Sun Bin's Art of War

Sun Bin's Art of War
Inscribed bamboo-slips of Sun Bin's Art of War, unearthed in Yinque Mountain, Linyi, Shandong in 1972
Traditional Chinese	孫臏兵法
Simplified Chinese	孙膑兵法
Transcriptions Standard Mandarin Hanyu Pinyin Sūn Bìn Bīngfǎ Southern Min Hokkien POJ Sun-pīn-peng-hoat

Sun Bin's Art of War is an ancient Chinese classic work on military strategy written by Sun Bin, an alleged descendant of Sun Tzu who served as a military strategist in the Qi state during the Warring States period. According to historical records from the Han Dynasty, Sun Bin's Art of War contained an extensive 89 chapters, with four volumes of pictures attached, but was lost by the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty. As a consequence, Sun Bin's Art of War is sometimes conflated with Sun Tzu's The Art of War.

In April 1972, bamboo slips of both Sun Tzu's and Sun Bin's works were unearthed in the Yinque Hills (Linyi city, Shandong province). Due to natural erosion, some of the bamboo slips were damaged and difficult to reinterpret. After the initial collection and study by experts, the Cultural Relic Press published a new edition of Sun Bin's Art of War, divided into two volumes, each containing 15 chapters, from the 364 bamboo slips, with a total of 11,000 words.

After a decade of textual research and study, the Cultural Relic Press made a major adjustment to the book: the second volume was no longer considered to be Sun Bin's writings; the first volume was edited and one chapter detailing five types of training was added. The current edition of Sun Bin's Art of War contains 16 chapters from 222 bamboo slips, with a total of 4891 words.

Describes the four stratagems employed in the Battle of Guiling:

Sun Bin discusses with King Wei of Qi about war and states: "Only victory in war can bring about authority and prosperity". Sun believes that the historically progressive unification accomplished in war had been an important means of facilitating the submission of feudal lords. To start a war, one must have "a storage of materials, a just cause for war" and must "be well-prepared before launching an attack". Sun also pointed out that "Warmongers will inevitably lose and those who expect to make a fortune out of war will also suffer defeat and disgrace".