Apply Sun Tzu's Art of War and the 36 Stratagems

Author: Yang Wanli, Chief Editor; Cao Zhibiao, Editor
Publisher:
Publishing Date: 2005-08-01
Features: Western countries spent 2,500 years and experienced countless wars before realizing the greatness and wisdom of Sun Tzu; the "36 Stratagems" also made countless politicians, military strategists, and entrepreneurs famous. "The Art of War" and "The 36 Stratagems" are the essence of ancient Chinese military theory. This book combines the two, not only annotating and explaining the original texts but also using stories from various fields such as business, warfare, and politics to illustrate their applications in a practical and easy-to-understand way. Emperor Wilhelm II of Germany, after being deposed, sighed and said: "If I had read 'The Art of War' two decades earlier, I would never have suffered the pain of national ruin." The 36 Stratagems have rewritten Chinese history multiple times. He became a king, which is the famous Goujian in history. After Goujian ascended the throne, he heavily relied on Wu Zixu. Wu Zixu recommended Sun Tzu to Goujian. Sun Tzu presented 13 military treatises to the King of Wu, who, after reading them, was so impressed that he decided to appoint Sun Tzu to reform the army. From then on, Sun Tzu and Wu Zixu made significant contributions to Wu's ambition to dominate. In 506 BC, Wu launched a full-scale attack on Chu with the entire army, appointing Wu Zixu and Sun Tzu as generals. They executed a long strategy, deeply penetrating Chu's territory, and decisively defeated the Chu army, capturing the capital Yingdu (now Jining City in Jingnan County, Hubei). This war launched by Wu, in terms of scale and actual effect, was the largest in the Spring and Autumn Period, so some historians refer to it as the "Great Battle of East Zhou." The 13 military treatises Sun Tzu presented to the King of Wu became the later "The Art of War." Some of the ideas proposed in the book, such as "Know your enemy and know yourself, and you will never be in danger in a hundred battles," "concentrate your strength to defeat the divided enemy" (i.e., concentrate superior forces to eliminate the enemy), "speed is of the essence in warfare," "gain an advantage by striking unexpectedly," "attack the weak points while avoiding the strong," and "attack where the enemy is unprepared," are the crystallization of the wisdom of the Chinese nation. They still hold immense methodological significance today, enough to guide people's lives. Today, "The Art of War" has been translated into many languages and is a required reading for many famous military academies. Many countries have established Sun Tzu Military Strategy Research Institutes to study his military thought. With the advent of the era of a unified global market, the operational ideas in "The Art of War" have gradually been applied to the field of management, becoming an important theoretical basis in the treasure trove of management thought.