Table of Contents

Acknowledgments Introduction The Excavation at Yinqueshan Sun Bin as a Historical Person The Reconstructed Sun Bin: The Art of Warfare Analysis of Sun Bin: The Art of Warfare An Overview Sunzi and Sun Bin: The Overlap Sunzi and Sun Bin: Textual Borrowings Sunzi and Sun Bin: Thematic Continuities Sunzi and Sun Bin: The Differences Sun Bin on Siege Warfare Sun Bin and the Introduction of Cavalry Sun Bin and Battle Formation (zhen) Sun Bin: Current Assessments of its Value The Art of Warfare as a Genre Sun Bin as Philosophical Literature Foreknowledge (zhi) The Way (dao) Strategic Advantage (shi) Weighing with the Lever Scales (quan) Battle Formation and Display (zhen / chen) Adaptability (bian) Yin-yang and a Correlative Vocabulary The Exemplary Commander (jiang) The Complete Victory (quan sheng) Sun Bin: The Art of Warfare A Translation Part I--Sun Bin: The Art of Warfare The Sixteen-Chapter Text Recovered from the Yingueshan Han Dynasty Strips Chapter 1: Capturing Pang Juan Chapter 2: [An Audience with King Wei of Qi] Chapter 3: The Questions of King Wei of Qi Chapter 4: Tian Ji Inquires about Battlefield Defenses Chapter 5: On Selecting the Troops Chapter 6: The Moon and Warfare Chapter 7: The Eightfold Division of Formations Chapter 8: Terrain as Treasure Chapter 9: Preparing the Strategic Advantage (shi) Chapter 10: [The Real Nature of Military] Chapter 11: Carrying out the Selection of Personnel Chapter 12: Sacrifice in Battle Chapter 13. Raising and Keeping Morale High Chapter 14: Coordinating Military Assignments Chapter 15: The Five Kinds of Training Methods Chapter 16: [Strengthening the Military] Part II--Sun Bin: The Art of Warfare The Fifteen Supplemental Chapters Recovered from the Yinqueshan Han Dynasty Strips Chapter 17: Ten Military Formations Chapter 18: Ten Questions Chapter 19: Overwhelming an Armed Infantry Chapter 20: The Positions of Invader and Defender Chapter 21: The Expert Commander Chapter 22: Five Postures and Five Situations in which an Army Respects Conventions Chapter 23: [Military Mistakes] Chapter 24: The Rightness (yi) of the Commander Chapter 25: [The Excellence (de) of the Commander] Chapter 26: Fatal Weaknesses of the Commander Chapter 27: [Fatal Mistakes of the Commander] Chapter 28: [Male and Female Fortifications] Chapter 29: [Five Considerations and Nine Objectives] Chapter 30: [Concentrated and Sparse Troops] Chapter 31: Straightforward and Surprise Operations Part III--Sun Bin: The Art of Warfare Text Recovered from Later Commentarial, Historical, and Encyclopedic Sources Chapter 32: Ten Advantages of Using the Cavalry Chapter 33: Attacking the Heart-and-Mind Chapter 34: Fragments Appendix Background to the Excavation at Yinqueshan Dating the Tombs and Identifying the Occupants The First Published Reports The Bamboo Strip Manuscripts and their Dates Notes Bibliography of Works Cited Index About the Authors

About the Author

D. C. Lau is Professor Emeritus at the Chinese University of Hong Kong. He has translated such Chinese classics as Mencius and Confucius: The Analects. Roger T. Ames is Professor of Philosophy at the University of Hawaii. He is the author and editor of many books, including Sun-tzu: The Art of Warfare and, from SUNY Press (with David L. Hall), Thinking from the Han: Self, Truth, and Transcendence in Chinese and Western Culture.

Reviews

"For one who has really mastered the way of warfare, his enemy can do nothing to escape death." - Sun Bin