戰略文化指涉在特定的社會歷史環境中，一個戰略社群所分享的關於武力運用與軍事制度角色的一組具有一致性與延續性的觀念整體。戰略文化不是因果關係中的獨立變項，而是幫助我們理解戰略選擇偏好的意義脈絡。本文嘗試以戰略文化的分析架構，對當代中國的積極防禦軍事準則提供一個歷史性的詮釋。由第十世紀北宋初年與遼國的軍事衝突中，我們找到積極防禦完整的歷史記述。到了毛澤東論述革命戰爭與對日抗戰的軍事文獻中，以積極防禦為核心的人民戰爭，成為解放軍的重要軍事信念。鄧小平進一步將積極防禦提升到國家大戰略的高度，成為和平與發展的國策。積極防禦並非消極的去軍事化，相反地，人民解放軍解決台灣問題的急迫性，隨著中國經濟結構轉型而加劇。中國海軍過去二十年來的現代化，以及近海積極防禦的軍事準則，並非要成為擴張主義的進攻型海軍，而是以解決台灣問題、達成主權完整為終極目的。

Strategic culture can be conceived as a coherent and persistent entity of ideas, in a given socio-historical context, shared by a security community in regard to the use of armed forces and the role of military institutions. Strategic culture is not an independent variable, but a context of meaning that helps us understanding the preference of strategic choice. Using strategic culture as theoretical framework, this article tries to apply an historical interpretation to contemporary China's military doctrine: Active Defense. We find some valuable historiographical records about Active Defense from the early Song's military struggles with Liao Dynasty during the 10th century. Mao Zedong's writings about People’s War, during the communist revolution war and the resistance war against Japanese invasion, make Active Defense one of the central believes of the People's Liberation Army. Deng Xiaoping raises Active Defense to the highest level of China's Grand Strategy and terms it as Peace and Development. However, Active Defense does not mean de-militarization. On the contrary, the pressure to resolve the Taiwan Issue increases while the transformation of China's economy accelerates. The PLA Navy's modernization during the last decades and its Near Sea Active Defense doctrine, have no intention to become an expansionist offensive navy, but to reunify Taiwan and achieve the territorial integrity.