# HOI4 China Guide

> What China starts with in Hearts of Iron IV, what its national spirits cost it, where the focus tree leads, and the openings the wiki's own editors recommend. Written for a nation with almost no video coverage, from the game's reference wiki.

- **Game:** Hearts of Iron IV
- **Category:** Nations
- **Author:** LongBeam (https://guides-factory.com/about)
- **Difficulty:** Intermediate
- **Reading time:** 11 min
- **Published:** 2026-09-05
- **Updated:** 2026-09-05
- **Tags:** China, Focus tree, Hearts of Iron IV, hoi4, nation guide, national spirits
- **Adapted from:** [China — Hearts of Iron 4 Wiki](https://hoi4.paradoxwikis.com/China)
- **Canonical URL:** https://guides-factory.com/guides/hoi4-china-guide

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China is one of the nations the guide sites skip, which is exactly why the starting position is worth reading before the first pause. This page covers what China begins with, what its national spirits do to that, where the focus tree can take it, and the openings the wiki's own editors recommend.

## Quick answer

| What | Answer |
| --- | --- |
| Starting military factories | 8 |
| Starting civilian factories | 11 (-8) |
| National spirits at the start | Nine Power Treaty, Army Corruption, Ineffective Bureaucracy, Incompetent Officers, Low Inflation, German Military Advisors, Corruption in the Administration, Inefficient Economy, C |
| Main paths | China's unique focus tree has 7 branches, 11 sub-branches within them and 1 hidden focus: End Military Primacy Branch The Democratic branch follows Sun Yat-sen's The Political Tute |
| Source | Hearts of Iron 4 Wiki, patch 1.17 |

## What you start with

| Industry at the 1936 start | Amount |
| --- | --- |
| Military Factories | 8 |
| Naval Dockyards | 2 |
| Civilian Factories | 11 (-8) |
| Building Slots | 73 |

| Resources at the 1936 start | Amount |
| --- | --- |
| Oil | 0 |
| Aluminum | 0 |
| Rubber | 0 |
| Tungsten | 33 (-22) |
| Steel | 14 (-9) |
| Chromium | 0 |
| Coal | 3 (-2) |

## National spirits

China does not start from a clean sheet — these are on before the first day passes:

| Spirit | What it does |
| --- | --- |
| **Nine Power Treaty** | We still labor under the effects of the Unequal Treaties that formalize the "Open Door Policy" towards China. |
| **Army Corruption** | Mobilization speed: -35.00%; Division Organization: -2.0%; Division Attack: -30.0%; Division Defense: -30.0% |
| **Ineffective Bureaucracy** | Recruitable Population factor: -35.00% |
| **Incompetent Officers** | Daily Command Power Gain Multiplier: -70% |
| **Low Inflation** | Consumer Goods Factories factor: 10.0%; Factory Output: -5.00% |
| **German Military Advisors** | Land Doctrine Cost: -10.00% |
| **Corruption in the Administration** | Daily Political Power Gain: +0.35; Consumer Goods Factories factor: 25.0%; Construction Speed: -10.00%; Free repair: -25.00%; Economy Laws Cost: +65% |
| **Inefficient Economy** | Production Efficiency growth: -35.00%; Base Fuel Gain: -50.00% |
| **Corruption in the Armed Forces** | Division Organization: -5.0%; Recruitable Population Factor: -78%; Supply Consumption: +10.0%; Division Recovery Rate: -25.0%; Division Attack: -5.0%; Division Defense: -15.0%; Max Entrenchment: -1.0; Railway Construction speed: -15.00% |
| **Illicit Trade** | Consumer Goods Factories factor: -15.0%; Factory Output: -15.00% |
| **Aviation Affairs Commission** | Air Exp Gain: -20.0%; Air Accidents Chance: +25.0% |
| **Neglected Countryside** | Research Speed: -20.00%; Daily Communism Support: +0.05 |
| **Nine Power Treaty** | Consumer Goods Factories factor: 16.0%; Resources to Market: +16.0%; Justify cb time on us: -16.0% |

## The focus tree

without No Compromise, No Surrender . Chinese national focus tree. Chinese national focus tree China got a unique national focus tree as part of the Waking the Tiger expansion. Ever since the DLC's integration, it is now available in the base game.

## National Focus Tree Progression

Although there are many different ways to align the priority in which you could start developing your national focus trees, one of the best ways to do so would be in this progression. Unified Industrial Planning 2. Expand the Academy Sinica 3. Invite Foriegn Investors 4. Military Affairs Commission 5. Three Principles of the People 6.

## Democratic China(?)

Now the rest of the focus trees are generally less important or urgent, and you can complete them just for the sake of gaining a few bonuses, but one National Focus Tree Progression stands out in particular from others: The Democratic Branch. Whether or not you should take it is largely optional, if taken to the fullest you'd remove the "Inefficient Bureaucracy" debuff, but it is rarely ever a problem given the population amount of China. The most important part of this is that it increases the support for Democracy, and given enough time it would turn China into one too. It's worth noting that since Democracy will have elections held (which may remove Chiang Kai-Shek from power, ending his "Generalissimo" buff), and disallows you to to justify war acts against nations that haven't raised World Tensions, it prevents you from going on a World Conquest, which may be a hindrance to a certain playstyle, (say, you'd like to avenge your humiliation by other countries or simply dominate others). It could still be useful AFTER conquest though, since one of the occupation policies of Democracies, "Local Autonomy" raises compliance significantly, potentially making them great puppets. Some of the national focus trees are mutually exclusive, so prioritizing one over the other would require some explanation and comparisons, which would be provided below:

## Which Nations to reach out to

Generally speaking, when comparing the effects of which countries provide the best effect, it could be summed up in the following. France gives better effects than United Kingdom . German Reich gives better effects than Soviet Union . And naturally, since Japan is going to war with you, you are gonna reach out to United States instead. The rationale for the first comparison this is that, although in the end both France and Britain give the same amount of Military Factories in the end, France can give 3 immediately after reaching out to them, whilst Britain can only give 2 at first, and the last military factory is locked behind another focus that should be completed, effectively taking much more time to get the same results. Secondly, France gives multiple bonuses to generals and national spirits, many of which could be useful immediately in battle.

## Unity Against Japan vs Internal Supremacy

It is clear beyond doubt that the greatest threat to Chinese sovereignty would be the Japanese threat looming right around the corner, faced with this existential crisis amidst the fractured political landscape, there are 2 opposite methods to achieve the same result of unity: Do you make concessions to warlords and even the communists to rally them to your cause? OR Do you try to stomp out all forms of oppositions ASAP to have full control over the rebel areas to have better centralized control? At first glance, it could certainly be quite a tempting option to try to subjugate the other political entities as soon as possible. Fully unifying China grants you almost another half of Manpower (although it's unlikely to ever be a problem until the very late-game), and almost doubles your Civilian and Military Factories. Even with all your military debuffs, you still clearly hold an edge against all the warlords and communists individually, and smashing through their divisions shouldn't be that big of a problem. But I'd argue that in this case, you need to prioritize "Foreign Threats" (aka.

## Political Power Spending

June 20th 1936: Hire Lin Sen as Political Advistor to gain +15% Stability September 28th 1936: Hire Zhu De as Army High Command to gain daily experience points and attack power. January 6th 1937: Decision: Improved Workers Condition February 24rd 1937: Hire Chiang Ching Kuo as Political Advistor to gain +15% PP gain June 17th 1937: Switch Economy Law to "Total Mobilization" June 21st 1937: Decision: Women In Work Force (stems the manpower demobilization bleeding from TM economy law)

## A look at the army

China also suffers from the Nation Spirit " Army Corruption ", applies an immense -30% penalty to all division attack and defense, making China's military very ineffective in combat. This makes China's military so weak in fact, that when taking into account Japan's division templates this means that a force of comparable Chinese units might still lose a battle even when outnumbering the Japanese. You are essentially sending your men into a fight they are not likely to win and the only military strategy that China is capable of pulling off at this stage, given its incompetent leadership, is sending in its disorganized units en masse and relying on its massive army to win the day. Significant casualties are to be expected for your soldiers and it may very well be that China's rivers will have to run red with the blood of their sacrifice if China is to have any hope of an independent future. But there is, however, hope. Even though China's units cannot match Japan's in battle, it is possible to compensate for that by bringing in a bigger stick to the fight.

## Additional Tips

For early division changes: The Sanjiao Jun infantry can be expanded to 7 infantry battalions right away. From here, it can branch in two directions (or some of each): 8 Infantry, 1 Artillery, 1 Anti-Air, 1 Anti-Tank can counter tier 2 light tanks, and help with the swarms of planes Japan will bring while also having the firepower to oppose enemy Infantry. The standard 7 Infantry, 2 Artillery packs significant Soft Attack against enemy infantry and also has a fair degree of Hard Attack for dealing with Tanks and Trucks, making it a good workhorse for general use. The Juntuán garrison infantry can be expanded to 5 infantry battalions, for an even 10 combat width. The Qibing Jun cavalry can be duplicated: The original Qibing Jun can then be expanded to 5 cavalry battalions, for an even 10 combat width. They can be given support artillery later.

## Defense of the Coastlines

Guard China's coast closely! If enough firepower is provided and effort is given, China is capable of holding off a Japanese attack from Manchuria but Japan has an Ace in the hole to undermine that and achieve victory. That Ace in the hole is Naval invasions; if China manages to significantly slow down or even halt the Japanese advance into China from Manchuria, Japan is very likely to attempt to launch a naval invasion to open up a second front and overwhelm China by overextending its weak military. To prevent this from happening, make sure to station at least 3-4 garrison divisions (again, with Artillery to even the odds) at every port on China's coast to prevent Japan from gaining a foothold to open up a second front. You should also have a handful of "reserve garrison" units at the ready to reinforce any port that is under attack. If Japan attacks a port and the battle is not going well, move the reserve units in to assist the garrison units in holding off the attack.

## Stability

China's low starting stability reduces political power gain as well as factory output, which are both very important for China in the coming years. Being at war with less than 50% stability can also cause negative events to occur. Therefore, increasing China's stability is a top priority. Fortunately, this is one of the easier problems to solve, with several options at China's disposal: The Three Principles of the People focus branch contains several bonuses to stability. Lin Sen and Soong Mei-Ling can be appointed as political advisers for extra stability. The Improved Worker Conditions decision is a good way to gain some extra stability.

## Army corruption

The biggest barrier to winning the war against Japan, this national spirit applies a nasty -30% penalty to all division attack and defense. The " Army Reform " national focus will grant access to decisions to reduce and eventually remove the national spirit altogether but this requires a large amount of Army XP, which is difficult to acquire when not at war. Historical Japan will trigger the Marco Polo Bridge Incident as its 8th focus, so China should make sure this focus is completed by then or at least soon after.

## Inflation

China starts with Low Inflation , a deleterious national spirit that reduces factory output and the number of civilian factories available for construction, and its effects will progressively worsen if any national focus that increases inflation is completed: Moderate Inflation Consumer Goods Factories: 10% Factory Output: −10% Inflation has started to affect the economy significantly. We should consider counter-measures before things get out of hand. Heavy Inflation Consumer Goods Factories: 15% Factory Output: −15% Government-issued money is worth less and less, purchasing power is dropping and some goods are only available to people with the right connections. Hyper Inflation Consumer Goods Factories: 20% Factory Output: −20% The value of our currency is evaporating. Prices rise dramatically from day to day. We must very urgently take counter-measures before we suffer a complete collapse.

## Subjugating the Warlords

This is the first thing every Chinese player will need if it hopes to fight Japan as a united (at least Nanjing-controlled) China. To start, the player should not hesitate to going to this focus. This means that it will have to pick "Three Principles of the People", then "Nationalism" and finally "Prioritize the Interior". Alternatively, rush down the USSR branch (NAP to by pass Third Focus) if joining Japan's Faction or NAP to delay war with Japan. Your main enemy in the very early game is Guangxi Clique, not only having basically most of the resources of all of China, but also has a robust industry. As such, this early strike would prevent this warlord nation from building a larger army.

## Also worth knowing

- **The starting numbers above are the 1936 start.** A 1939 start hands you a different army and a different industry, and most written advice assumes 1936.
- **National spirits are removable.** Several of them are the first thing a focus tree clears, and the order you clear them in is usually the whole opening.
- **Wiki strategy is written by players, not by the developers.** It is the best free advice there is for a nation nobody films, and it can still be out of date with the current patch.

Source: [China](https://hoi4.paradoxwikis.com/China) on the Hearts of Iron 4 Wiki.

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## FAQ

### What does China start with in HOI4?

The tables above list China's factories, dockyards and resources at the 1936 start, taken from the game's wiki. A 1939 start differs, and most written advice assumes 1936.

### What are China's national spirits?

China begins with Nine Power Treaty, Army Corruption, Ineffective Bureaucracy, Incompetent Officers, Low Inflation, German Military Advisors, Corruption in the Administration, Inefficient Economy, Corruption in the Armed Forces, Illicit Trade, Aviation Affairs Commission, Neglected Countryside, Nine Power Treaty. Each one is a modifier applied before the first day, and clearing them is usually what the early focus tree is for.

### Is China good for a beginner?

A minor nation teaches the parts of the game a major hides — supply, manpower limits and industry order all matter immediately. The starting tables above are the honest measure of how much room there is.