Age of Empires II: The Age of Kings/Chinese

Together with the Japanese and Mongols, the Chinese are one of the civilizations belonging to the East Asian culture. Their major advantage is the cost of development and technology. They start off the games with 6 Villagers instead of just 3. It is a more important attribute than it may sound, because it greatly enhances your speed to collect resources, create buildings, and to advance to the Feudal Age. They also incur cheaper cost in researching any technologies. In Feudal Age the cost of research is cheaper by 10%, 15% in Castle Age, and 20% in Imperial Age. Their unique unit is the Chu-ko-Nu, a very powerful archery unit has a very strong attack, for they fire 3 arrows at a time, but shorter range.

Guide for Using the Chinese
One of the couple big advantages of the Chinese civilization is it's unmatched flexibility, having access to a full archer tree including Arbalest and Hand cannoneer. A full infantry tree(excluding Eagle Warrior and it's elite counterpart), full cavalry up to Cavalier, wide siege options, and a formidable defense having access to fortified wall, keep and bombard tower techs. The Chinese also start with three extra villagers(with no food however) this allows loom to be researched in the first fifteen seconds without stopping possible villager production. Due to their flexibility and formidable late game units, a fast castle build is always a viable option as Chinese, either to flourish economically and take advantage of discounted technologies to gain the advantage in unit quality, or to quickly build a castle and make the powerful Chu Ko Nu archer. Regardless, the Chinese will fare best in the Imperial age. With the Rocketry tech(+4 attack to scorpions, +2 attack to Chu Ko Nu), Heavy Scorpions and Elite Chu Ko Nu will be a good portion of any functioning Imperial Chinese army. The rest should be made up of either Halberdiers, Cavaliers, or Champions depending on the army you oppose. Of course, trebuchets should be included take down fortifications. The front line units will serve as a shield for the Chu Ko Nu and Scorpions go deal massive amounts of damage without getting hit, effectively destroying an enemy army from behind the lines. If defending, walls with bombard towers as well as ballistics research will be vital as chinese castles lack hoardings. Chinese Scorpions and Chu Ko Nu are alsk useful in a defensive position.