The Art of War in Chinese

The Art of War (孫子兵法) 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.

The book was written during the 6th century BC by Sun Tzu. 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 quick and appropriate responses to changing conditions. Planning works in a controlled environment, but in a competitive environment, competing plans collide, creating unexpected situations.

The book has long been praised as the definitive work on military strategies and tactics of its time. It was first translated into the French language in 1782 by French Jesuit Jean Joseph Marie Amiot, and had possibly influenced Napoleon and even the planning of Operation Desert Storm. 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 been frequently mentioned in popular media such as film and television. It has also been applied to business and managerial strategies in modern time.

[Approximate Size] length 50.8cm, width 15.8cm, 42 slips. 

[Language] Chinese