Chinese Military adopting ‘Human Abacuses’ to counter Smart Device Failures.

China is harnessing an ancient mental calculation technique to train soldiers as “human abacuses” for high-stakes combat scenarios where advanced technology might fail. The initiative reflects China’s strategic push to blend traditional methods, such as the abacus and paper-based calculations, with modern warfare tactics.

As an example of the approach, CCTV highlighted the feats of Captain Xu Meiduo, a stand-out in the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) land forces. The state broadcaster showed a recent drill simulating radar failure in which Xu predicted the trajectories of three targets in just seconds by analysing their direction, altitude and speed using mental mathematical techniques and analogue tools. Her flawless calculations enabled precise targeting, showcasing the technique’s effectiveness, CCTV reported in the programme first aired in August.

The programme highlighting Xu’s skills has been aired repeatedly, aligning with China’s high-profile Victory Day grand military parade on September 03, followed by the National Day celebrations on 01st October, moments designed to bolster domestic confidence. Initially developed to streamline logistics calculations, such as the consumption of military supplies, the PLA’s abacus programme has expanded since 2019 to include combat applications.

According to China’s military media outlet, the PLA Daily, it now aids infantry and artillery units in determining optimal firing times and helps soldiers to maintain focus under pressure. “Once hi-tech equipment is destroyed at war, such human computing power could be a strong backup”, a PLA officer told the CCTV programme.

China and the United States are racing to incorporate advanced technologies in faster, smarter strategies for conflict. Since President Xi Jinping took the helm in 2013, the Chinese military has been rapidly deploying cutting-edge intercontinental missiles, laser and microwave systems and AI-powered drones that are low-cost and agile on the battlefield in a bid to gain an edge in modern warfare technology.

While the Victory Day parade showcased these technological advancements, little is known publicly about the training and quality of Chinese soldiers.

In an interview last month, US Secretary of the Army Daniel Driscoll suggested that Chinese soldiers might lack the rigorous training of their American counterparts. He noted that while China’s economy and manufacturing capacity were formidable, potentially enabling rapid incorporation of technology into wartime tools, its reliance on smart systems could be a vulnerability. “When those capabilities are degraded in combat, it comes down to human soldiers and commanders’ intent”, Driscoll said. “I don’t know that they have invested in and continue to invest i] and train these exquisite human beings like we have in our soldiers, that at that moment where it kind of all degrades back to just humans on the ground with commander’s intent, who’s going to win? I am incredibly optimistic that our soldiers win that fight every single time”, he said.

The CCTV programme shed some light on the training of Chinese soldiers. The PLA’s abacus and mental arithmetic special team, established in 1994, trains people as young as eight. Xu Meiduo, who had joined at the age of 11, has won multiple national and international abacus competitions. She now teaches those skills to soldiers in other PLA units.

The abacus, a cornerstone of Chinese mathematical practice for centuries, remains a popular educational tool in Chinese-speaking regions, South Korea and Japan. Although its popularity has waned in China in recent years with the rise of computers and artificial intelligence, many people still believe it builds strong foundational maths skills and improves cognitive abilities, such as memory and concentration.

WHAT HISTORY HAS TO SAY:

While dating back to history, it is evitable that Captain Xu Meiduo is not the pioneering genius in the introduction of Abacus in Chinese Defence Matrix; it is Huang Xuhua, who is now 93 years of age had first developed China’s first nuclear submarine with the aid of an abacus, in the late 1950’s.

Huang Xuhua, chief designer of the Long March-1, said he still owns one of the ‘suanpan’ [abacuses] that were used by his team almost 68 years ago.

Lots of critical data used in the development of the nuclear submarine jumped out from this suanpan, he had quoted. Often referred to as the “Father of China’s nuclear subs”, Huang worked for China Shipbuilding Industry Corporation, which had several abacus calculation teams divided into specialist sections, he said. Scientists “attacked the beads on their abacuses until every section reached the same result”, he said, adding that the constant clattering was enough to make entire buildings “rattle from dawn until dusk”.

The Chinese abacus dates back to about 200BC. Traditional designs featured a bamboo frame with beads that could be pushed up or down. Even today, skilled users can perform mathematical calculations on them as quickly as they can on a calculator.

Zhang Jinlan, one of the experts who has worked on nuclear submarines at China Shipbuilding Industry Corporation, has asserted that for designers working today, trying to build a vessel using an abacus would be a “mission impossible”. “This is not simple addition, subtraction, multiplication and division, but involves algorithms and models with sophisticated mathematical language, such as trigonometric functions and logarithms”.

Huang, however, reiterated that by doing the calculations by hand he and his fellow scientists were able to overcome many challenging technical issues. Such was their success that they came up with five original designs in a period of just three months, the report said.

The first Long March-1 was completed in 1970 and went into military service four years later. It was retired last year and is now on exhibition at a naval museum in Qingdao, eastern China’s Shandong province.

In India since the beginning of the 21st Century, Abacus has gained momentum, since it has been institutionalised, to a mammoth proportion. Several Abacus training centres have been commissioned, with those facility centres divulging modus operandi with the parents enabling them to groom their wards at home.

Team Maverick