Power in War

AnonymousBashu Publishing House · ChinaJun 2024

4.2

Word count: 423 words
Chapters: 2

Summary

The art of war says: a thousand men make up a force of maneuver; ten thousand men make up a force of might. When maneuver is brought to bear on the enemy first, the enemy cannot join battle with strength; when might is brought to bear on the enemy first, the enemy has no awe to meet it. Thus in war, being first is what matters. Victorious here, one is victorious there; not victorious here, one is not victorious there.

Editor's review

Zhan Quan is very short, yet it states the relations among maneuver, might, being first, and victory with cutting clarity. It opens with "a thousand men make up a force of maneuver; ten thousand men make up a force of might," distinguishing maneuver from might by scale, then notes that when maneuver is brought to bear first the enemy cannot join battle with strength, and when might is brought to bear first the enemy has no awe to meet it, concluding that "in war, being first is what matters." The whole text revolves around the single word first: forming a posture before the enemy does, establishing psychological advantage before the clash, and securing this battle's victory before the next. It does not lay out battle examples but drives straight to the joints of warfare in declarative sentences, reading like a military order, terse and sharp. Though the author is unnamed, the style is of a piece with pre-Qin military texts and makes a fine sample for close reading of a short chapter. Readers can sense how ancient military learning carries heavy decision logic in extremely spare language, and can extract the word first to ask whether they themselves are always half a beat slow in their undertakings.

Who it's for

A good fit for

Readers who enjoy short military texts and savor sentences repeatedly
Researchers interested in the concepts of maneuver and priority in pre-Qin military thought
Workplace readers seeking to train judgment and a sense of initiative

Not a good fit for

Readers hoping for full campaign narratives and historical background
Beginners needing extensive annotation, translation, and extended interpretation

Reading tips

The text is very short; copy it out once, then circle each occurrence of maneuver, might, and first.
After reading, write a hundred-word summary in your own words to test whether you have grasped the argument for "in war, being first is what matters."
Take a recent decision of your own and consider whether first means priority of timing or priority of posture.

About the publisher

Bashu Publishing House China · Founded in 1983

Bashu Publishing House is a publisher centered on collating and publishing classical Chinese cultural texts, with its main publishing areas covering classical literature, Eastern philosophy, ancient poetry, and educational classics. Its library currently holds 1,075 titles, including representative works such as Dream of the Red Chamber, the Preface to the Orchid Pavilion Gathering, Renjian Cihua, and Out to the Frontier, involving authors such as Cao Xueqin, Wang Xizhi, Wang Guowei, Wang Changling, Liu Xie, and Yan Yu. These reflect the publisher's focus on literary classics, poetry criticism, and philosophical readings. Its publishing character lies in working around ancient texts and canonical works, with attention to textual collation and presentation. Public information on its more detailed publishing background and series plans is limited; this introduction is based only on the library's book information.

版权信息
战权第十二

FAQ

How should "a thousand men make up a force of maneuver; ten thousand men make up a force of might" be understood?

This distinguishes two forms of warfare by scale: a thousand men emphasize maneuver and ingenuity, ten thousand form might and awe. The text then explains that when maneuver is brought to bear on the enemy, the enemy cannot join battle with strength; when might is brought to bear first, the enemy has no awe to meet it. The point is not the numbers themselves but that different scales of force correspond to different ways of winning.

Does "in war, being first is what matters" simply mean striking first?

Not exactly. The first in the text means establishing superiority over the enemy in the posture of maneuver and might before the enemy does, so that the enemy "cannot join battle with strength" and "has no awe to meet it"; it implies creating posture and psychological pressure rather than merely seizing the moment to strike. Understand first in terms of building posture, not simple sequence of action.

This chapter has no author; how reliable is it?

The chapter is attributed to an unnamed author, a common phenomenon in the transmission of pre-Qin military texts. Readers may treat it as a short chapter of ancient military learning, focusing on its argumentative logic and language rather than insistently on authorship. For scholarly citation, check the specific edition and source.

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About the author

Anonymous Author

Anonymous is not a real personal name but a general Chinese designation for authors whose names are unknown, lost, or unsigned. Neither nationality nor dates of birth and death can be verified, and available public information is limited, so the works attributed to this name are the only basis for description. The collection holds 2,078 works under Anonymous, spanning medicine, classics, historical readings, ancient poetry, classical literature, and philosophy. Representative works include The Yellow Emperor's Inner Canon: Lingshu, Mencius, The Book of Documents, Nineteen Old Poems, Complete Song Ci, and The Peacock Flies Southeast. Most of these works took shape through long transmission and editing, emerging either from collective folk creation or from authors whose names were lost over time. In ancient China, the Book of Songs, the Great Learning, and many popular storybooks and plays were signed Anonymous because their authors could not be traced. Anonymous works cross the classics, histories, philosophical writings, medical texts, and poetry; their subjects are broad, and their styles vary from archaic simplicity to clear naturalness, making them important and influential sources for understanding ancient Chinese thought, medicine, and literature.