The Art of Staying Relevant After thousands of years, Sun Tzu’s military treatise is still used and embraced by readers and leaders alike

By Yu Yan

The Art of Staying Relevant After thousands of years, Sun Tzu’s military treatise is still used and embraced by readers and leaders alike

By Yu Yan

Riding the wave of success from the 3D release ofTitanicin China, Hollywood director James Cameron recently signed on to the crew ofThe Art of War, China’s first 3D film. The film will be the first 3D film jointly produced by Chinese and U.S. directors.

The Art of Wartells the tale of Sun Tzu, an ancient Chinese strategist, philosopher and author of the Chinese classic of the same name about military strategies and tactics.

“Cameron can help us tell the story better. The film will lead the world to expect more enlightenment from Chinese stories such as that of Sun Tzu. The flm is not only a story about history, but also a story about today and tomorrow,” said Hu Bo, Chinese director of the flm.

Global popularity

The flm is the outcome of the rising popularity ofThe Art of Waracross the globe. Hopes are that it will lead to a new wave of enthusiasm toward Chinese classics.

The Art of Waris an ancient Chinese military treatise that is attributed to Sun Tzu, a high-ranking military general during the late Spring and Autumn period (770B.C.-476B.C.).

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Composed of 13 chapters, each is devoted to one aspect of warfare. As one of the world’s oldest and most successful books on military strategy, for the last 2,000 years it has produced signifcant infuence on Eastern military thinking, business tactics and beyond.

The book was first translated into French in 1772 by French Jesuit Jean Joseph Marie Amiot and then English by British officer Everard Ferguson Calthrop in 1905. Leaders as diverse as former Chinese leader Mao Zedong, Vietnamese General Vo Nguyen Giap and American General Douglas MacArthur have drawn inspiration from the work.The Art of Warhas also been applied to business and managerial strategies.

The majority of Chinese modern and contemporary works, however, have something of a limited audience. But two books—The Art of Warby Sun Tzu andTao Te Chingby Lao Tzu—are global bestsellers, said Zhu Li’an, a journalist with China Radio International at the London Book Fair on April 16.

In Asia, the book’s infuence is even more profound. In New Delhi, India,The Art of Warflies from bookshelves before it can be restocked.

“In recent years, Chinese classic works have been very popular. Of them,The Art of Wartakes the lead. Our bookstore has bought many editions ofThe Art of War, and they are all sold out soon. We are planning to buy more, because there are still many people waiting to buy it,” said Gurrinder Singh Khanna, a bookstore employee in New Delhi.

The same is true in South Korea, Iran and other Asian countries.

“Every time I readThe Art of War, I get new inspirations. The contents of the book are very profound,” said Javad Hosseini, an Iranian scholar.

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Hosseini came to China from Iran in 1993 and studied in China for nine years. With great passion for Chinese culture, he has read many Chinese classic works includingA Dream of Red Mansions,Romance of Three KingdomsandJourney to the West. Of all the works, he likesThe Art of Warmost and has done research into this book for years.

“If we regardThe Analects of ConfuciusandMenciusas the origins of the Eastern ethics, thenThe Art of Warwas undoubtedly the treasure house where wise people from both the West and the East can absorb wisdom,” said Hosseini.

The thoughts of Sun Tzu are a treasure for the whole world, said Hosseini. Currently, there is only an English version ofThe Art of Warand other Chinese classics available in Iran. Hosseini took it upon himself to translate the work into Farsi for the Iranian people. His translation was published in Teheran in 2008. As the frst Farsi version of the book, it sold very well. The 5,000 copies of its frst edition were sold out within a short time and its revised edition has already been put in the market.

To ascertain background knowledge on the book, Hosseini visited north China’s Shandong Province, where the book was written, to know more about Sun Tzu and the book. He also attended six international Sun Tzu Symposiums, so as to better promote the book to the Iranian people.

Quotes From The Art of War

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. The best thing of all is to take the enemy,s country whole and intact; to shatter and destroy it is not so good.

All warfare is based on deception.

It is the business of the general to be still and inscrutable, to be upright and impartial. Attack him where he is unprepared, appear where you are not expected.

If you know the enemy and know yourself, your victory will not stand in doubt.

Business application

Ancient wisdom has no expiration date. The book is not only a military strategy book, but also an essential manual in business competition and manual of enlightenment in people’s life.

Scholars agree that the military strategies in the book are applicable also to the cut-throat business world. As a result, the book has become a compulsory course in many famous business schools such as the Harvard Business School in the United States.

Military and commercial wars are the same at the macro-level, but in today’s commercial and industrial areas, strategies are discussed most but understood least, said Hong Bing, a researcher of China’s Academy of Military Science and Vice President of the China Research Society of Sun Tzu’s Art of War.

Sun Tzu lived in a time when the country was torn by wars. Like in the old days, today’s business world is also flled with “wars.” In this highly competitive and innovative age, the rule of survival of the fttest still applies.

The laws of competition revealed inThe Art of Warcould help entrepreneurs maintain an invincible place in the competition, said Hong.

For instance, the thought of Sun Tzu—If you know the enemy and know yourself, your victory will not stand in doubt—works well in commercial competition. It requires an entrepreneur to have adequate knowledge of both the company and its competitors. Through careful research, he can fnd out the company’s weak aspects, improve them and thus gain a competitive edge, said Hong.

Therefore, in addition to the military strategy course, he also added the book into his teaching courses.

Uninterested youth

Despite the huge popularity across the world, the book has not earned much attention among China’s younger generations. This has aroused anxiety among Chinese scholars.

“I readThe Art of Warwhen I was in high school. It was enlightening but boring. The language is ancient Chinese. It is hard to understand and read,” said Lu Xiao, human resources manager of the COFCO Innovative Foods (Beijing) Co. Ltd.

The sharp contrast between the popularity of Chinese classic works outside and inside China is worth refection, said Shi Tongyu, a research fellow with the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences.

The Art of Warbecame the cumulative sales champion in South Korea. This sales volume didn’t refer to the one classic work, but included all kinds of versions adapted based on the work, for instance, adapted version, annotated version, graphical version, comics and entertaining books on love and war, said Shi.

The traditional culture was not fixed or rigid. It could have various forms of interpretation. Every generation had their way in study. Today, the young people prefer direct and simple ways. Modern ways could be used to appeal to the young generation, as long as the spirit and the key contents were stuck to, said Shi.

yuyan@bjreview.com

Sun Tzu

Sun Tzu, born in Guangrao, east China,s Shandong Province in 535B.C. and died in 470B.C., was an ancient Chinese military general, strategist and philosopher.

He lived in the Spring and Autumn Period of China (770B.C.-476B.C.) and served under King Helu (544B.C.-496B.C.) of the State of Wu (12th century B.C.-473 B.C.).

Sun Tzu,s classic work,The Art of War, is an influential ancient Chinese book on military strategy that had a significant impact on Chinese and Asian history.