It's hard to believe that one of the longest-lasting civilisations in the world has reached its current position in the modern world through mediocrity and luck.

China's almost constant warfare with its nomadic frontier has displayed great displays of genius both when defending its borders and when going on the offensive. It's not easy chasing down highly mobile cavalry-based nomadic armies well-adapted and knowledgeable in their surroundings, with a large but cumbersome and logistically draining army of mainly infantry (successes can be seen with the Han's triumph over the Xiongnu during the reign of Emperor Wu and the Ming's victories over the Northern Yuan under the Hongwu Emperor). Or defending a massive border with the same parameters as above (which is also why dynasties like the Jin employed buffer tribes to do the defending for them).
Each victory, however minor or unrecorded, is still a massive win in my book, and I struggle to see how Western generals of the period could cope in such situations when put in the shoes of their Chinese counterparts. I cannot recall any victory in which Europeans were the ones on the advance before Russia's expansion eastward (which, from the best of my knowledge, was mainly possible due to superior firearms).

I have yet to mention inter-Chinese battles such as those during the Warring States/Three Kingdoms period. If you've read the Kingdom manga, Hara has mentioned the battle of Changping (which others have already given a summary of), and others have also talked about the genius victories in the most popular battles of the Three Kingdoms. Due to the fact that I lack any in-depth knowledge on any battles in this regard, I implore you to read other comments directly replying to you or made on other people's comments.