Sunzi

Sunzi, Master Sun, is the figure to whom tradition attributes The Art of War, the most famous Chinese treatise on military strategy. Later historical sources describe him as a general serving the king of Wu, but his historicity is uncertain, and many scholars regard the text as compiled and expanded during the Warring States period. The treatise presents war as a matter of grave importance to the state, costly and dangerous, to be undertaken only after careful calculation and won ideally without battle.

Key ideas

• War is a vital matter of state and must be weighed with the utmost care before it is begun.
• The best victory subdues the enemy without fighting.
• Knowing both the enemy and oneself is the basis of success.
• Prolonged war exhausts the state; strategy should seek decisive advantage at least cost.

Major works

• The Art of War (Sunzi bingfa 孫子兵法), attributed; c. 5th–4th century BCE
• Biography in Sima Qian's Records of the Grand Historian (Shiji), c. 100 BCE (record of the tradition about him)

In the conversation

• Question Does Sunzi have an ethics of war, or only an economics of it? Choi Byeong-hun · 4 replies