Sun Zi

UNIVERSITI TUNKU ABDUL RAHMAN

FACULTY OF BUSINESS & FINANCE (FBF)

UBMM1011

Sun Zi’s Art of War

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Business Strategies

NOTES

(Including Translation according to Professor Wee Chow-Hou, 2003)

Compiled by:

Dr. Wong Kee Luen EdD

Introduction

Sun Zi’s Art of War is the oldest known military classic in Chinese literature. It is also the most revered and well-known Chinese military text outside of China. While its exact origin and authorship have been debated, military historians are unanimous that the book existed and was probably written in 400-320 B. C., about 100 years after the birth of Confucius and Lao Tzu, two well-known Chinese philosophers. Thus the book is over 2,400 years old today. It is amazing to note that its contents have continued to intrigue modern scholars and writers.

The significance and importance of Sun Zi’s Art of War in influencing military thought and political thinking has seldom been questioned. All the top military academies of the world would vouch to have copies of the book in their libraries. Many of them have also included Sun Zi’s Art of War as part of the curricula for the training of top military commanders.

It may surprise readers that Sun Zi Art of War is a short book. It contains about only 6,200 words written in classical Chinese. The book has 13 chapters, with each chapter barely a page long. The longest chapter is Chapter 11 on the Nine Battlegrounds and has less than 1,100 words. The shortest chapter is Chapter 8 on Variations and Adaptability has less than 250 characters. It is remarkable that so much thought and wisdom can be contained in such a short piece of work.

As the original work was written in classical Chinese, there have been many problems with capturing the full meaning and implication of Sun Zi’s thought. This is largely attributed to the complexity of Chinese language, writing and culture. To understand the exact meaning and implication of the work, one has to be...