Recently, CCTV's large-scale cultural program "China in the Classics" broadcast the sixth issue, and the classic introduced in this issue is "Sun Tzu's Art of War". In a dramatic way, the program focuses on the experience of Sun Wu and Wu Zixu assisting Wu Wang Vachu, vividly expounding Sun Wu's military thoughts, and the wonderful interpretation of the deep friendship between Sun Wu and Wu Zixu is particularly touching.
However, after watching the show, I also had a lot of questions. For example, in the program, Sun Tzu calls himself a name of Wu Zi Chang (cháng) Qing, and Sun Tzu is named Wu, we all know it, but where does the statement of "Zi Changqing" come from? Does the "long" of "Changqing" really read "cháng"? The program mentions that Sun Tzu's uncle also wrote a martial art, that is, the "Sima Fa" that has been handed down, so why do you say that "Sun Tzu's Art of War" is the earliest surviving military book? At the beginning of the program, it is also mentioned that since ancient times, some people have suspected that "Sun Tzu's Art of War" was not written by Sun Tzu, why is this? Let's talk about these issues.
Sanquan "Sun Tzu's Art of War"
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Sun Tzu's Art of War ¥21.1 Purchase
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="2" what's the mystery > of sun tzu's name? </h1>
The earliest record of Sun Tzu's life can be found in the "History of Sun Tzu Wu Qi Lie Biography". Sima Qian begins the biography by writing: "Sun Tzu's warriors, Qi ren ye, are found in the art of war in Wu Wang's Lulu. According to this, it can be seen that Sun Tzu's name, Wu, was a Qi national, and he was appreciated by King Wu because of his art of war. However, Sima Qian did not mention Sun Wu's father and grandfather.
Classics Of The Classics, WenBai In Contrast to the Chronicles of History
However, when we look at "China in the Classics" and talk about Sun Wu's family lineage, it clearly says that Sun Wu's grandfather is called Sun Shu and his father is called Sun Ping. So is there a basis for this claim? The answer is, there is a basis. When introducing the origin lineage of the Sun clan, the New Book of Tang Dynasty and the Genealogy Table of the Prime Minister details the ins and outs of the Sun Wu branch, which mentions the ancestors and descendants of Sun Wu. The interpretation of the grandson's family lineage in the program is mainly based on the records in it. Of course, the New Book of Tang was revised during the Northern Song Dynasty after all, so it is difficult to say whether its record is completely reliable.
Young Sun Wu and his grandfather
In the program, Sun Wu's grandfather said that he was named "Wu", which means "stop the war for the sake of war", that is, the purpose of war is to strive for peace, and it should be said that this interpretation is in line with Sun Tzu's military thoughts. So is the word "wu" itself really meant? According to the research of ancient script scholars now, "wu" is composed of two words, "stop" and "ge", "stop" is the sole of the foot, here is the meaning of walking, "ge" is a weapon, combined is to take a weapon to go to war meaning, this is the original meaning of "wu". However, the saying of "stopping the war and turning the war into force" existed as early as the Spring and Autumn Period. The Zuo Biography records that after King Zhuang of Chu defeated the Jin state and became hegemonic, there was a passage about Wude, which said that "Fuwen, stop Ge for wu", and said that the purpose of the war was to "prohibit violent (jí) soldiers" and "anmin and the people". This statement of King Zhuang of Chu was very influential, and Xu Shen later adopted his statement when he explained the word "wu" in the "Commentaries on the Interpretation of Texts".
The small seal glyph of "Wu" is extracted from the preface of Zhao Zhiqian Xu's sayings
Sanquan "Explanation of Words"
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The New Book of Tang Dynasty Genealogy Table also mentions Sun Wu's "character Changqing", and the actor in the program reads "chángqing", which may not be very accurate. In ancient times, there were many people who took the name "Changqing", such as the famous literary scholar Sima Xiangru in the Western Han Dynasty, who was said to be envious of Lin Xiangru, the Shangqing (chief of the Zhongqing) of the Zhao State during the Warring States period; and The famous poet Liu Changqing zifang of the Tang Dynasty, it is said that it was because he envied Sima Xiangru's literary talents, so he used the name of Sima Xiangru's character Changqing. According to the investigation, Liu Changqing's "long" is read zhǎng (see the article "The Story of the Name in the Biography of Tang Caizi: From the Pronunciation of Liu Changqing's Name") previously posted in this number), so it may be more appropriate to pronounce "zhǎng".
New Book of Tang
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="9" > is Sun Tzu's Art of War the earliest book of soldiers? </h1>
It is mentioned in the program that Sun Tzu wrote the Art of War in order to fulfill the family mission of his military family, and his art of war was mainly learned from his uncle. In the program, Sabine also mentioned that his uncle also wrote the art of war, which is the later military book "Sima Fa". Since the Sima Fa is the military book of Sun Tzu's uncle, it should be earlier than the Art of War of Sun Tzu, why do we say that the Art of War of Sun Tzu is the earliest surviving book of soldiers?
Sanquan "Wuzi Sima Fa"
Here we need to talk about the "Sima Fa", a soldier's book. It is mentioned in the program that the "Art of War of Sun Tzu" was officially identified as one of the "Seven Books of the Martial Arts" in the Northern Song Dynasty, and the "Sima Fa" was also one of the "Seven Books of the Martial Classics". Moreover, the origin of the "Sima Fa" is very ancient, sima Qian once said in the "History of Taishi Gong Self-Introduction": "The "Sima Fa" has never been, and the Taigong, Sun, Wu, and princes can be clear and clear, cut into the near world, and extremely changeable." That is to say, Jiang Taigong, Sun Tzu, Wu Qi, etc. only inherited and developed the Sima Fa according to the changes of the times, which shows that Sima Qian believes that the formation of the Sima Fa is still before Jiang Taigong, which shows that the era is early.
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So why don't people use the Sima Fa as the earliest surviving book of soldiers? Sima Qian recorded in the "Chronicle of Sima Rang Tho" that during the Warring States period, king Qi Wei had people sort out and remember the ancient "Sima War Art" and attach sima Rang Tho's art of war to it, known as "Sima Hoang Tho Art of War". That is to say, the Sima Fa that was handed down to later generations was actually compiled into a book during the Warring States period, so its age may be later than sun Wu's "Sun Tzu's Art of War" written in the late Spring and Autumn Period. Moreover, according to the "Book of Han and Yiwen zhi", during the Han Dynasty, there were one hundred and fifty-five articles of the "Sima Fa", which were scattered in large numbers in later generations, and now only five volumes have been handed down; while the thirteen articles of "Sun Tzu's Art of War" have been handed down basically intact and are a systematic work.
The different fates of the two in future generations may also be related to their content. The Sima Law mainly talks about the military system, but the system will always change with the changes of the times; while the "Art of War of Sun Tzu" mainly talks about the way of using soldiers, and this can be beyond the times in a certain sense. Therefore, the influence of "Sun Tzu's Art of War" in later generations is even greater, and when people talk about the art of war, the first thing that comes to mind is "Sun Tzu's Art of War", and it is not surprising that it is regarded as the earliest surviving military book.
The Art of War of Sun Tzu
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="14" > Was "Sun Tzu's Art of War" written by Sun Tzu? </h1>
The program begins by mentioning the excavation of the "Art of War of Sun Tzu" and the "Art of War of Sun Tzu" in 1972 from the Han Tomb of Yinqueshan in Shandong Province, saying that this solved the problem of the author of "Sun Tzu's Art of War". What's going on? Is there anyone who thinks that "Sun Tzu's Art of War" was not written by Sun Wu? Let's talk about this.
Around the beginning of the Northern Song Dynasty, with the development of the ancient atmosphere, some scholars began to suspect that "Sun Tzu's Art of War" was not written by Sun Wu. For example, Mei Yaochen, a famous poet of the Northern Song Dynasty, commented on "Sun Tzu's Art of War" and believed that his book was "the theory of the warring states falling in love", which was not written by Sun Wu at the end of the Spring and Autumn Period. This statement has had a great influence, and even in modern times, there are still scholars who hold similar views. For example, the famous historian Qian Mu in his famous book "The Year of the Sons of the Pre-Qin Dynasty" believes that Sun Wu and Sun Zhi are actually one person, and "Sun Zi's Art of War" was actually written by Sun Bin in the Warring States period.
So why would anyone suspect that "Sun Tzu's Art of War" was not written by Sun Wu? This is related to the mystery of Sun Wu's character itself. Although from the records of "Han Feizi" and "Lü Shi Chunqiu" and other books, we can infer the best-selling situation of "Sun Zi and Wu Bing Fa" ("Sun Zi Art of War" and "Wu Zi") at that time, which shows the great influence of "Sun Zi Art of War" in the pre-Qin period. However, the life deeds of Sun Wu are mainly found in the "Records of History" and later the "Wu Yue Chunqiu" and "Yue Jie Shu" and other documents, while the "Chinese" and "Zuo Zhuan", which record the history of the Spring and Autumn Period, do not mention Sun Wu as a general who was in the limelight at the end of the Spring and Autumn Period, but there is no mention of Sun Wu, so it is inevitable that there is doubt about the existence of Sun Wu. In addition, after the Wei and Jin Dynasties, Sun Bing's "Sun Bing's Art of War" was lost, and some of the contents of the current "Sun Tzu's Art of War" are considered to have existed only in the Warring States period, so people can't help but suspect that the so-called "Sun Zi Art of War" may be "Sun Zhen's Art of War". This is the main reason for scholars' suspicions.
"Wu Yue Chunqiu"
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Although the bamboo jian excavated from the Han tomb of Yinqueshan proves that the "Art of War of Sun Zi" and "The Art of War of Sun Zhen" are indeed two different works, there are still scholars, such as the paleographer Huang Yongnian, who insist that it can only prove that there were indeed two military books at that time, but cannot prove that the "Art of War of Sun Zi" was written by Sun Wu. Therefore, in the eyes of some scholars, the question of the authorship of Sun Tzu's Art of War is still a mystery.
However, this kind of doubt is still left to scholars to study, and there is no doubt that the classic "Sun Tzu's Art of War", which has been passed down for more than two thousand years, is a treasure book full of wisdom. Therefore, for ordinary readers, it is important to draw wisdom from Sun Tzu's Art of War and illuminate life! The Three Complete Editions of Sun Tzu's Art of War make detailed annotations and accurate translations of Sun Tzu's Art of War, and each article also has a question summarizing the gist of the article, which is a good introductory reading of Sun Tzu's Art of War. Readers who want to read "Sun Tzu's Art of War" may wish to start a book.