- Paperback: 272 pages
- Publisher: State University of New York Press (19 Mar 2003)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0791454967
- ISBN-13: 978-0791454961
- Product Dimensions: 2.3 x 1.5 x 0.2 cm
- Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (1 customer review)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 1,385,028 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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Product Description
Product Description
A classic of both military strategy and Eastern philosophy from the fourth century BC.
About the Author
D. C. Lau is Professor Emeritus at the Chinese University of Hong Kong. One of the most highly respected scholars of classical Chinese philosophy, 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 (with David L. Hall) Thinking from the Han: Self, Truth, and Transcendence in Chinese and Western Culture, also published by SUNY Press. His translation of Sun-tzu: The Art of Warfare is recognized as a landmark of contemporary Chinese military and philosophical studies.
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
Format:Paperback
Sun Bin was a military strategist born into the violent Warring States period in China. A descendent of the more famous Sun Wu ('Master Sun' or Sunzi) he is credited with writing the text which bears his name. Though references to it survived the Sun Bin itself was lost for two thousand years until parts of it were discovered in 1972, written on bamboo strips found during the archaeological excavation of a tomb dated to between 140-118 BC in Shandong province. This book presents the text itself and discusses its background and significance.
The first 90 pages are an introduction which places the Sun Bin firmly in context. It can be approached as a work of philosophy, a historical document, or an operational military manual. The authors consider all these aspect as well as the similarities and differences between the Sun Bin and Sunzi. For example, warfare had changed in the period between the two being written. Cavalry had been introduced, offensive weaponry improved and great advances in organising armies, all of which led to bigger and bloodier battles. Importantly the cultural and philosophical background of classical China is discussed without an understanding of which the Sun Bin cannot properly be appreciated. This introduction makes interesting reading, though some parts are a little dense as they have to summarise classical Chinese philosophy.
The next 96 pages present a translation of the Sun Bin text itself. It must be emphasised that the state of the recovered bamboo strips mean that the Sun Bin we have is only a part of the original document. Nearly 5,000 bamboo strips were excavated of which 187 complete, 109 partial and 68 fragmentary strips have been identified as being part of the Sun Bin. These form 16 chapters from a work which historical sources say comprised over 80 chapters. An additional 15 chapters from the same tomb dealing with military affairs but which cannot be said to be part of the Sun Bin are presented, as well as a short section of texts related to the Sun Bin from other sources. The translation is backed up with 40 pages of notes.
Some of the Sun Bin's chapters are complete or nearly so, some are very fragmentary. They usually describe how historical campaigns were won or take the form of a question and answer session, with a general or king asking Sun Bin questions on military matters which he answers. The Sun Bin is more concerned with the practicalities of how to wage war rather than the profound insights into the nature of conflict itself which makes the Sunzi so relevant even today.
A brief appendix describes the tomb's excavation, dating evidence, the tomb's occupants and the bamboo strips themselves. The book is rounded off with a bibliography and index.
While it generally lacks the depth of the Sunzi, the Sun Bin provides a window into early military philosophy. This book serves its purpose well by allowing the reader to appreciate it in many different ways.
The first 90 pages are an introduction which places the Sun Bin firmly in context. It can be approached as a work of philosophy, a historical document, or an operational military manual. The authors consider all these aspect as well as the similarities and differences between the Sun Bin and Sunzi. For example, warfare had changed in the period between the two being written. Cavalry had been introduced, offensive weaponry improved and great advances in organising armies, all of which led to bigger and bloodier battles. Importantly the cultural and philosophical background of classical China is discussed without an understanding of which the Sun Bin cannot properly be appreciated. This introduction makes interesting reading, though some parts are a little dense as they have to summarise classical Chinese philosophy.
The next 96 pages present a translation of the Sun Bin text itself. It must be emphasised that the state of the recovered bamboo strips mean that the Sun Bin we have is only a part of the original document. Nearly 5,000 bamboo strips were excavated of which 187 complete, 109 partial and 68 fragmentary strips have been identified as being part of the Sun Bin. These form 16 chapters from a work which historical sources say comprised over 80 chapters. An additional 15 chapters from the same tomb dealing with military affairs but which cannot be said to be part of the Sun Bin are presented, as well as a short section of texts related to the Sun Bin from other sources. The translation is backed up with 40 pages of notes.
Some of the Sun Bin's chapters are complete or nearly so, some are very fragmentary. They usually describe how historical campaigns were won or take the form of a question and answer session, with a general or king asking Sun Bin questions on military matters which he answers. The Sun Bin is more concerned with the practicalities of how to wage war rather than the profound insights into the nature of conflict itself which makes the Sunzi so relevant even today.
A brief appendix describes the tomb's excavation, dating evidence, the tomb's occupants and the bamboo strips themselves. The book is rounded off with a bibliography and index.
While it generally lacks the depth of the Sunzi, the Sun Bin provides a window into early military philosophy. This book serves its purpose well by allowing the reader to appreciate it in many different ways.
Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta)
Amazon.com:
1 review
15 of 16 people found the following review helpful
Ian Myles Slater on: A Welcome New Edition
8 Jan 2004
Format:Hardcover
So far as I have been able to tell, this volume is a re-designed version of "Sun Pin: The Art of Warfare," by Lau and Ames, originally published in 1996 by Ballantine Books, and, like too many of the "Classics of Ancient China" series, allowed to go out of print.
Besides the change in the title from Wade-Giles to Pinyin transliteration (pronounced the same way), Pinyin has been used throughout (except in citing other works), and the Chinese and English sections have been rearranged to eliminate the enormous amount of blank space in the original edition. This sacrifices convenience of layout (the Chinese text originally faced the translation, with, if necessary, only a few lines on each page) for economy. The index has likewise been revised in arrangement as well as page references. If there have been other modifications, corrections, or additions to the bibliographic references, I have missed them.
There is one major omission: sixteen pages of photographs are missing (except for one, reproduced as a cover illustration). These are useful, but not essential. This was presumably in the interest of economy. Given that the previous edition is becoming more difficult to find, SUNY is to be praised for bringing the book back into print, even if this fact is somewhat obscured, and their version is slightly truncated.
For those not familiar with it already, "Sun Bin" was long thought to be a bibliographic ghost, or even a lost forgery, a supposed long-missing counterpart to the existing "Art of War" of the elder Sun (Sun-tzu). It was one of the texts described in Han Dynasty bibliographies and histories, but not reliably reported as existing for well over a thousand years. The conclusions that it probably hadn't existed, or wasn't authentic if there was such a work, had to be abandoned when substantial fragments of it, and other texts, turned up in 1972, during the excavation of early Han Dynasty tombs.
There have been several other translations into English during the last decade, but the co-authors of this volume make a distinguished combination of an eminent senior Sinologist, with a long career working with the problems of early literary texts (Lau) and a sophisticated modern interpreter of Chinese intellectual history (Ames). As a result, the reader is assured of first-rate technical scholarship, and clearly-expressed explanations.
The emphases, not unexpectedly, are on textual and linguistic problems, and the place of the text in the development of Chinese military and political theory. Of the several other translations of the fragmentary, and in part enigmatic, text which are now available, Ralph D. Sawyer's version, as "Military Methods of The Art of War," may be the most satisfactory alternative, or, better, companion volume. It is somewhat more popular in presentation, but the most important difference is Sawyer's attempt to place the text in the military (and political) history of China, as against the history of Chinese military thought.
Besides the change in the title from Wade-Giles to Pinyin transliteration (pronounced the same way), Pinyin has been used throughout (except in citing other works), and the Chinese and English sections have been rearranged to eliminate the enormous amount of blank space in the original edition. This sacrifices convenience of layout (the Chinese text originally faced the translation, with, if necessary, only a few lines on each page) for economy. The index has likewise been revised in arrangement as well as page references. If there have been other modifications, corrections, or additions to the bibliographic references, I have missed them.
There is one major omission: sixteen pages of photographs are missing (except for one, reproduced as a cover illustration). These are useful, but not essential. This was presumably in the interest of economy. Given that the previous edition is becoming more difficult to find, SUNY is to be praised for bringing the book back into print, even if this fact is somewhat obscured, and their version is slightly truncated.
For those not familiar with it already, "Sun Bin" was long thought to be a bibliographic ghost, or even a lost forgery, a supposed long-missing counterpart to the existing "Art of War" of the elder Sun (Sun-tzu). It was one of the texts described in Han Dynasty bibliographies and histories, but not reliably reported as existing for well over a thousand years. The conclusions that it probably hadn't existed, or wasn't authentic if there was such a work, had to be abandoned when substantial fragments of it, and other texts, turned up in 1972, during the excavation of early Han Dynasty tombs.
There have been several other translations into English during the last decade, but the co-authors of this volume make a distinguished combination of an eminent senior Sinologist, with a long career working with the problems of early literary texts (Lau) and a sophisticated modern interpreter of Chinese intellectual history (Ames). As a result, the reader is assured of first-rate technical scholarship, and clearly-expressed explanations.
The emphases, not unexpectedly, are on textual and linguistic problems, and the place of the text in the development of Chinese military and political theory. Of the several other translations of the fragmentary, and in part enigmatic, text which are now available, Ralph D. Sawyer's version, as "Military Methods of The Art of War," may be the most satisfactory alternative, or, better, companion volume. It is somewhat more popular in presentation, but the most important difference is Sawyer's attempt to place the text in the military (and political) history of China, as against the history of Chinese military thought.
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