Sun Tzu

Source

• Born: 500 B.C.
• Birthplace: Ch'i State, China
• Died: ?
• Best Known As: The author of The Art of War

The earliest known work on military strategy and war, The Art of War consists of 13 short chapters attributed to a man named Sun Tzu, also known as Sun Tzi or Sun Wu. Little is known about the man, but he is widely believed to have been an accomplished general when he wrote the text. It emphasizes surprise and deception, with lines like "When capable, feign incapacity; when active, inactivity." The Art of War became known in Europe in the 18th century, and something of a manual for U.S. military strategists in the 20th century, when it was popularized by Henry Kissinger, among others.

Sun-tzu (Sun-pin or Sun-wu) (pronounced ‘Soon-dzer’) (active 400-320 bc), Chinese general, military theorist, and philosopher. Author of the world's first and potentially most long-lived work of military theory, The Art of War, also known as The Thirteen Chapters. Although it is quite possible that ‘Sun-tzu’ might be a combination of different writers, the author of the pre-eminent translation of the ancient texts into English, the scholarly US Marine Col Samuel B. Griffith, was convinced the structure of the work indicates it was written by ‘a singularly imaginative individual who had considerable practical experience in war’. In the 1980s The Art of War was adopted by Tokyo, Wall Street, and the City of London as a text for students of business strategy, and became fashionable dinner-party conversation for the so-called ‘yuppies’ of the time.

Sun-tzu probably wrote in the period of the Warring States in the 4th century bc. It has been suggested that the work might be by Sun Wu and date from the late 6th century bc, but there are repeated references to crossbows, invented in China in around 400 bc. Furthermore, there is no mention of cavalry, which appeared around 320 bc, only of chariots. We can therefore be tolerably sure this first and most universal work on the art of war dates from 400-320 bc.

Like many great works of military thought, The Art of War is a mixture of profound philosophy and detailed and dated tactical prescriptions. The opening sentence of The Thirteen Chapters is clear enough: ‘war is a matter of vital importance to the state; the province of life and death; the road to survival or ruin. It is mandatory that it be thoroughly studied.’ Probably its most lasting observation is to do with information warfare. ‘All war is based on deception. Therefore, when capable, feign incapacity; when active, inactivity. When near, make it appear that you are far away; when far away, that you are near.’ Sun-tzu was the first to enunciate the ‘indirect approach’ in war; indeed, he coined the phrase. He who was master of both the direct and the indirect approach would be victorious, a reflection of the interaction of regular and partisan forces which was a characteristic of war in Sun-tzu's age. Mao and the Vietnamese followed this tradition. Sun-tzu likened an army to water, ‘for just as flowing water avoids the heights and hastens to the lowlands, so an army avoids strength and strikes weakness’.

Sun-tzu was the first to set out what we would now recognize as principles of war: moral influence, weather, terrain, command, and doctrine. The first meant the trust of people in their leaders. By ‘command’, he meant the qualities and ability of the general and by ‘doctrine’ he meant organization, command and control, and logistics.

The first translation of Sun-tzu into a western language was by Father Amiot, a French Jesuit missionary, published in Paris in 1772, but Sun-tzu attracted little attention in France. Had the French studied it, they might have done better in Indochina. Sun-tzu was immensely influential on Mao Tse-tung and on the Soviet military system. Mao's writings evince a clear debt to Sun-tzu. His ‘four slogans’ coined at Ching Kang Shan bear a remarkable resemblance to several of Sun-tzu's verses. Sun-tzu was translated into Russian in 1860, and several times thereafter, and retranslated into German for the East German Ministry of Defence. Although Sun-tzu was introduced to Japan in the 8th century ad, and extensively studied thereafter, the Japanese understanding of it appears to have been superficial. At Pearl Harbor and in their initial campaign in Malaya the Japanese followed Sun-tzu's precepts, knowingly or unknowingly. But later they showed themselves to be obstinate fighters who were unable to cope with unorthodox methods applied by the Allies, including the Chinese.

The biography of Sun-tzu in the official Chinese records (Shih-Ch'I) relates the story of Sun-tzu commanding a parade of the concubines of the king of Wu, in an experiment to test the general's ability to command. In spite of repeated clear instructions, the girls responded to the orders by giggling. Eventually, Sun-tzu had the two girls who had been appointed as commanders beheaded, much to the king's dismay. Many commentators have dismissed the episode as unlikely, but it raises another intriguing possibility. There were women generals in ancient China. Could it be that Sun-tzu was a woman?

Bibliography

• Sun-tzu, The Art of War, trans. Samuel B. Griffith (Oxford, 1963)

— Christopher Bellamy

Chinese military strategist and reputed author of The Art of War (Ping-fa). Sun Tzu was a general who served the state of Wu during the 5th century B.C. The book is a guide for military strategists; it emphasizes the importance of accurate intelligence about the enemy, the importance of flexibility, and an understanding of the relationship between political goals and military operations.

See the Introduction, Abbreviations and Pronunciation for further details.

Quotes:

"The quality of decision is like the well-timed swoop of a falcon which enables it to strike and destroy its victim."

"When envoys are sent with compliments in their mouths, it is a sign that the enemy wishes for a truce."

"If our soldiers are not overburdened with money, it is not because they have a distaste for riches; if their lives are not unduly long, it is not because they are disinclined to longevity."

"Hence to fight and conquer in all your battles is not supreme excellence; supreme excellence consists in breaking the enemy's resistance without fighting."

"The general who wins the battle makes many calculations in his temple before the battle is fought. The general who loses makes but few calculations beforehand."

"O divine art of subtlety and secrecy! Through you we learn to be invisible, through you inaudible and hence we can hold the enemy's fate in our hands."

See more famous quotes by Sun Tzu

Sun Tzu Portrait of Sun Tzu Born: c. 544 BC Possibly in state of Qi Died: c. 496 BC Possibly in state of Wu Occupation: General Nationality: Chinese Subjects: Military strategy Influenced: Robert Greene, John Boyd

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

For the mathematician, see Sun Tzu (mathematician).

Sun Tzu (Chinese: 孫子; pinyin: Sūn Zǐ) ("Master Sun") is an honorific title bestowed upon Sūn Wǔ (孫武; c. 544 BC – 496 BC), the author of The Art of War, an immensely influential ancient Chinese book on military strategy. He is also one of the earliest realists in international relations theory.

In the author's name, Sūn Wǔ, the character wu, meaning "military", is the same as the character in wu shu, or martial art. Sun Wu also has a courtesy name, Chang Qing (長卿; Cháng Qīng).

As a historical figure

The only surviving source on the life of Sun Tzu is the biography written in the 2nd century BC by the historian Sima Qian, who describes him as a general who lived in the state of Wu in the 6th century BC, and therefore a contemporary of one of the great Chinese thinkers of ancient times—Confucius. According to tradition, Sun Tzu was a member of the shi. The shi were landless Chinese aristocrats who were descendants of nobility who lost their dukedoms during the territorial consolidation of the Spring and Autumn Period. Unlike most shi, who were traveling academics, Sun Tzu worked as a mercenary (similar to a modern military consultant). According to tradition, King Helü of Wu hired Sun Tzu as a general approximately 512 BC after finishing his military famous treatise. What is now known as the The Art of War was entitled Sun Tzu; naming a work after the author was common in China prior to the Qin era. After his hiring the kingdom of Wu, which had previously been considered a semi-barbaric state, went on to become the most powerful state of the period by conquering Chu, one of the most powerful states in the Spring and Autumn Period. Sun Tzu, always wanting a peaceful and quiet life, suddenly disappeared when King Helu finally conquered Chu. As a result, his exact date of death remains unknown.

Fame of treatise

In Chinese Sun Tzu (the original book title) is now commonly called Sunzi bingfa (also transliterated as Sun-tzu ping fa or Sun-tse ping fa). Sunzi is a modern transliteration of Sun Tzu. Bing Fa can be translated as "principle for using forces",^[1] "military methods", "army procedures", or "martial arts". Around 298 BC, the historian Zhuang Zi, writing in the state of Zhao, recorded that Sun Tzu’s theory had been incorporated into the martial arts techniques of both offense and defense and of both armed and unarmed combat. His Bing Fa was the philosophical basis of what we now know as the Asian martial arts. Amiot's AD 1722 translation of Sun Tzu into French (the first time it had been translated into a European language) entitled Art Militaire des Chinois is likely to have influenced translations into the English often titled The Art of War.

Historicity

The historicity of Sun Tzu is discussed extensively in the introduction to Lionel Giles' 1910 translation of The Art of War available as a Project Gutenberg online text. In Giles' introduction to his translation, he expands on the doubt and confusion which has surrounded the historicity of Sun Tzu.

In 1972 a set of bamboo engraved texts were discovered in a grave near Linyi in Shandong.^[2] These have helped to confirm parts of the text which were already known and have also added new sections.^[3] This version has been dated to between 134 BC – 118 BC,^[4] and so rules out older theories that parts of the text had been written much later.

The two most common historical 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 wasn't 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 more complete translations.

The Art of War has been one of the most popular combat collections in history. Ancient Chinese long viewed this book as one of the entrance test materials, and it is one of the most important collections of books in the Chinese literature. It is said that Mao Zedong and Joseph Stalin both read this book while in war.

Related text

Sun Bin, also known as Sun the Mutilated, allegedly a crippled descendent of Sun Tzu, also wrote a text known as the Art of War. A more accurate title might be the Art of Warfare since this was more directly concerned with the practical matters of warfare, rather than military strategy.^[5] At least one translator has used the title The Lost Art of War, referring to the long period of time during which Sun Bin's book was lost. There is, however, no similarity between the content or writing style of Sun Bin and Sun Tzu.

References

1. ^ J H Huang, Sun Tzu The New Translation, 1993
2. ^ membres.lycos.fr/suntsu/Sun_Tzu.htm. Retrieved on 2007-07-25.
3. ^ www.sonshi.com/ames.html. Retrieved on 2007-07-25.
4. ^ www.fak.dk/Files/Filer/FSMO/Specialer/200304/Military_theory_and_concept_of_Jointness.pdf (PDF). Retrieved on 2007-07-25.
5. ^ www.airpower.maxwell.af.mil/airchronicles/aureview/1980/jul-aug/killigrew.html. Retrieved on 2007-07-25.

See also

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to:

Sun Tzu

• Philosophy of war
• Yinqueshan Han Slips
• Famous military writers
• Thirty-Six Strategies, another Chinese strategy book
• Arthashastra, a treatise on statecraft, economic policy and military strategy written by Chanakya

External links

Wikisource has original works written by or about:

Sun Tzu

• Works by Sun Tzu at Project Gutenberg
  • The Art of War translated by Lionel Giles (1910), Project Gutenberg edition with considerable (but dated) text on Sun Tzu
  • The Art of War translated by Lionel Giles (1910), Project Gutenberg edition without the translator's annotations, and including an HTML version
  • The Art of War, Chinese original at Project Gutenberg
• Sun Tzu The Art of War by Sonshi Translation, message board, author interviews

Persondata
NAME	Tzu, Sun
ALTERNATIVE NAMES	Sun Tzu; 孫子 (Chinese); Sūn Zǐ (pinyin)
SHORT DESCRIPTION	Chinese general and writer
DATE OF BIRTH	c. 544 BC
PLACE OF BIRTH	Probably in state of Qi
DATE OF DEATH	c. 496 BC
PLACE OF DEATH	Probably in state of Wu

zh-classical:孫武pms:Sun Zidiq:Sun Tzu

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