Links Books

People's Liberation Army Navy sailors stand at attention during a visit by Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Gary Roughead aboard the People's Liberation Army Navy type 920 hospital ship Daishandao

Until the early 1990s, the navy performed a subordinate role to the PLA Land Forces. Since then, it has undergone rapid modernisation. With a personnel strength of over 250,000, the PLAN also includes the 35,000 strong Coastal Defence Force and the 56,000 man Naval infantry/Marines, plus a 56,000 PLAN Aviation naval air arm operating several hundred land-based aircraft and ship-based helicopters.

Links

People's Liberation Army Navy overview

Sinodefence.com independent analysis

Battleships & Battlecruisers the Chinese navy from the 19th century to the present

Books

The Great Wall at Sea: China's Navy Enters the Twenty-First Century by Bernard Cole published by US Naval Institute Press, 2001

China's Naval Power by Srikanth Kondapall published by Knowledge World, 2001

The Chinese Steam Navy, 1862-1945 by Richard Wright published by Chatham, 2000

China Goes to Sea: Maritime Transformation in Comparative Historical Perspective by Andrew Erickson published by Naval Institute Press, 2009