The_art_of_war

For other uses, see The Art of War (disambiguation).

The Art of War
The beginning of The Art of War, in a "classical" bamboo book from the reign of the Qianlong Emperor.
Traditional Chinese:	孫子兵法
Simplified Chinese:	孙子兵法
Hanyu Pinyin:	Sūnzĭ Bīngfǎ
Literal meaning:	Sun Tzu\'s Military Strategy
Transliterations Mandarin - Hanyu Pinyin: Sūnzĭ Bīngfǎ - Wade-Giles: sun1 zi3 ping1 fa3 Yue (Cantonese) - Jyutping: syun1 zi2 bing1 faat3

This article contains Chinese text. Without proper rendering support, you may see question marks, boxes, or other symbols instead of Chinese characters.

The Art of War (Chinese: 孫子兵法; pinyin: Sūn Zǐ Bīng Fǎ) is a Chinese military treatise written during the 6th century BC by Sun Tzu. Composed of 13 chapters, each of which is devoted to one aspect of warfare, it has long been praised as the definitive work on military strategies and tactics of its time.

The Art of War is one of the oldest books on military strategy in the world. It is the first and one of the most successful works on strategy and has had a huge influence on Eastern and Western military thinking, business tactics, and beyond. Sun Tzu was the first to recognize the importance of positioning in strategy and that position is affected both by objective conditions in the physical environment and the subjective opinions of competitive actors in that environment. He taught that strategy was not planning in the sense of working through a to-do list, but rather that it requires quickly responding appropriately to changing conditions. Planning works in a controlled but competitive environment, and competing plans collide, creating situations that no one planned for.

The book was first translated into a European language in 1782 by French Jesuit Jean Joseph Marie Amiot, and had possibly influenced Napoleon,Samuel B. Griffith. [1] and even the planning of Operation Desert Storm.Paul K. Van Riper. [2]Grant T. Hammond. [3]. Leaders as diverse as Mao Zedong, General Vo Nguyen Giap, and General Douglas MacArthur have claimed to have drawn inspiration from the work.

The Art of War has also been applied to business and managerial strategies.\'Art of War for Business Management Strategic Planning\'Floyd, Raymond E. 000100010000[4]

Contents 1 The 13 Chapters 1.1 Chapter Summary 2 Annotations 3 Quotations 4 Military applications 5 Applicability outside the military 6 Related material 7 Sources and translations 8 See also 9 Notes 10 External links

The 13 Chapters

The Art of War is divided into 13 chapters (or P\'ien), and the collection is referred to as being one Ch\'üan ("whole" or alternatively "chronicle"). As different translations have used differing titles for each chapter, a selection appears below. Lionel Giles 1910 translation is considered the standard reference, but the other titles are, given the nature of translation, equally as valid.

Lionel Giles (1910) I. Laying Plans II. Waging War III. Attack by Stratagem IV. Tactical Dispositions V. Energy VI. Weak Points and Strong VII. Maneuvering VIII. Variation in Tactics IX. The Army on the March X. Terrain XI. The Nine Situations XII. The Attack by Fire XIII. The Use of Spies

Chow-Hou Wee (2003) I. Detail Assessment and Planning (Chinese: 始計) II. Waging War (Chinese: 作戰) III. Strategic Attack (Chinese: 謀攻) IV. Disposition of the Army (Chinese: 軍行) V. Forces (Chinese: 兵勢) VI. Weaknesses and Strengths (Chinese: 虛實) VII. Military Manoeuvres (Chinese: 軍爭) VIII. Variations and Adaptability (Chinese: 九變) IX. Movement and Development of Troops (Chinese: 行軍) X. Terrain (Chinese: 地形) XI. The Nine Battlegrounds (Chinese: 九地) XII. Attacking with Fire (Chinese: 火攻) XIII. Intelligence and Espionage (Chinese: 用間)

R.L. Wing (1988) I. The Calculations II. The Challenge III. The Plan of Attack IV. Positioning V. Directing VI. Illusion and Reality VII. Engaging The Force VIII. The Nine Variations IX. Moving The Force X. Situational Positioning XI. The Nine Situations XII. The Fiery Attack XIII. The Use of Intelligence

Chapter Summary

1. Laying Plans explores the five key elements that define competitive position (mission, climate, ground, leadership, and methods) and how to evaluate your competitive strengths against your competition.
2. Waging War explains the economic nature of competition and how success requires making winning pay, which in turn, requires limiting the cost of competition and conflict.
3. Attack by Stratagem defines the source of strength as unity, not size, and the five ingredients that you need to succeed in any competitive situation.
4. Tactical Dispositions explains the importance of defending existing positions until you can advance them and how you must recognize opportunities, not try to create them.
5. Energy expels the use of creativity and timing to build your competitive momentum.
6. Weak Points & Strong explains how your opportunities come from the openings in the environment caused by the relative weakness of your competitors in a given area.
7. Maneuvering explains the dangers of direct conflict and how to win those confrontations when they are forced upon you.
8. Variation in Tactics focuses on the need for flexibility in your responses. It explains how to respond to shifting circumstances successfully.
9. The Army on the March describes the different situations in which you find yourselves as you move into new competitive arenas and how to respond to them. Much of it focuses on evaluating the intentions of others.
10. Terrain looks the three general areas of resistance (distance, dangers, and barriers) and the a six types of ground positions that arise from them. Each of these six field positions offers certain advantages and disadvantages.
11. The Nine Situations describes nine common situations (or stages) in a competitive campaign, from scattering to deadly, and the specific focus you need to successfully navigate each of them.
12. The Attack by Fire explains the use of weapons generally and the use of the environment as a weapon specifically. It examines the five targets for attack, the five types of environmental attack, and the appropriate responses to such attack.
13. The Use of Spies focuses on the importance of developing good information sources, specifically the five types of sources and how to manage them.

Annotations

A modern edition of The Art of War translated into English by Samuel B. Griffith.

Before the bamboo scroll version was discovered by archaeologists in April 1972, the most cited version of The Art of War was the Annotation of Sun Tzu\'s Strategies by Cao Cao, the founder of the Kingdom of Wei. In the preface, he wrote that previous annotations were not focused on the essential ideas. Other annotations cited in official history books include Shen You (176-204)\'s Sun Tzu\'s Military Strategy, Jia Xu\'s Copy of Sun Tzu\'s Military Strategy, Cao Cao and Wang Ling\'s Sun Tzu\'s Military Strategy.

The Book of Sui documented seven books named after Sun Tzu. An annotation by Du Mu also includes Cao Cao\'s annotation. Li Jing\'s The Art of War is said to be a revision of Sun Tzu\'s strategies. Annotations by Cao Cao, Du Mu and Li Quan were translated into the Tangut language before 1040 AD.

After the movable type printer was invented, The Art of War (with Cao Cao\'s annotations) was published as a military text book, known as Seven Military Classics with six other strategy books. A book named Ten Schools of The Art of War Annotations was published before 1161 AD.^{[citation needed]}

As a required reading military textbook since the Song Dynasty, Seven Military Classics (武經七書) has many annotations. More than 30 differently annotated versions of this book exist today.

Vernacular Chinese became increasingly popular in the late 1920s. Annotations in Vernacular Chinese began to appear after this time. Some of these works were translated from other languages, such as Japanese.^{[citation needed]}

The two most common traditional Chinese versions of the Art of War, (the Complete Specialist Focus and Military Bible versions) were the sources for early translation into English and other languages. It was not until the 1970s that these works were compiled with more recent archeological discoveries into a single more complete version in Taipei. The resulting work is known as the Complete Version of Sun Tzu\'s Art of War for the National Defense Research Investigation Office has been the source for more recent and complete translations.

Quotations

Verses from the book occur in modern daily Chinese idioms and phrases, such as the last verse of Chapter 3:

故曰：知彼知己，百戰不殆；不知彼而知己，一勝一負；不知彼，不知己，每戰必殆。

So it is said that if you know your enemies and know yourself, you will fight without danger in battles.
If you only know yourself, but not your opponent, you may win or may lose.
If you know neither yourself nor your enemy, you will always endanger yourself.

This has been more tersely interpreted and condensed into the modern proverb:

知己知彼 百戰不殆

If you know both yourself and your enemy, you can come out of hundreds of battles without danger.

Many people interpret this sentence as \'If you know both sides, you will win a hundred times in one hundred battles. (知己知彼 百戰百勝)\'. This translation is incorrect. The word \'殆\' in Chinese means \'danger\'. \'百\' in this sentence is better interpreted as \'numerous\' rather than \'hundred\'.

Furthermore, knowing both sides doesn\'t guarantee winning. \'知己知彼 百戰百勝\' is untrue since in the beginning paragraph of chapter four, Sun Tsu wrote \'Hence, we can well predict who would win but there is no strategy guaranteeing winning (故曰: 勝可知，而不可為。)\'. The reason of the uncertainty is quite simple. How about dealing with the opponent who knows both sides better than you do?

Similar verses have also been borrowed -- in a manner construing skillfulness as victory "without fighting" -- for example:

是故百戰百勝，非善之善者也；不戰而屈人之兵，善之善者也。

Therefore one hundred victories in one hundred battles is not the most skillful. Seizing the enemy without fighting is the most skillful.

And, the most famous quotation (chapter 1, paragraph 18):

All warfare is based on deception.

Military applications

In many East Asian countries, The Art of War was part of the syllabus for potential candidates of military service examinations. Various translations are available.

During the Sengoku era in Japan, a daimyo named 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.Griffith, pp. 172-173 ISBN 0195014766 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.[5]

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 Guerilla 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.\'"Griffith, p. 50 ISBN 0195014766

During the Vietnam War, some Vietcong officers studied The Art of War, and reportedly could recite entire passages from memory.

The Department of the Army in the United States, through its Command and General Staff College, has directed all units to maintain libraries within their respective headquarters for the continuing education of personnel in the art of war. The Art of War is specifically mentioned by name as an example of works to be maintained at each individual unit, and staff duty officers are obliged to prepare short papers for presentation to other officers on their readings.Army, U. S. (no date (1985?)). Military History and Professional Development. U. S. Army Command and General Staff College, Fort Leavenworth, Kansas: Combat Studies Institute. 85-CSI-21 85.  The Art of War is mentioned for each unit\'s acquisition on page 18, "Military History Libraries for Duty Personnel"

Applicability outside the military

Since at least the 1980s, The Art of War has been applied to fields well outside the military. Much of the text is about how to fight wars without actually having to do battle: it gives tips on how to outsmart one\'s opponent so that physical battle is not necessary. As such, it has found application as a training guide for many competitive endeavors that do not involve actual combat.

The book has gained popularity in corporate culture; there have been a variety of business books written applying its lessons to "office politics" and corporate strategy.^{[citation needed]} Many Japanese companies make the book required reading for their key executives.^{[citation needed]} The book is also popular among Western business management, who have turned to it for inspiration and advice on how to succeed in competitive business situations.

The Art of War has also been the subject of various law books Barnhizer, David. THE WARRIOR LAWYER : POWERFUL STRATEGIES FOR WINNING LEGAL BATTLES (Irvington-on-Hudson, NY: Bridge Street Books, 1997) Harris, Paul. WARRIOR LAWYER (San Francisco, CA: Paul Harris (self-publication, 1991) and legal articles on the trial process, including negotiation tactics Ashley, Fred T., “The Art of War, Litigation and Mediation”, Ashley Mediation Centers, http://www.socalmediator.com/theartofwar.htm St. Marie, Ronald M., “The Art of Litigation: Deception and Settlement- The Application of Sun Tzu\'s Ancient Strategies of War to the Law” Chan Law Group, 2002, http://chanlaw.com/litigation.htm and trial strategy. Balch, Christopher D., “The Art of War and the Art of Trial Advocacy: Is There Common Ground?” (1991), 42 Mercer L. Rev. 861-873 Beirne, Martin D. and Scott D. Marrs, “The Art of War and Public Relations: Strategies for Successful Litigation”, http://library.findlaw.com/2005/Dec/28/231115.html) Gordon, Gary, J., “Slaying the Dragon: The Cross Examination of Expert Witnesses”, Rider Bennett LLP website, http://75.100.99.194/news_pubs/article_detail.cfm?ARTICLE_ID=3894&ARTICLE_TYPE_ID=2) Pribetic, Antonin I., "The Trial Warrior: Applying Sun Tzu\'s The Art of War to Trial Advocacy" (April 21, 2007, http://ssrn.com/abstract=981886 Solomon, Samuel H., “The Art of War: Pursuing Electronic Evidence as Your Corporate Opportunity” Doar Litigation Consulting website article http://www.doar.com/apps/uploads/literature13_art_of_war.pdf Wallo, William E., “Rambo in the Courtroom: Sometimes it Pays to be Confrontational” http://www.walloworld.com/pdf/rambo_courtroom.pdf

It has also crept its way into sport: Australian cricket coach John Buchanan handed out excerpts from the book to his players before a match against England in 2001, and the book is allegedly a favorite of University of South Carolina football head coach Steve Spurrier.

Former Brazilian football coach, and current coach of the Portuguese national football team Luiz Felipe Scolari uses the book to plot his football strategy. In the 2002 FIFA World Cup he gave each of his players copies. In the recent 2006 FIFA World Cup in Germany he used the book to plan his team\'s win against England.\'Portugal Gets Big Moment Instead of Brazil\'

On the popular reality television show Survivor: China, participants were given copies as a source of strategy and advice.

It has found use in political campaigning as well; Republican election strategist Lee Atwater claimed he travelled everywhere with it.\'What Lee Atwater Knows About Winning\'

Some have also interpreted The Art of War as providing methods for developing social strategies, such as social relationships, maintaining romantic relationships, and seduction.^{[citation needed]} The book stresses subtlety and always making it appear like one is trying to achieve something other than one\'s actual intention.

The use of individual quotations from the book as a source of fortune cookie-like proverbs and not seeing the general coherence of the text has been criticized by many scholars of Chinese history.^{[citation needed]}

The book has also gained influence among players of strategy games, including TCGs, collectible miniatures games, and real-time strategy games.^{[citation needed]}

In 2008 Swedish Heavy Metal band Sabaton (band) decided to record an album called The Art of War based upon the book.

Related material

Sun Tzu is attributed with having a grandson Sun Bin who wrote another treatise on military strategy often called "The Lost Art of War" or "The Art of Warfare". Sun Bin or Sun Pin as he is sometimes called is also known as Sun Tzu II. The following are some published texts in this area:

• Sun Tzu II translated by Thomas Cleary (1996). The Lost Art of War. Harper Collins Publisher (Under HarperSanFrancisco. ISBN 0-06-251361-3. This book by Thomas Cleary is a translation of the sequel to Sun Tzu\'s classic strategic manual.

• Sun Pin translated by Ralph D. Sawyer (1995). Military Methods of the Art of War. Barnes & Noble. ISBN 0-7607-0650-6. This book by Ralph Sawyer is a translation of work written by the purported great-grandson of Sun Tzu in the 4th Century.

• Mastering the Art of War - Memoirs and notes by famous Chinese military strategists Zhuge Liang and Liu Ji. This book details Zhuge and Liu\'s personal opinions and comments regarding Sun Tzu\'s The Art of War. Translated by Thomas Cleary.

Sources and translations

Running Press Miniature Edition™ of the 1994 Ralph D. Sawyer translation, printed in 2003

• Sun Tzu translated by Dr Han Hiong Tan (2001). Sun Zi\'s The Art of War. H H Tan Medical P/L. ISBN 0-9580067-0-9. 
• Sun Tzu translated by Filiquarian Publishing (2006). The Art of War. Filiquarian Publishing. ISBN 1-59986-977-2. 
• Sun Tzu translated by the Denma translation group (2001). The Art of War: the Denma translation. Shambhala Classics. ISBN 1-57062-904-8. 
• Sun Tzu translated by Lionel Giles (2002). The Art of War. Deodand Publishing. ISBN 0-9578868-7-X.  Text link (reprint; Giles translated the book in 1910). The translation by Giles is one of the most widely used today. Giles provided the first "good" translation of The Art of War, as well as providing the first translation by a serious linguist.
• Sun-Tzu translated by Roger Ames (1993). The Art of Warfare. Random House. ISBN 0-345-36239-X. , includes the Yin-ch\'ueh-shan (Silver Sparrow Mountain) texts
• Sun Tzu edited by James Clavell (1983). The Art of War. Delacorte Press. ISBN 0-385-29216-3.  This edition was published as a tie-in with Clavell\'s Asian Saga; it is essentially a re-working of the Lionel Giles translation.
• Sun Tzu translated by Ralph D. Sawyer (1994). The Art of War. Barnes & Noble. ISBN 1-56619-297-8.  This translation tries to put The Art of War in its original context as a work of military strategy. It also includes a lengthy introduction and translations of some of the "bamboo strips" recovered from the shrine.
• Sun Tzu translated by John Minford (2002). The Art of War. Viking. ISBN 0-670-03156-9.  This translation contains two parts. The first part is a completely unadorned, “raw�?version of the core text. The second part is that same text with Chinese commentators as well as others.
• Sun Tzu translated by Yuan Shibing (1987). Sun Tzu\'s Art of War: The Modern Chinese Interpretation. Sterling Publishing Co., Inc.. ISBN 0-8069-6638-6. This book is written by General Tao Hanzhang, a senior officer in the People\'s Liberation Army. He is a senior advisor at the Beijing Institute for International Strategic Studies.
• Sun Tzu translated by Thomas Cleary (1991). The Art Of War. Shambhala Publications. ISBN 0-87773-537-9. 
• Sun Tzu translated by J.H. Huang (1993). The Art of War: The New Translation. Quill William Morrow. ISBN 0-688-12400-3. This text is not a new interpretation of same texts that other editions are based on. Mr. Huang writes a new text based on manuscripts recently discovered in Linyi, China that predates all previous texts by as much as 1000 years.
• Sun Tzu translated by Samuel B. Griffith (1963). The Art of War. Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-501476-6. This book is written by Samuel B. Griffith, Brigadier General (retired), U.S. Marine Corps., with a foreword by Sir B. H. Liddell Hart. "Wu Ch\'i\'s Art of War" in six chapters is appended.
• Sun Tzu translated by Donald G. Krause (1995). The Art of War For Executives. Berkely Publishing Group (Under Perigee Books. ISBN 0-399-51902-5. This book written by Donald Krause is interpreted for today\'s business reader.
• Sun Tzu translated by Ralph D. Sawyer (1995). 100 Lessons In The Art of War. Barnes & Noble. ISBN 0-7607-0998-X. This book by Ralph Sawyer is a culmination on various Chinese strategic texts.
• Sun Tzu translated by Stephen F. Kaufman (1996). The Art of War: The Definitive Interpretation of Sun Tzu\'s Classic Book of Strategy. Tuttle Publishing. ISBN 0-8048-3080-0.  Aimed mainly (but not exclusively) at the martial artist, Kaufman\'s rendition of Sun Tzu\'s work was written from the perspective of a Hanshi ("teacher of teachers").
• Sun Tzu (1988-05). The Art of Strategy, translated by R. L. Wing, Seattle, Washington: Main Street Books. ISBN 0-385-23784-7. 
• Sun Tzu (2003-01-14). The Art of War plus The Ancient Chinese Revealed, translated by Gary Gagliardi, 1st hardcover ed., second printing, hillsborough, Washington: Clearbridge Publishing. ISBN 1-929194-42-0.  Winner of a 2003 Independent Publishers Book Award for Multicultural Nonfiction.[6]
• Sun Tzu translated by Prof. Chow-Hou WEE (2003). Sun Zi Art of War: An Illustrated Translation with Asian Perspectives and Insights. Pearson Education Asia Pte Ltd. ISBN 0-13-100137-X. 
• Sun Tzu translated by Paul Brennan (2007). The Art of War for Martial Artists. Odos Books. 2007. ISBN 978-1-60402-416-6
• Sun Tzu translated by Victor H. Mair (2007). The Art of War: Sun Zi\'s Military Methods. Columbia University Press. ISBN 978-0-231-13382-1

See also

• Sun Tzu
• List of military writers
• Thirty-Six Strategies, another Chinese strategy book
• Philosophy of war
• On War
• The 33 Strategies of War
• The 48 Laws of Power
• The Book of Five Rings

Notes

External links

Wikisource has original text related to this article:

The Art of War

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to:

The Art of War

• The Art of War translated by Lionel Giles (1910), available at Project Gutenberg.
• Art of War - English translation with embedded audio.
• Free Sun Tzu E, Free e-book PDF
• The Art of War Online English Version
• About Sun Tzu and the Art of War, in Chinese and English
• Sun Tzu Said English translation with cross-referenced index, reader comments, online book reader
• Sun Tzu The Art of War Translation by Sonshi with many readers\' interpretations
• Sun Tzu the Art of War text (with recorded Mandarin speech), Denma translation
• Sun Tzu and Hollywood on how the appearance of the book in movies influenced the number of books sold
• The Art of War, audio edition Free mp3 downloads Narrated by Michael Scott of ThoughtAudio.com
• Sun Zi\'s The Art of War text translated by Dr Han Hiong Tan 2001
• The Art of War for Martial Artists an interpretation by Paul Brennan in English and Chinese.

Seven Military Classics of China

The Art of War | Wuzi | The Methods of the Ssu-ma| Six Secret Teachings | Wei Liao-tzu | Three Strategies of Huang Shih-kung | Questions and Replies between T\'ang T\'ai-tsung and Li Wei-kung

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