Li Quan was a Chinese author of works on military strategy in premodern China. Very little is publicly known about his life, birthplace, or dates, and only two works survive under his name. The first, Annotations on Sunzi, is a commentary on The Art of War and belongs to the traditional stream of classical military exegesis. The second, the Taibai Yinjing (unannotated edition), discusses the conduct of war and military institutions and has a character of its own among traditional military texts. Together, one commentary and one original treatise show that his interests centered on strategic thought and military practice, with a practical orientation that emphasizes the principles of warfare rather than rhetorical display. Later bibliographies often place him under Eastern philosophy, yet his value lies chiefly in the transmission of military and strategic thought. Because the historical sources are scattered, his life cannot be examined in detail, but his surviving works still offer a glimpse of his military interests and authorial approach.
