Ever since Chinese civilization was founded, organized military forces have existed throughout China. The recorded military history of China extends from about 2200 BC to the present day. In Chinese long history there are many strong troops that changed Chinese or even the world history. Here we have this post for you about the top 10 largest armies of China their activities.

1. Qin Dynasty Army

Qin Shihuang, the first emperor that united China had one of the strongest Chinese armies in Chinese history. His kingdom became strong after Shang Yang`s political and economic reforms which enhanced the national power. With the assistance of the statesman Li Si, Qin Shihuang implemented the national policy of prosperous country and strong military might, building the state of Qin the greatest power among the warring states. In 221 B. C., after conquering the other six states, Ying Zheng established the Qin Empire, the first feudal autocratic empire of China.

2. The Monglian Army

The Monglian army ruled by Genghis Khan can be called the powerful army in the world ever. The Mongol Empire covered almost All of Asia and some parts of Eastern Europe. The Mongol troop killed anyone who got in their way and nobody could stopped them. Even the Abbasid Islamic Empire couldn’t stop them. The only reason they didn’t conquer Western Europe was because their king got sick. Otherwise, who knows how the history of the world could’ve changed considering that Western Europe took over the entire world.

3. Manchu Eight Banners

The banner system was established by Nurhaci in the early seventeenth century. The Eight Banners consisted of three principal ethnic components: the Manchu, the Han, and the Mongols, and various smaller ethnic groups. That family and its troops eventually defeated the Ming dynasty and in 1644 became emperors of China, where they ruled as the Qing dynasty. They ruled over a population that was mostly “Han Chinese.”

4. Yue Family Army

Yue Family Army led by Song Dynasty general Yue Fei was another powerful troops in ancient China, Yue Fei carefully selected troops and trained about a hundred troops on an individual basis, his soldiers could defeat an enemy’s troops several times his army’s size. His army once defeated an enemy said to be 500,000 strong with only 800 soldiers on the outskirts of today’s Kaifeng. So a commander of Jin sighed, ‘It is easier to shake Mount Tai than to shake Yue Fei’s army.’

5. Han Dynasty Army

China had an incredible population in comparison to the rest of the world at the time of the Han Dynasty. Han Dynasty possessed armies of hundreds of thousands of soldiers. The government made the best of their massive army; soldiers were well equipped with steel swords, plate and scale mails, and their new invention, crossbows and bolts. The soldiers were also well trained by skilled generals. The powerful military dominated their neighboring nations in twenty five significant military campaigns throughout the dynasty; expanding into Manchuria, Mongolia, Central Asia and the South Tropics. The government was responsible for developing a simply large army into a great and skilled one. They provided the army with quality equipment and employed the generals who trained the soldiers. The expansion directly improved the Chinese economy and the size of the empire.

6. Beifu Army

Beifu Army ruled by Xie Xuan was a strong army in Chinese history. Xie Xuan recruited elite soldiers and eventually, Xie put together an army that was the most elite of the Jin forces, known as the Beifu Forces. His army first distinguished itself in 378, when Former Qin forces made simultaneous attacks on the important Jin cities Xiangyang, Weixing, and Pengcheng. Later his army, which was numerically inferior to his enemy, decisively defeated the army of Fu Jian of the Former Qin in 383 Fei River Battle. The battle is considered to be one of the most significant battles in the history of China, with the far-reaching consequences of postponing the unification of China by more than two hundred years.

7. Ming Dynasty Navy

The Hongwu Emperor (ruled 1368–98) had its empire’s standing army over one million troops and the navy’s dockyards in Nanjing were the largest in the world. The emperor ordered Zheng He to led seven enormous voyages of exploration into the Indian Ocean as far as Arabia and the coast of Africa. Zheng He’s journeys took him to 37 countries over 28 years as part of the mightiest fleet that ever sailed, with 300 ships and 28,000 sailors. It wasn’t until the First World War that a bigger flotilla took to the seas.

8. Tang Dynasty Army

The Tang Dynasty (618 – 907) had superb military power starting from the reunification of the whole nation at the end of the Sui Dynasty until around 907. This military power was basically founded during the Zhen Guan Reign of Emperor Taizong who was good at using strategies and was strong enough to personally launch expeditions against other ethnic groups. Tang’s military domination reached to the northern area of the Mongolian Plateau. Apart from it, the Gaogouli areas including the northeastern China and the northern Korean Peninsula, and the Baiji area including the southwestern Korean Peninsula, were within Tang’s domination. In the 7th century, the territory of the Tang Dynasty even included Central Asia.

9. Guan Ning Cavalry

Guan Ning Cavalry ruled by Yuan Chonghuan (1584-1630) was a strong troops of the late Ming Dynasty His army defeated Nurhaci and the Manchu army in the Battle of Ningyuan. Nurhaci’s son and successor, Huang Taiji, was also defeated by him in the Battle of Ningjin.

10. People’s Liberation Army

The People’s Liberation Army (PLA in short) is the military arm of the Communist Party of China and armed forces of the People’s Republic of China, consisting of land, sea, strategic missile and air forces. The PLA is the world’s largest military force, with approximately 3 million members, and has the world’s largest standing army, with approximately 2.25 million members.

During the Second Sino-Japanese War from 1937 to 1945, the army primarily used guerrilla warfare, fought a few battles with the Japanese while consolidating their ground by annexing nationalist troops and paramilitary forces behind the Japanese lines. After winning the war with Japanese, the army fought for 5 years and eventually won the Chinese Civil War. In November 1950, the PLA or People’s Volunteer Army joined the Korean War as so called “United Nations” forces led by MacArthur approached the Yalu River, the border of China with Korea. Chinese forces drove MacArthur’s forces out of North Korea. In 1962, the PLA also fought India in the Sino-Indian War successfully neutralizing Indian defenses and achieving all objectives.