The US is not a warrior culture. Mass armies (in most societies) have been replaced by highly trained professional-technical military forces. The nature of most contemporary "war-fighting" has made that necessary.
When you look at the military face of China (and also of North Korea) it seems both are throwbacks to obsolescent military models - mass armies tooled for WW II. Neither has fought a modern war in 60 years.
The PLA navy, in personnel, is about the same as the USN, but 60-70% of it is shore based naval infantry and land based naval air, not forward deployed. You see a lot of pictures of Chinese sailors marching with rifles. Not very modern naval capability.
胜利的定义不再是冷战前的定义。询问专业军士人员什么是军事胜利，你得到的答案不会是占领敌人的首都。更经常地，胜利是指以划得来的代价获得最重要的利益。
美国文化并非是尚武文化。数量庞大的军队已经被高技术军队取代。当代战争的性质让这个取代变得必要。
看看中国军队（和朝鲜军队）的面貌，都是复古的过时军队，是为二战准备的庞大军队。两支军队在60年里都没有打过现代战争。
解放军海军与美国海军看似差不多，但解放军海军60-70%的力量是岸基海军步兵和陆基海军航空兵，不适合前沿部署。你可以看到许多中国水兵端着步枪迈着正步的照片，他们并不具备现代海军能力。

alexizaitev（美国）
it depends on the theater of war, if its taking place on Chinese soil, I would have to say China would win, however, if its a mainly naval contest, the US would destroy China. But as stated, its just China v the US, i would say the US can win if it lasts only a year or two, however if it drags on and on, the US would be doomed because we just dont have the resources of men that China does.
要看战争在哪里打。如果发生在中国，我要说中国会胜；然而如果主要是海战，美国能摧毁中国。美国的最大胜算在于F-22、B-2和M1A2主战坦克等高科技武器。如上所述，这是中美较量。如果战争只持续一两年，那么美国会获胜；如果久拖不决，那么美国会完蛋，我们可没有中国那么多的人力资源。

Charlie Bravo（美国）
The best bet the US would have wouldn't be to engage the Chinese on their own soil in piecemeal battles, but to blockade them, and starve them of energy and every other necessity that they could be starved of. I suspect the "String of Pearls" including Gwadar would have to be at the very least blockaded if not destroyed outright, and every sea-lane leading to China would be have to be severed. That's the very reason I believe that China is so focused on aquiring naval force projection in the form of blue water naval assets such as carriers. Effective use of the US Navy would be cruical to a US victory, and one can pretty much guarantee that if total war erupted with China the US would boost naval production and capability to a staggering level.
美国的最佳选择是不要与中国人在其领土上的琐碎战斗中纠缠，而是封锁中国，让其丧失能源和其他必需品的补给。我认为即使不是彻底摧毁，至少也得封锁包括瓜达尔港在内的珍珠链和破坏每一条通往中国的航道。我认为这就是中国如此热衷于获得航母等远洋力量投送武器的原因。有效使用美国海军能为美国的胜利发挥重要作用。可以保证的是，如果中美爆发全面战争，美国会把海军军舰的生产提高至惊人的水平。