中国文化英语教程Unit

The Strategic Thoughts of Sunzi
• Treachery is meant to entice (诱使) the enemy to make all sorts of mistakes, defeating them after they all into a state of chaos.
The Dialectical Thinking of Sunzi
Changeability • Situations of war are changeable at every
moment, perhaps the most changeable of all things in the world. • To win a war, the commander must be able to keep abreast of and adapt to such changes.
Unit 3
Sunzi’s Art of War:
Source for All Books on War
Content
Lead-in Text study Exercises
Lead-in
“The art of war is of vital importance to the state. It is a matter of life and death, a road either to safety or to ruin. Hence it is a subject of inquiry which can on no account be neglected.”
What’s the Chinese version of these lines? Where are they selected from? Whose words are they?
Lead-in
Text study
Introduction The Strategic Thought of Sunzi The Dialectical Thinking of Sunzi Sunzi’s Caution Against War Sunzi’s Wisdom Beyond the Military
The Strategic Thoughts of Sunzi
• Of the rich strategic thoughts of Sunzi, the following are four aspects selected for illustoing to war (先计而后战).” ✓ “One can fight and win a hundred wars if one knows both oneself and the enemy (知 彼知己，百战不殆).” ✓ “The army survives by treachery (兵以诈立).” ✓ “Winning a war without fighting it (不战而屈 人之兵).”
Introduction
• Sunzi’s Art of War (Sunzi Bingfa), is an ancient classic of war, consisting of 13 chapters in about 6,000 characters.
• As many of the book’s contents bear features of the Warring States Period (475-221 BC), some scholars believe the book was probably written in the middle of that period.
孙子曰：兵者，国之大事，死生之地，存亡之道，不可不察也。 故经之以五事，校之以计，而索其情：一曰道，二曰天，三曰地， 四曰将，五曰法。
——《孙子兵法 始计第一》
The Strategic Thoughts of Sunzi
• The five aspects for consideration during war were echoed by Carl von Clausewitz (1780-1831), a German war expert, as “strategic factors”.
The Dialectical Thinking of Sunzi
• Sunzi said, “there is no fixed way of using force, just as there is no fixed form to water. He who can win a victory by adapting to changes in enemy forces is a master of the art of war.”
Introduction
• Sun Wu, respectfully called Sunzi, was born sometime between 550 and 540 BC, or toward the end of the Spring and Autumn Period.
• He was a native of the State of Qi but later moved to the State of Wu, where he became the king’s trusted strategist.
• It excels over the other books in terms of strategy design, philosophical grounding and in tactical application.
• Over the centuries it has been respected as “the source for all books on war (百代谈兵之祖).”
The Strategic Thoughts of Sunzi
• The odds for winning are half and half if one knows oneself but not the enemy. And one is bound to fail if one knows neither oneself nor the enemy.
• It is best to take over a city intact and to win victory through minimal killing.
• This is the principle of a “decent victory”.
The Strategic Thoughts of Sunzi
The Dialectical Thinking of Sunzi
• The rich philosophical thought in Sunzi’s Art of War has aroused greater and greater attention from scholars of ancient Chinese philosophy.
• In his discussion of “strategy” in On War, Carl von Clausewitz attributes its origin to “treachery”.
• By “treachery” Sunzi meant it is crucial to deceive the enemy with false impressions.
• It represents the theories of war of the Sunzi School originated by Sun Wu.
Introduction
• Of the more than 3,000 books on war from the pre-Qin (before 221 BC) period to the Qing Dynasty (1616-1911), Sunzi’s Art of War stands out as the greatest classic.
The Strategic Thoughts of Sunzi
“Planning before going to war.”
• Before entering a war, one must compare and analyze all factors of both sides, which mainly include: morale (士气), climate, terrain, commanders, and rules.
The Strategic Thoughts of Sunzi
“Winning a war without fighting it.”
• To Sunzi, the purpose of a war is to win victory, not to kill as many people as possible.
知彼知己，百战不殆； ——《孙子兵法 谋攻第三》
• The purpose of considering the above five aspects, is to know the real situation on both sides.
• It is not easy to get to know the enemy, because they do their best to keep their secrets and resort to all sorts of deception.
• Such holistic (全面的) thinking is a special feature of Sunzi’s Art of War.
The Strategic Thoughts of Sunzi
“One can fight and win a hundred wars if one knows both oneself and the enemy.”
• One or two of these factors are insufficient for one to judge the feasibility and consequences of a war. Consideration must be given to all these factors and their combinations.
• It also means “attacking the enemy at an unexpected time and place”.
• It is by using treachery that an expert of war devises strategies at headquarters while directing his army a thousand miles away to victory.
不知彼而知己，一胜一负；不知彼不知己，没战必败。 ——《孙子兵法 谋攻第三》
The Strategic Thoughts of Sunzi
“The army survives by treachery.”
• Sunzi said, “The use of force is actually the use of treachery.”
• It is not plausible to fight and win wars. • It’s ideal to achieve victory through means
other than war, such as politics, diplomacy, and other deterrent (威慑的) measures. • These ideas of Sunzi reflect his deep understanding of what we today call “holistic war (整体战争)”.