The Art of War
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| Author | (trad.) Sun Tzu |
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| Country | China |
| Language | Chinese language |
| Subject | Military strategy and tactics |
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Publication date
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5th century BC |
| Text | at |
| The Art of War | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Traditional Chinese | 孫子兵法 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Simplified Chinese | 孙子兵法 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Literal meaning | "Master Sun's Rules of Warfare" | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Transcriptions | |
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| Standard Mandarin | |
| Hanyu Pinyin | Sūnzǐ bīngfǎ |
| Wade–Giles | Sun-tzu ping-fa |
| IPA | [swə́ntsɨ̀ píŋfà] |
| Wu | |
| Romanization | Sen-tsy pin-fah |
| Yue: Cantonese | |
| Yale Romanization | Syūn jí bīng faat |
| Jyutping | Syun1-zi2 bing1-faat3 |
| Southern Min | |
| Tâi-lô | Sun-tzú ping-huat |
| Old Chinese | |
| Baxter-Sagart | *[s]ˤu[n] tsəʔ praŋ [p.k]ap |
The Art of War is an ancient Chinese military treatise dating from the 5th century BC. Attributed to the ancient Chinese military strategist Sun Tzu ("Master Sun", also spelled Sunzi) the text is composed of 13 chapters, each of which is devoted to one aspect of warfare. It is commonly thought of as a definitive work on military strategy and tactics. It was placed at the head of China's Seven Military Classics upon the collection's creation in 1080 by Emperor Shenzong of Song, and has long been the most influential strategy text in East Asia. It has had an influence on Eastern and Western military thinking, business tactics, legal strategy and beyond.
The book was first translated into French in 1772 by the Jesuit Jean Joseph Marie Amiot and a partial translation into English was attempted by British officer Everard Ferguson Calthrop in 1905. The first annotated English translation was completed and published by Lionel Giles in 1910. Leaders such as Mao Zedong, General Vo Nguyen Giap, General Douglas MacArthur and leaders of Imperial Japan have drawn inspiration from the work.
Sima Qian's 1st century BC work Records of the Grand Historian (Shiji), the first of China's 24 dynastic histories, records an early Chinese tradition stating that a text on military matters was written by one Sun Wu—usually known as "Master Sun" (Sunzi or Sun-tzu)—from the State of Qi, and that this text had been read and studied by King Helu of Wu (r. 514–495 BC). This text was traditionally identified with the received Master Sun's Art of War. The conventional view, which is still widely held in China, was that Sun Wu was a military theorist from the end of the Spring and Autumn period (776–471 BC) who fled his home state of Qi to the southeastern kingdom of Wu, where he is said to have impressed the king with his ability to train even dainty palace ladies in warfare and to have made Wu's armies powerful enough to challenge their western rivals in the state of Chu.
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