Sun Zi bingfa (Master Sun’s military methods) is the earliest and most important Chinese book that deals exclusively with strategy and tactics. Although it is traditionally attributed to an obscure individual named Sun Wu, who is supposed to have flourished around the end of the sixth century and early fifth century B.C., modern scholarship has demonstrated conclusively that the work evolved during the second half of the fourth century and the beginning of the third century B.C. It is clear, furthermore, that the Sun Zi incorporates military lore that circulated broadly during the Warring States period (475–221 B.C.) and could not possibly have been exclusively the product of a single individual.
The Sun Zi deals neither with the specifics of training soldiers nor with details concerning the use of various weapons. Rather, it is concerned more with the overall planning for war and especially with the significance of diverse types of terrain. Moreover, espionage is awarded a special place as the concluding chapter of the book. As such, the Sun Zi is less concrete than the works of Western military thinkers such as the ancient Greek and Roman strategists or Clausewitz. On the other hand, the generalities of the Sun Zi have made it highly adaptable for application in business and even for personal decision making.
The present volume emphasizes the unusual style and composition of the Sun Zi, its Taoistic aspects, its historical context, its technological presuppositions, and its place in global developments. Those who are interested in these dimensions of the text are invited to read the lengthy introduction and extensive annotations. Those who are interested primarily in the text itself are urged to turn directly to p. 76 and to consult the ancillary materials as they wish.