Table of Content

1. Preface
2. Introduction
3. One – Planning
4. Two – Waging War
5. Three – Offensive Strategy
6. Four – Tactics
7. Five – Energy
8. Six – Weak and Strong Points
9. Seven – Maneuvers
10. Eight – Tactical Variations
11. Nine – On The March
12. Ten – Terrain
13. Eleven – The Nine Varieties of Ground
14. Twelve – Attack By Fire
15. Thirteen – Espionage

Preface

Although Sun Tzu’s Art Of War is reputed to be the oldest military treatise among the Chinese classical works, and the best and favorite military treatise of all time, it is surprisingly a very small book – it contains only about six thousand Chinese literary characters. There are altogether thirteen chapters in the book, the longest being the eleventh chapter and the shortest, the eighth chapter.

Top world leaders, military strategists, business persons and top executives have been obsessed with Sun Tzu’s work for years. It is because if one is creative or innovative enough the principles in the Art of War may be applied in limitless ways in every facet of one’s life as the Chinese say, chien pien, wan hua, that is, a thousand changes, ten thousand forms.

However, it has been rather embarrassing that despite being the ‘legitimate heir’ to such a great treasure, Chinese business executives are not renowned for their management skills – unlike their Japanese counterparts. This is mainly because the Chinese have not been paying sufficient attention to the Art of War, whilst it is a ‘must read’ for most Japanese executives.

It is with the hope of making this ancient wisdom accessible to the English-speaking world, especially those English-educated Chinese, that this book is published.

Khoo Kheng-Har Hwang Chung-Mei

Published by Pelanduk, edited by Khoo Kheng-Hor, translated by Hwang Chung-Mei.