There is one Chinese book that almost everybody in the west can ...

2025-02-11T05:46:07Z

There is one Chinese book that almost everybody in the west can name without hesitation: 孙子兵法 (Sūnzǐ Bīngfǎ, often mistransliterated as Sun-Tzu's The Art of War, but more accurately transliterated in modern romanization as Sunzi's The Art of War). More educated people might be able to also name 孔夫子's (Kǒng Fūzǐ or Confucius) 论语 (Lúnyǔ or The Analects). Those of a more literary bent might also be able to name 汤显祖's (Tāng Xiǎnzǔ) eternal epic 牡丹亭 (Mǔdān Tíng or The Peony Pavilion). Aside from that, there's pretty much zero knowledge of the rich literary and philosophical traditions of China.

For example, how many people who can name The Art of War (and profess admiration for it) know that there are two books with that title, one by Sunzi and one by 孙膑 (Sūn Bìn)? And how many of them know about the subject of today's little essay: 三十六计 (Sānshíliù Jì or The Thirty-Six Stratagems) a collection of tips for warfare believed to have originated from both written and oral history, with its contents likely created after the fact based on various historical events and strategies. Most haven't, which is a pity because it is probably more influential to practical warfare than Sunzi's (though both are important works!).

Of course it's hard to find a good translation of it, and bilingual editions (which I favour) ... well I spent over 20 years finding a good one.

This is that good one.

It's a modern translation with a very useful structure. Each stratagem is given by title (both Chinese and English) followed by an explanation in Chinese, then English. Each stratagem is then illustrated by examples from history ranging from ancient China to relatively modern incidents, each example being provided first in Chinese, then in English.

As usual more information in the ALT text though Mastodon users do not have to click through to see all the pictures.

This is another entry in my "Daoists have the coolest ...

2025-02-10T06:22:35Z

This is another entry in my "Daoists have the coolest things" pictures. This is a seal with a (philosophical) Daoist concept in a lovely ancient seal script form, and two (religious) Daoist texts.

As usual, ALT text has the explanations and Mastodon users will have to click through to get all the images..

Nostr notes by 🇨🇦🇩🇪🇨🇳张殿李🇨🇳🇩🇪🇨🇦

There is one Chinese book that almost everybody in the west can ...

This is another entry in my "Daoists have the coolest ...