Author | Sun Tzu (traditional) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Language | Classical Chinese | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Subject | Military art | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Genre | Military strategy | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Publication date | 5th century BC | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Publication place | China | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
355.02 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
LC Class | U101 .S95 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Original text | The Art of War at Chinese Wikisource | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Translation | The Art of War at Wikisource | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Chinese name | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Traditional Chinese | 孫子兵法 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Simplified Chinese | 孙子兵法 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Literal meaning | "Master Sun's Military Methods" | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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The Art of War is an ancient Chinese military treatise dating from the late Spring and Autumn period (roughly 5th century BC). The work, which is attributed to the ancient Chinese military strategist Sun Tzu ("Master Sun"), is composed of 13 chapters. Each one is devoted to a different set of skills or art related to warfare and how it applies to military strategy and tactics. For almost 1,500 years, it was the lead text in an anthology that was formalized as the Seven Military Classics by Emperor Shenzong of Song in 1080. The Art of War remains the most influential strategy text in East Asian warfare, [1] has influenced both East Asian and Western military theory and thinking, and has found a variety of applications in myriad competitive non-military endeavors across the modern world including espionage, [2] culture, politics, business, and sports. [3] [4] [5] [6]
The book contains a detailed explanation and analysis of the 5th-century BC Chinese military, from weapons, environmental conditions, and strategy to rank and discipline. Sun also stressed the importance of intelligence operatives and espionage to the war effort. Considered one of history's finest military tacticians and analysts, his teachings and strategies formed the basis of advanced military training throughout the world.
The book was translated into French and published in 1772 by the French priest Jesuit Jean Joseph Marie Amiot; it was re-published in 1782. A partial translation into English was attempted by British officer Everard Ferguson Calthrop in 1905 under the title The Book of War. The first annotated English translation was completed and published by Lionel Giles in 1910. [7] Military and political leaders such as the Chinese communist revolutionary Mao Zedong, Japanese daimyō Takeda Shingen, Vietnamese general Võ Nguyên Giáp, is cited along with American military generals Douglas MacArthur and Norman Schwarzkopf Jr. as having drawn inspiration from the book. [8]
Outside of military use, The Art of War has also become a source of inspiration in business, politics, sports and esports, and its usage has extended to film and television.
The Art of War is traditionally attributed to an ancient Chinese military general known as Sun Tzu (pinyin: Sūnzǐ), meaning 'Master Sun'. Sun Tzu is said to have lived in the 6th century BC, but the earliest parts of The Art of War probably date to at least 100 years later. [9]
Sima Qian's Records of the Grand Historian , the first of China's 24 dynastic histories, records an early Chinese tradition that a text on military matters was written by one "Sun Wu" (孫武) from the State of Qi, and that this text had been read and studied by King Helü of Wu (r. 514–495 BC). [10] This text was traditionally identified with the received Master Sun's Art of War. The conventional view was that Sun Wu was a military theorist from the end of the Spring and Autumn period (776–471 BC) who fled his home state of Qi to the southeastern Kingdom of Wu, where he is said to have impressed the king with his ability to quickly train even court women in military discipline and to have made Wu's armies powerful enough to challenge their western rivals in the state of Chu. This view is still widely held in China. [11]
The strategist, poet, and warlord Cao Cao in the early 3rd century AD authored the earliest known commentary to the Art of War. [10] Cao's preface makes clear that he edited the text and removed certain passages, but the extent of his changes were unclear historically. [10] The Art of War appears throughout the bibliographical catalogs of the Chinese dynastic histories, but listings of its divisions and size varied widely. [10]
Beginning around the 12th century, Sun Tzu's historical existence began to be questioned by Chinese scholars, primarily on the grounds that he is not mentioned in the historical classic Zuo Zhuan , which mentions most of the notable figures from the Spring and Autumn period. [10] The name "Sun Wu" (孫武) does not appear in any text prior to the Records of the Grand Historian, [12] and has been suspected to be a made-up descriptive cognomen meaning "the fugitive warrior", glossing the surname "Sun" as the related term "fugitive" (xùn遜), while "Wu" (wǔ武) is (1) the ancient Chinese virtue of "martial, valiant" and (2) a Jianghuai dialectal synonym of 士; shì "knight", [13] [14] which corresponds to Sunzi's role as the hero's doppelgänger in the story of Wu Zixu. [15] In the early 20th century, the Chinese writer and reformer Liang Qichao theorized that the text was actually written in the 4th century BC by Sun Tzu's purported descendant Sun Bin, as a number of historical sources mention a military treatise he wrote. [10] Unlike Sun Wu, Sun Bin appears to have been an actual person who was a genuine authority on military matters, and may have been the inspiration for the creation of the historical figure "Sun Tzu" through a form of euhemerism. [15]
In 1972, the Yinqueshan Han slips were discovered in two Han dynasty (206 BC – 220 AD) tombs near the city of Linyi in Shandong. [16] Among the many bamboo slip writings contained in the tombs, which had been sealed between 134 and 118 BC, respectively were two separate texts, one attributed to "Sun Tzu", corresponding to the received text, and another attributed to Sun Bin, which explains and expands upon the earlier The Art of War by Sunzi. [17] The Sun Bin text's material overlaps with much of the "Sun Tzu" text, and the two may be "a single, continuously developing intellectual tradition united under the Sun name". [18] This discovery showed that much of the historical confusion was due to the fact that there were two texts that could have been referred to as "Master Sun's Art of War", not one. [17] The content of the earlier text is about one-third of the chapters of the modern The Art of War, and their text matches very closely. [16] It is now generally accepted that the earlier The Art of War was completed sometime between 500 and 430 BC. [17]
The Art of War is divided into 13 chapters (or piān); the collection is referred to as being one zhuàn ("whole" or alternatively "chronicle").
Chapter | Lionel Giles (1910) [19] | R. L. Wing (1988) | Ralph D. Sawyer (1996) | Chow-Hou Wee (2003) | Michael Nylan (2020) | Contents |
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I | Laying Plans | The Calculations | Initial Estimations | Detail Assessment and Planning (Chinese :始計; pinyin :shîjì) | First Calculations | Explores the five fundamental factors (the Way, seasons, terrain, leadership, and management) and seven elements (which of the two sovereigns is imbued with the way or moral law, which side's general is more capable, which side has superior in right time and right place, which side's laws and regulations can be enforced more strictly, which side has more resources, better equipment and stronger army, which side's officers and men are more well-trained and more capable of fighting, which side's rewards and punishments are more fair and clear) that determine the outcomes of military engagements. By thinking, assessing and comparing these points, a commander can calculate his chances of victory. Habitual deviation from these calculations will ensure failure via improper action. The text stresses that war is a very grave matter for the state and must not be commenced without due consideration. |
II | Waging War | The Challenge | Waging War | Waging War (作戰; zuòzhàn) | Initiating Battle | Explains how to understand the economy of warfare and how success requires winning decisive engagements quickly. This section advises that successful military campaigns require limiting the cost of competition and conflict. |
III | Attack by Stratagem | The Plan of Attack | Planning Offensives | Strategic Attack (謀攻) | Planning an Attack | Defines the source of strength as unity, not size, and discusses the five factors that are needed to succeed in any war. In order of importance, these critical factors are: Attack, Strategy, Alliances, Army and Cities. |
IV | Tactical Dispositions | Positioning | Military Disposition | Disposition of the Army (軍形) | Forms to Perceive | Explains the importance of defending existing positions until a commander is capable of advancing from those positions in safety. It teaches commanders the importance of recognizing strategic opportunities, and teaches not to create opportunities for the enemy. |
V | Use of Energy | Directing | Strategic Military Power | Forces (兵勢) | The Disposition of Power | Explains the use of creativity and timing in building an army's momentum. |
VI | Weak Points and Strong | Illusion and Reality | Vacuity and Substance | Weaknesses and Strengths (虛實) | Weak and Strong | Explains how an army's opportunities come from the openings in the environment caused by the relative weakness of the enemy and how to respond to changes in the fluid battlefield over a given area. |
VII | Maneuvering an Army | Engaging The Force | Military Combat | Military Maneuvers (軍爭) | Contending Armies | Explains the dangers of direct conflict and how to win those confrontations when they are forced upon the commander. |
VIII | Variation of Tactics | The Nine Variations | Nine Changes | Variations and Adaptability (九變) | Nine Contingencies | Focuses on the need for flexibility in an army's responses. It explains how to respond to shifting circumstances successfully. |
IX | The Army on the March | Moving The Force | Maneuvering the Army | Movement and Development of Troops (行軍) | Fielding the Army | Describes the different situations in which an army finds itself as it moves through new enemy territories, and how to respond to these situations. Much of this section focuses on evaluating the intentions of others. |
X | Classification of Terrain | Situational Positioning | Configurations of Terrain | Terrain (地形) | Conformations of the Lands | Looks at the three general areas of resistance (distance, dangers and barriers) and the six types of ground positions that arise from them. Each of these six field positions offers certain advantages and disadvantages. |
XI | The Nine Situations | The Nine Situations | Nine Terrains | The Nine Battlegrounds (九地) | Nine Kinds of Ground | Describes the nine common situations (or stages) in a campaign, from scattering to deadly, and the specific focus that a commander will need in order to successfully navigate them. |
XII | Attack by Fire | The Fiery Attack | Incendiary Attacks | Attacking with Fire (火攻) | Attacks with Fire | Explains the general use of weapons and the specific use of the environment as a weapon. This section examines the five targets for attack, the five types of environmental attack and the appropriate responses to such attacks. |
XIII | Use of Spies | The Use of Intelligence | Employing Spies | Intelligence and Espionage (用間) | Using Spies | Focuses on the importance of developing good information sources, and specifies the five types of intelligence sources and how to best manage each of them. |
Across East Asia, The Art of War was part of the syllabus for potential candidates of military service examinations.
During the Sengoku period (c. 1467–1568), the Japanese daimyō Takeda Shingen (1521–1573) is said to have become almost invincible in all battles without relying on guns, because he studied The Art of War. [20] The book even gave him the inspiration for his famous battle standard "Fūrinkazan" (Wind, Forest, Fire and Mountain), meaning fast as the wind, silent as a forest, ferocious as fire and immovable as a mountain.
The translator Samuel B. Griffith offers a chapter on "Sun Tzu and Mao Tse-Tung" where The Art of War is cited as influencing Mao's On Guerrilla Warfare , On the Protracted War and Strategic Problems of China's Revolutionary War, and includes Mao's quote: "We must not belittle the saying in the book of Sun Wu Tzu, the great military expert of ancient China, 'Know your enemy and know yourself and you can fight a thousand battles without disaster.'" [20]
During the Vietnam War, some Viet Cong officers extensively studied The Art of War and reportedly could recite entire passages from memory. General Võ Nguyên Giáp successfully implemented tactics described in The Art of War during the Battle of Dien Bien Phu ending major French involvement in Indochina and leading to the accords which partitioned Vietnam into North and South. General Giáp, later the main PVA military commander in the Vietnam War, was an avid student and practitioner of Sun Tzu's ideas. [21]
The United States' defeat in the Vietnam War, more than any other event, brought Sun Tzu to the attention of leaders of U.S. military theory. [21] [22] [23] The Department of the Army in the United States, through its Command and General Staff College, lists The Art of War as one example of a book that may be kept at a military unit's library. [24] The Art of War is listed on the US Marine Corps Professional Reading Program (formerly known as the Commandant's Reading List). It is recommended reading for all United States Military Intelligence personnel. [25] The Art of War is also used as instructional material at the United States Military Academy (commonly known as West Point), in the course Military Strategy (470). [26] It is also recommended reading for Officer cadets at the Royal Military Academy, Sandhurst. Some notable military leaders have stated the following about Sun Tzu and The Art of War:
"I always kept a copy of The Art of War on my desk." [27] – General Douglas MacArthur, 5 Star General and Supreme Commander for the Allied Powers.
"I have read The Art of War by Sun Tzu. He continues to influence both soldiers & politicians." [28] – General Colin Powell, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, National Security Advisor, and Secretary of State.
According to some authors, the strategy of deception from The Art of War was studied and widely used by the KGB: "I will force the enemy to take our strength for weakness, and our weakness for strength, and thus will turn his strength into weakness". [29]
The Art of War has been applied to many fields outside of the military. Much of the text is about how to outsmart one's opponent without actually having to engage in physical battle. As such, it has found application as a training guide for many competitive endeavors that do not involve actual combat.
The Art of War is mentioned as an influence in the earliest known Chinese collection of stories about fraud (mostly in the realm of commerce), Zhang Yingyu's The Book of Swindles (Du pian xin shu, 杜騙新書, c. 1617), which dates to the late Ming dynasty. [30]
Many business books have applied the lessons taken from the book to office politics and corporate business strategy. [31] [32] [33] Many Japanese companies make the book required reading for their key executives. [34] The book is also popular among Western business circles citing its utilitarian values regarding management practices. Many entrepreneurs and corporate executives have turned to it for inspiration and advice on how to succeed in competitive business situations. The book has also been applied to the field of education. [35]
The Art of War has been the subject of legal books [36] and legal articles on the trial process, including negotiation tactics and trial strategy. [37] [38] [39] [40]
The book The 48 Laws of Power by Robert Greene employs philosophies covered in The Art of War. [41]
The Art of War has also been applied in sports. National Football League coach Bill Belichick, record holder of the most Super Bowl wins in history, has stated on multiple occasions his admiration for The Art of War. [42] [43] Brazilian association football coach Luiz Felipe Scolari actively used The Art of War for Brazil's successful 2002 World Cup campaign. During the tournament Scolari put passages of The Art of War underneath his players' doors at night. [44] [45]
The book Sun Tzu Soccer by Liam Shannon is a direct translation of The Art of War into soccer language and scenarios. [46]
Playing To Win by David Sirlin analyses applications of the ideas from The Art of War in modern esports. [47] The Art of War was released in 2014 as an e-book companion alongside the Art of War DLC for Europa Universalis IV, a PC strategy game by Paradox Development Studios, with a foreword by Thomas Johansson.
The Art of War and Sun Tzu have been referenced and quoted in many movies and television shows, including in the 1987 movie Wall Street , in which Gordon Gekko (Michael Douglas) frequently references it. [48] The 20th James Bond film, Die Another Day (2002) also references The Art of War as the spiritual guide shared by Colonel Moon and his father. [49] In The Sopranos , season 3, episode 8 ("He Is Risen"), Dr. Melfi suggests to Tony Soprano that he read the book. [50]
In the Star Trek: The Next Generation first-season episode "The Last Outpost", first officer William Riker quotes The Art of War: "Fear is the true enemy, the only enemy". Captain Picard expressed pleasure that Sun Tzu was still taught at Starfleet Academy. Later in the episode, a survivor from a long-dead nonhuman empire noted common aspects between his own people's wisdom and The Art of War with regard to knowing when and when not to fight. [51]
The Art of War is a 2000 action spy film directed by Christian Duguay and starring Wesley Snipes, Michael Biehn, Anne Archer and Donald Sutherland. [52]
The Chinese classics or canonical texts are the works of Chinese literature authored prior to the establishment of the imperial Qin dynasty in 221 BC. Prominent examples include the Four Books and Five Classics in the Neo-Confucian tradition, themselves an abridgment of the Thirteen Classics. The Chinese classics used a form of written Chinese consciously imitated by later authors, now known as Classical Chinese. A common Chinese word for "classic" literally means 'warp thread', in reference to the techniques by which works of this period were bound into volumes.
The Tao Te Ching or Laozi is a Chinese classic text and foundational work of Taoism traditionally credited to the sage Laozi, though the text's authorship, date of composition and date of compilation are debated. The oldest excavated portion dates to the late 4th century BC.
Mohism or Moism was an ancient Chinese philosophy of ethics and logic, rational thought, and scientific technology developed by the scholars who studied under the ancient Chinese philosopher Mozi, embodied in an eponymous book: the Mozi. Among its major ethical tenets were altruism and a universal, unbiased respect and concern for all people regardless of relations or affiliations. The ideology also stressed the virtues of austerity and utilitarianism.
Sun Tzu was a Chinese military general, strategist, philosopher, and writer who lived during the Eastern Zhou period. Sun Tzu is traditionally credited as the author of The Art of War, an influential work of military strategy that has affected both Western and East Asian philosophy and military thought. Sun Tzu is revered in Chinese and East Asian culture as a legendary historical and military figure. His birth name was Sun Wu and he was known outside of his family by his courtesy name Changqing. The name Sun Tzu—by which he is more popularly known—is an honorific which means "Master Sun".
Zhuang Zhou, commonly known as Zhuangzi, was an influential Chinese philosopher who lived around the 4th century BCE during the Warring States period, a period of great development in Chinese philosophy, the Hundred Schools of Thought. He is credited with writing—in part or in whole—a work known by his name, the Zhuangzi, which is one of two foundational texts of Taoism, alongside the Tao Te Ching.
Thomas Cleary was an American translator and author of more than 80 books related to Buddhist, Taoist, Confucian, and Muslim classics, and of The Art of War, a treatise on management, military strategy, and statecraft. He has translated books from Pali, Sanskrit, Arabic, Chinese, Japanese, and Old Irish into English. Cleary lived in Oakland, California.
Sun Bin was a Chinese general, military strategist, and writer who lived during the Warring States period of Chinese history. A supposed descendant of Sun Tzu, Sun was tutored in military strategy by the hermit Guiguzi. He was accused of treason by Pang Juan while serving in the Wei state and was sentenced to face-tattooing and had his kneecaps removed, permanently crippling him. Sun later escaped from Wei and rose to prominence in the Qi state, serving as a military strategist and commander. He led Qi to victory against the Wei state at the Battle of Guiling and the Battle of Maling, killing Pang Juan in the battle and avenging himself in the process. Sun authored the military treatise Sun Bin's Art of War, which was rediscovered in a 1972 archaeological excavation after being lost for almost 2000 years.
Unrestricted Warfare: Two Air Force Senior Colonels on Scenarios for War and the Operational Art in an Era of Globalization is a book on military strategy written in 1999 by two colonels in the People's Liberation Army (PLA), Qiao Liang (乔良) and Wang Xiangsui (王湘穗). Its primary concern is how a nation such as China can defeat a technologically superior opponent through a variety of means. Rather than focusing on direct military confrontation, this book instead examines a variety of other means such as political warfare. Such means include using legal tools and economic means as leverage over one's opponent and circumvent the need for direct military action.
Lionel Giles CBE was a British sinologist, writer, and philosopher. Lionel Giles served as assistant curator at the British Museum and Keeper of the Department of Oriental Manuscripts and Printed Books. He is most notable for his 1910 translations of The Art of War by Sun Tzu and The Analects of Confucius.
The Huainanzi is an ancient Chinese text consisting of a collection of essays resulting from a series of scholarly debates held at the court of Liu An, Prince of Huainan before 139 BCE. Compiled as a handbook for an enlightened sovereign and his court, the work attempts to define the conditions for a perfect socio-political order, derived mainly from a perfect ruler. Including Chinese folk theories of yin and yang and Wu Xing, the Huainanzi draws on Taoist, Legalist, Confucian, and Mohist concepts, but subverts the latter three in favor of a less active ruler, as prominent in the early Han dynasty before the Emperor Wu. The work is notable as a primary evidence of Zhuangzi influence in the Han.
The Seven Military Classics were seven important military texts of ancient China, which also included Sun-tzu's The Art of War. The texts were canonized under this name during the 11th century AD, and from the time of the Song dynasty, were included in most military leishu. For imperial officers, either some or all of the works were required reading to merit promotion, like the requirement for all bureaucrats to learn and know the work of Confucius. The Art of War was translated into Tangut with commentary.
Military theory is the study of the theories which define, inform, guide and explain war and warfare. Military Theory analyses both normative behavioral phenomena and explanatory causal aspects to better understand war and how it is fought. It examines war and trends in warfare beyond simply describing events in military history. While military theories may employ the scientific method, theory differs from Military Science. Theory aims to explain the causes for military victory and produce guidance on how war should be waged and won, rather than developing universal, immutable laws which can bound the physical act of warfare or codifying empirical data, such as weapon effects, platform operating ranges, consumption rates and target information, to aid military planning.
The Wuzi is a classic Chinese work on military strategy attributed to Wu Qi. It is considered one of China's Seven Military Classics.
Khoo Kheng-Hor is a Malaysian author and speaker on contemporary application of the 500 BC Chinese military treatise, The Art of War, by military strategist Sun Tzu. In the 1990s, Khoo was the first Sun Tzu student in South-east Asia to link and teach the general's principles in relation to business and management. To date, Khoo has written over 26 business and management books, most of which are based on Sun Tzu's Art of War as he made it his life's mission to "suntzunize" as many people as possible. In 1997, although a Malaysian citizen, he was appointed as honorary Assistant Superintendent of Police by the Singapore Police Force in recognition for his contribution as consultant-trainer to the police force of Singapore. His first novel, Taikor, was nominated by the National Library of Malaysia for the 2006 International Dublin Literary Award. Since 1999, Khoo has gone into retirement and occasionally travels in Malaysia and Singapore.
The Art of War is the fourth album by Swedish power metal band Sabaton.
The Zhuangzi is an ancient Chinese text that is one of the foundational texts of Taoism, alongside the Tao Te Ching, Neiye, Wenzi and Liezi. It was written during the late Warring States period (476–221 BC) and is named for its traditional author, Zhuang Zhou, who is customarily known as "Zhuangzi".
Guo Huaruo was a Chinese military strategist and lieutenant general of the People's Liberation Army. According to Alastair Iain Johnston, Guo was until the mid-1980s "the CCP's most authoritative interpreter and annotator" of The Art of War by Sun Tzu, but Guo was "practically unknown in the West".
Sun Tzu or Sunzi, was a Chinese military general, strategist, and philosopher credited as the author of The Art of War.
The Mozi, also called the Mojing or the Mohist canon, is an ancient Chinese text from the Warring States period (476–221 BC) that expounds the philosophy of Mohism. It propounds such Mohist ideals as impartiality, meritocratic governance, economic growth and aversion to ostentation, and is known for its plain and simple language.
Sun Tzu is not talking about 'news' here but about espionage affairs, or matters or plans relating to espionage.
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