Abstract
War is both a social and a historical phenomenon. Wars can be divided into justified wars and unjustified wars. In the history of China, there have been many great wars which were launched to fight against insults and oppression. These represent the cream of national history. Much may, nevertheless, be gleaned from unjustified wars. These can still disclose a mature and complete system of military ideology and institutions, which are worthy of attention.
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- 1.
As early as the Southern Song, the famous scholar Wang Yinglin said in his book Example a Comprehensive Mirror for Aid in Government (Tongjian Da Wen): “In the Book of Changes, the military tactics was all included in it.” The same opinion was shared by the modern well-known scholar Guo Moruo in his “Study On Chinese Ancient Society,” printed in On History, the first volume of Guo Moruo’s Complete Works (People Publishing House, 1982), by Li Jingchi in his Interpretation of the Book of Changes (Zhouyi Tongyi) (Zhonghua Book Company, 1981), and by Gao Heng in Current Interpretations of the Ancient Book of Changes (Zhonghua Book Company, 1984).
- 2.
Records of the Grand Historian: Biographies of Sun Tzu and Wu Qi (Shiji: Sunzi Wuqi Liezhuan) records the following: “[a] hundred years latter of Sun Tzu’s death, there was a tactician called Sun Bin.” The History of the Han Dynasty: Treatise on Literature (Hanshu: Yiwen Zhi) describes Sun Bin’s Art of War, which it calls Sun Tzu of the State of Qi (Qi Sun Bin), as being lost. Since the Northern Song Dynasty, ancient classical writers became so skeptical that someone held that the author of Sun Tzu’s The Art of War was Sun Bin, while the book Sun Bin’s Art of War never actually existed. The copies of Sun Tzu’s The Art Of War and Sun Bin’s Art Of War recorded on bamboo, which were discovered in the Han Tombs on Mount Silver Bird, Linyi, Shandong in 1972 quashed those doubts.
- 3.
The detailed evidence could be found in The Military History of China, Volume 4: Military Tactics (PLA Publishing House, 1988), pp. 140–1.
- 4.
Li Jing’s Art of War had been lost by the middle of Northern Song Dynasty. Emperor Shenzong once ordered his subjects to edit the book according to the Comprehensive Institutions, while they had no other source. It was not until Qing Dynasty that one could gain a general knowledge of Li Jing’s Art Of War by reading Fragment of Wei Gong on the Art of War, which was discovered by Wang Zongyi, who compiled the book with the help of the book Comprehensive Institutions.
- 5.
The Collection of the Most Important Military Techniques (Wujing Zongyao) was made in 1047 AD, in the seventh year of Qingli, the regnal title of Renzong of the Northern Song Dynasty. Its editors included Zeng Gongliang and Ding Du, and it contained 40 volumes relating to the military theories, techniques, training, and equipments.
- 6.
Seven Military Classics [of Ancient China] (Wu Jing Qi Shu) was made in the third year of Yuanfeng (1080 AD) in the reign of Shenzong of the Northern Song Dynasty. Its editors were Zhu Fu and He Qufei. It is a collection of the seven famous military books; these books are Sun Tzu’s The Art Of War, Wu Zi’s Art Of War, The Marshal’s Art of War (Sima Fa), Wei Liaozi, the Three Strategies of Huang Shigong (Huang Shigong San Lue), Six Secret Teachings (Liu Tao), and Questions and Replies Between Tang Taizong and Li Weigong (Tang Taizong Li Wei Gong Wen Dui).
- 7.
This was the coup d’etat in which Prince Li Shimin (the second son of the Gaozu Emperor) assassinated his older brother Prince Li Jiacheng and his younger brother Prince Li Yuanji in an ambush by the said gate. Li Jiacheng had been tasked with guarding the frontier against the Tujue. The family power struggle reached its climax when 60 days after the slayings Gaozu abdicated to pave the way for Li Shimin to ascend to the throne as Emperor Taizong.
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© 2015 Foreign Language Teaching and Research Publishing Co., Ltd and Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg
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Zhang, Q. (2015). The Military Thought and Military Systems of Ancient China. In: An Introduction to Chinese History and Culture. China Academic Library. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-662-46482-3_8
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