A Brief Introduction of Art of War

by wenhousecrafts.com

《孙子兵法》
A Brief Introduction of Art of War

28 July 2008

The Art of War, written by Sun Zi (, Sun Tzu, 孙子) in the 6th century BC, is the oldest book on military strategy, and the first to understand the vital importance of laying strategic plan before taking action and that altering the plan according to changed conditions in the field.

The book has made a huge influence on Chinese military thinking throughout the history. Lately its influence has been extended to the areas like business management and competitive sports and beyond.

The Art of War is composed of thirteen chapters, devoting to thirteen major aspects of warfare, and following is a brief introduction of the each chapter:

Chapter One: Laying A Plan

It explores the five key elements that define competitive position, and the way to evaluate your strengths and weaknesses, advantages and constraints in comparison with your opponents.

故经之以五事，校之以计，而索其情：一曰道，二曰天，三曰地，四曰将，五曰法。

When planning your strategy, you should take five basic factors into account:

The univsersal condition - the justice of the mission;
the celestial conditione - the time;
the terrestrial condition - the location;
the human condition - the leadership;
the technic condition - the methods, discipline and weapons.

Chapter Two: Waging A War

It explains how to understand the economic nature of military confrontation and how the cost effectiveness determs the outcome of a compaign.

故兵闻拙速，未睹巧之久.。夫兵久而国利者，未之有也。故兵贵胜，不贵久。

There is no instance in history that a country could be benefit from prolonging a warfare. Thus the wise object for a military action should be of gaining victory, not of taking lengthy campaigns.

A Brief Introduction of Art of War (2)

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