasty known for leading the Song in the wars against the Jurchen Jin in the 12th century; lived 1103–1142.
  • Zhao Kuangyin (赵匡胤/趙匡胤): Personal name of Emperor Taizu of Song, the founder and the first emperor of the Song dynasty; lived 927–976.
  • Zheng He (郑和/鄭和): A Ming dynasty admiral notable for his expeditionary voyages to the rest of Asia and Africa; lived 1371–1433/1435.
  • Zhu Di (朱棣): Personal name of Yongle Emperor, the third emperor of the Ming dynasty; lived 1360–1424.
  • Zhu Yuanzhang (朱元璋): Personal name of Hongwu Emperor, the founder and the first emperor of the Ming dynasty; lived 1328–1398. He was the leader of the Ming Army in the Battle of Lake Poyang.

The following AI players are only present before the Definitive Edition:

  • Li zi-cheng (李自成): Born Li Hongji (李鸿基/李鴻基), leader of the rebels who overthrew the Ming dynasty and the emperor of the short-lived Shun dynasty; lived 1606–1645.
  • Lin Chong (林冲): A fictional character in the Ming-dynasty novel Water Margin.
  • Mu Gui-ying (穆桂英): A legendary heroine from the Northern Song dynasty.

History[]

“ China was reunited in 581 AD after a long period of internal war by the founders of the Sui dynasty. For most of the 1000 years that followed, China was one of the largest and most advanced civilization in the world. Because of its geographic isolation from the West, it was able to develop and maintain a unique culture that spread its influence over much of Asia.

An emperor generally held supreme power as the son of heaven. Natural disasters or other calamities were taken as proof that the mandate of heaven had been withdrawn, however, and could justify revolt. Mandarins were conservative civil servants who operated most of the government at the local, province, and imperial level. Mandarins earned their positions by passing detailed civil service examinations based mainly on the works of Confucius. 		”


“ The T'ang dynasty ruled China from 618 to 907. China under the T'ang was large, wealthy, and powerful. There was extensive foreign trade and interest in the arts among the upper class. Printing and gunpowder were invented. The last 100 years of T'ang rule witnessed tumultuous peasant revolts, however, and wars between local military rulers that the imperial court could not end. The years from 907 to 960 were known as the Five Dynasties period. Northern China was held by barbarians, and southern China split into 10 rival states. From one of these, an army general named Zhao Kuang-ying seized power and unified the southern states, founding the Song dynasty. His descendants reunited China within 20 years.

The Song dynasty ruled at least part of China until 1279. This was another period of cultural brilliance, and it was considered the great age of Chinese landscape painting. There was a dramatic improvement in economic activity, including a large overseas trade. Population and cities grew, food production grew faster than population, a money economy developed, and industrial output increased. No city in Europe could approach the populations of Chang An, Beijing, and Guang Zhou, all with more than 2 million inhabitants.

The wealth of China attracted enemies, however, and the Mongols began attacks in 1206. By 1279 they had completed the conquest of Song China and moved the capital to Beijing. The dramatic economic improvement of the Song dynasty ended with the Mongol conquests and the estimated 30 million deaths that they caused. The Mongol Yuan dynasty reunited China and reestablished it as a great military and world power. Chinese influence was spread into Asia. Hanoi was captured three times and tribute was extracted from Burma. Trade with India, Arabia, and the Persian Gulf was developed. Marco Polo visited China during this period.

Natural disasters and higher taxes in the fourteenth century caused rural rebellions. A Buddhist monk rose to be one of the leaders of the Red Turbans, a secret society opposed to the emperor in Beijing. The rebels seized Nanjing in 1356 and drove the Mongols from Beijing 12 years later, establishing the Ming dynasty. The Ming presided over another cultural flowering and established a political unity that outlasted the Ming and continued into the twentieth century. The Ming clamped down a strict conservatism and isolation, however, discouraging change and innovation, banning foreign travel, and closing the Silk Road.

Some of the most noteworthy aspects of medieval China are the technologies that were invented there, usually many centuries before a similar technology was invented in, or transmitted to, the West. Important Chinese inventions included the compass, the wheelbarrow, the abacus, the horse harness, the stirrup, the clock, iron-casting, steel, paper, moveable type (printing), paper money, gunpowder, and the stern-post rudder. 		”
—[1]

Trivia[]

  • The Chinese civilization icon is based on traditional Chinese knotting (中国结; Zhongguo Jie).
  • The user interface is a Chinese dragon (中国龙; Zhongguo Long), which has been the symbol of the emperor holding the mandate of heaven.
  • Counting the Shang, the Chinese are the only civilization to appear in all five titles of the Age of Empires series and its spinoffs, including their respective expansion packs.
  • During the Alpha development of the game, the Chinese were referred to as "Sung" to reflect the Song Dynasty.
  • The Chinese and the Koreans received a rework in update 141935 in the lead up to The Three Kingdoms, making them the third and fourth civilizations to receive a rework (after the Indians and Persians).
    • The rework for the Chinese is similar to the rework of their counterpart in Age of Mythology: Retold - Immortal Pillars, as the rework was not only done for an expansion related to the Three Kingdoms period, but the Chinese were reworked to accurately reflect various military and technological innovations from their respective time periods. In this case, the Chinese were reworked to accurately reflect the early development of gunpowder during the Song dynasty.
  • For gameplay purpose, developers do not give the in-game Chinese civilization many technologies historically invented by real-life Chinese:
    • The Chinese were most famous for their advanced fortification techniques, heavily walled cities (which aided Chinese defenders as late as World War II), and excellent siege engineers. Chinese siege engineers were instrumental to the rapid Mongol conquest of Persia and Russia, yet ironically the Mongols have a better siege line than the Chinese, who do not even receive Siege Engineers. This may be to refer to the newer siege weapon developments in the middle east being adopted by the Mongols, such as Kublai Khan bringing in Arab siege engineers to construct Counterweight Trebuchets to successfully destroy the Southern Song dynasty holdout at the Battle of Xiangyang.
    • Prior to The Three Kingdoms, the Chinese lacked access to the Bombard Cannon and Hand Cannoneer despite these being Chinese inventions. This is because the Chinese were loosely based on the Song dynasty, where gunpowder was used in more primitive forms as opposed to later dynasties (e.g. Ming dynasty), when developments in cannons and muskets were made in China. The Chinese were reworked to represent the various innovations in gunpowder during the Song dynasty.
      • The lack of Bombard Cannon and Hand Cannoneer (and prior to update 34699, Block Printing) in their tech tree is often used as a meme within the community when discussing historical accuracy and gameplay balance for civilizations depicted in the game. They are the only civilization which is labeled as a gunpowder civilization to lack both the Hand Cannoneer and the Bombard Cannon.
    • The Chinese historically had a tradition of mounted archery since the Warring States period, often adopting mounted archery techniques from nomadic tribes such as Xiongnu and Xianbei (the latter being one of the ancestors to the Mongols). Various medieval Chinese dynasties continued to adopt mounted archery as means of fighting toe-on-toe against various nomadic tribes (i.e. Tibetans, eastern Turkic tribes, Mongols) or the sedentary Jurchens; and some Imperial examinations require expertise in mounted archery to hold certain military positions in the government. Despite this, the Chinese do not have access to Parthian Tactics (although upgrading their cavalry archers is cheaper thanks to their civilization bonus).
      • Their average Heavy Cavalry Archers is comparable to their predecessor civilization, the Shang, where they lack an important upgrade for their mounted archers but have all other upgrades for them (in the case of the Shang, they miss out on Alchemy for their Heavy Horse Archer).
  • While the Chinese civilization is supposed to represent various Chinese dynasties within the medieval time period, the Chinese in-game also represent various non-Han ethnic groups within China, some of which formed their own "conquest dynasties" (i.e. Mongol-ruled Yuan dynasty, the Tangut Xi Xia, the Khitan Liao dynasty, the Jurchen Jin Dynasty) which were also considered "Chinese" dynasties. This is reflected in the Into China scenario, where the Chinese civilization was once used as the umbrella civilization to represent the Tangut and Jin cultures; and the first two scenarios of the Bayinnaung campaign, where the Chinese civilization was used to represent the Shan people.
    • The Jurchens and Khitans were added to represent China's ethnic diversity for The Three Kingdoms, but the Tibetans (吐蕃, Tubo), a civilization often associated with the Sinosphere and an important regional power in medieval times, were not included. Both Ensemble Studios and Forgotten Empires hinted at the inclusion of Tibetans during the development of their expansions, but ended up favoring more recognizable Asian civilizations, such as the Koreans and Indians.[2][3]
      • However, Sandy Petersen clarified that the Tibetans were never considered for The Conquerors because medieval Tibetans were never seen as "conquerors". Additionally, the Chinese market was never considered with the civilization selection for said expansion due to the prevalence of software piracy in China.[4]
      • Several fanmade mods (e.g Dharma Expansion and Age of Realms) add Tibetans as a fanmade playable civilization.
    • The Tanguts, another Sino-Tibetan people within the Sinosphere, are not present in the game. Instead, elements of their culture were incorporated into the Khitans civilization (which is represented by their unique Castle model and the Mounted Trebuchet, as well as a planned update to change the Tanguts faction in the Into China scenario to Khitans).
    • The Bai, another ethnic group that had their own kingdoms in the Middle Ages (the Dali Kingdom and Nanzhao), were also not included in the game despite fan speculation about their inclusion in Three Kingdoms before the new civilizations were revealed. However, the Shu kingdom also covered Yunnan province, where the Bai people are located. The civilization is also referenced in other Age of Empires games (e.g. the Dali Horses technology in Age of Empires IV).
  • The following untrainable heroes available in the Scenario Editor are themed on the Chinese: Su Dingfang and Wang Tong. The following heroes from The Three Kingdoms are also Chinese, even though some of them concurrently also belong to Shu, Wei, or Wu: Cao Cao, Dong Zhuo, Emperor in a Litter, Guan Yu, Liu Bei, Liu Biao, Lü Bu, Sun Ce, Sun Quan, Sun Jian, White Tiger Yan, Yu Ji, Yuan Shao, Zhang Fei, Zhang Jue, Zhao Yun, Zhou Yu, and Zhuge Liang.
  • Prior to update 141935, the Chinese had access to Camel Riders, most likely due to the import of Bactrian camels when the Chinese expanded their empire into Central Asia during the Tang Dynasty. However, it is unknown if the Chinese utilized camels in warfare, although they were ridden by Silk Road merchants and used for transportation. This is a similar characteristic that the Mongols have.
    • The Chinese are the only civilization to lose access to Camel Riders, which they did in the Three Kingdoms.
  • The Chinese Wonder is also available in the Scenario Editor as a distinct building, the Temple of Heaven, which is larger than the Wonder due to including the stepped base that the main temple is built upon. It appears as a constructible building in the historical battle Lake Poyang.
  • The in-game Chinese Castle features a main gate with a tower on each side. In history, however, such flanking towers were commonly built in Europe but were rare for Chinese fortifications. Instead, Chinese gates were built with a central gate tower right on top of the gate. See for example, Jiayu Pass, Juyong Pass, Zhengyang Gate, etc.
    • Incidentally, central gate towers are ubiquitous for the in-game Castles of other East Asian civilizations (e.g., the Jurchens, Khitans, Koreans, Mongols, Vietnamese, etc).

Gallery[]

Videos[]

Notes[]

  1. ↑ The bonus is applied after Farm technologies, so a Farm with Horse Collar researched starts with food.

References[]

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 https://www.forgottenempires.net/age-of-empires-ii-definitive-edition/civilizations/chinese
  2. ↑ https://www.forgottenempires.net/age-of-empires-2-hd-the-forgotten/the-story-so-far
  3. ↑ https://aok.heavengames.com/university/game-info/general-info/conquerors-expansion/
  4. ↑ https://aoezone.net/threads/ama-with-an-original-designer-of-the-age-of-empires-franchise.188842/#post-808617
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