Sun Tzu's Art of War and the 36 Strategies (Includes Disc)

Author: Sun Wu (Spring and Autumn Period)
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2002-01-01
Features: During the Warring States period, the extraordinary master Guiguzi had two outstanding disciples: one was Sunzi, and the other was Pang Juan. Pang Juan emerged before Sun Bin, and Guiguzi secretly passed down the lost Art of War to Sun Bin alone. Pang Juan led the Wei State army to stalemate against the Chu State army at Fangcheng. Sun Bin the Art of War to propose the strategy of "pulling the ladder from above," leading to a crushing defeat of the Chu army by Pang Juan. Jealous of Sun Bin's talent, Pang Juan "smiled with hidden" and framed Sun Bin, resulting in Sun Bin being subjected to the punishment of castration. Pang Juan's strategist Gongsun Yue, in pursuit of the beauty Zhongliu Qiu, revealed Pang Juan's conspiracy to Sun Bin. Sun Bin "feigned illness to appear mad," burning all the copies of the Art of War he had made. Zhongliu Qiu hoped Sun Bin was not truly mad and confided in him, but Sun Bin remained in a feigned state of madness. Pang Juan, who secretly monitored Sun Bin, believed him to be genuinely insane. Zhongliu Qiu's sister, Zhongliu Chun, upon learning the truth about Sun Bin's feigned madness, came alone to Sun Bin's hometown, Qi State, and requested the help of General Tian Ji to rescue Sun Bin. Tian Ji sent his disciple Qing Hua to Wei State, and with Qing Hua's assistance, Sun Bin "shed his golden cicada skin" and escaped from Wei State. Sun Bin defeated Pang Juan and quietly left, leaving behind two works of military strategy: one was the Art of War, and the other was his own Sun Bin's Art of War. The Art of War and the 36 Stratagems, with one stratagem per volume, interweaves strategies that complement each other, showcasing ancient Chinese military tactics and Eastern intellectual culture while vividly depicting a historical panorama of political, military, and emotional exchanges among different social strata in the Warring States period of China 2,000 years ago.