Tsun Tsu

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

Inscribed bamboo-slips of The Art of War, unearthed in Yinque Mountain, Linyi, Shandong in 1972, dated back to 2nd century BC.
Author(s) Sun Tzu
Country China
Genre(s) Military treatise
This article contains Chinese text. Without proper rendering support, you may see questionmarks, boxes, or other symbols instead of Chinese characters.
The Art of War
Traditional Chinese 孫子兵法
Simplified Chinese 孙子兵法
Hanyu Pinyin Sūnzĭ Bīngfǎ
Literal meaning Sun Tzu's Military Principles
[show]Transcriptions
The Art of War is an ancient Chinese military treatise that is attributed to Sun Tzu (also referred to as "Sunzi" and "Sun Wu"), a high ranking military general and strategistduring the late Spring and Autumn period (some scholars believe that the Art of War was not completed until the subsequent Warring States period[1]). Composed of 13 chapters, each of which is devoted to one aspect of warfare. It is said to be the definitive work on military strategies and tactics of its time, and is still read for its military insight.
The Art of War is one of the oldest and mostsuccessful books on military strategy in the world. It has been the most famous and influential of China's Seven Military Classics: "for the last two thousand years it remained the most important military treatise in Asia, where even the common people knew it by name."[2] It has had an influence on Eastern military thinking, business tactics, and beyond...
Sun Tzu emphasized the importance ofpositioning in military strategy. The decision to position an army must be based on both objective conditions in the physical environment and the subjective beliefs of other, competitive actors in that environment. He thought that strategy was not planning in the sense of working through an established list, but rather that it requires quick and appropriate responses to changing conditions. Planningworks in a controlled environment; but in a changing environment, competing plans collide, creating unexpected situations.
The book was first translated into the French language in 1772 by French Jesuit Jean Joseph Marie Amiot and into English by British officer, Everard Ferguson Calthrop, in 1905. Leaders as diverse as Mao Zedong, General Vo Nguyen Giap, Baron Antoine-Henri Jomini, GeneralDouglas MacArthur, and leaders of Imperial Japan have drawn inspiration from the work. The Art of War has also been applied to business and managerial strategies.[2][3]
Contents  [hide] 
1 The 13 chapters
1.1 Chapter summary
2 Authenticity
2.1 Traditionalist viewpoint
2.2 Later criticism
2.3 Modern archaeological findings
2.4 Was the Art of War created in the late Warring States?
2.5 Was it anearly Warring States creation?
3 Annotations
4 Quotations
5 Military applications
6 Application outside the military
7 Depiction in media
7.1 Television
8 Sources and translations
9 See also
10 Notes
11 External links
[edit]The 13 chapters



The beginning of The Art of War, in a classical bamboo book from the reign of the Qianlong Emperor.
The Art of War is divided into 13chapters (or piān), and the collection is referred to as being one zhuàn ("whole" or alternatively "chronicle"). Because different translations have used different titles for each chapter, a selection appears below.
Chapter Lionel Giles (1910) R.L. Wing (1988) Ralph D. Sawyer (1996) Chow-Hou Wee (2003)
I Laying Plans The Calculations Initial Estimations Detail Assessment and Planning
(Chinese: 始計，始计)II Waging War The Challenge Waging War Waging War
(Chinese: 作戰，作战)
III Attack by Stratagem The Plan of Attack Planning Offensives Strategic Attack
(Chinese: 謀攻，谋攻)
IV Tactical Dispositions Positioning Military Disposition Disposition of the Army
(Chinese: 軍形，军形)
V Energy Directing Strategic Military Power Forces
(Chinese: 兵勢，兵势)
VI Weak Points and Strong Illusion and Reality Vacuity and...