The Global Impact of Sun Tzu’s Military Principles

By staff reporter ZHOU LIN

The Art of War

Author： Sun Tzu

Translator： Samuel B. Griffith

Price： US $9.95

Paperback， 197 pages

Published by Oxford University Press

ACCORDING to readers ratings on Goodreads and Amazon， combined with the number of books collected in global library systems， five books with a China theme were selected as most popular among foreign readers in 2018. They are Tao Te Ching， The Art of War， AI Superpowers： China， Silicon Valley， and the New World Order， Destined for War： Can America and China Escape Thucydidess Trap？ and The Tea Girl of Hummingbird Lane.

The Art of War， together with Tao Te Ching， was introduced to European countries early in 1772. As of 2018， the book has been translated into more than 30 languages including English， French， Spanish， Dutch， and Italian， with 459 versions in total， among which 138 are English versions.

The Art of War is an ancient military text attributed to Sun Tzu， a high-ranking military general， strategist， and philosopher in China around 500 BC. His book about military tactics and strategy was the most widelycirculated military book of the Warring States period 2，500 years ago.

The book has roughly 6，000 words， and is divided into 13 chapters， namely Laying Plans， Waging War， Attack by Stratagem， Tactical Dispositions， Energy， Weak Points and Strong， Maneuvering， Variation in Tactics， the Army on the March， Terrain， the Nine Situations， the Attack by Fire， and the Use of Spies. The authors sayings are terse yet elegant， simple yet profound， clearly expressed and eminently practical.

Humans have constructed buildings and walls for defensive purposes for many thousands of years. For example， the Great Wall of China is a series of military construction designed for defense in warfare， made of stone， brick， tamped earth， wood， and other materials. However， The Art of War is not just the staple and base of all military strategy and soldiers training， but also a bible for business negotiation and philosophy of life.

The Guardian has listed The Art of War in the top 100 nonfiction books， ranking it first among political books.

The Economist once published an article about soft power， saying that Sun Tzu， who has been praised highly by the global administrative elites， has the power to make China more attractive to foreigners， as he underlined “the supreme art of war is to subdue the enemy without fighting.” What else could be more effective to testify that China is a peace loving nation？ Joseph Samuel Nye Jr. – the founder of the concept of “soft power” — agreed that Sun Tzu was a man who truly understood the use of soft power.