On Directing Troops
Tags
Summary
Editor's review
Who it's for
A good fit for
- General readers interested in pre-Qin military studies and classical military thought
- Humanities students who need to study the original text of a single chapter of "Wuzi" in depth
- Readers hoping to think about team management through ancient experience in managing armies
- Traditional culture enthusiasts who enjoy short classical texts suitable for fragmented reading
Not a good fit for
- Professional military researchers expecting modern military theory or tactical diagrams
- Advanced researchers requiring detailed annotation, vernacular translation, and academic textual criticism
- Readers with major difficulties in reading classical Chinese who are unwilling to use reference tools
Reading tips
- Read through the whole chapter first to grasp the question-and-answer thread, then work through each section with annotations to sort out the key points of army management.
- Read alongside relevant chapters of "The Art of War" to compare the two schools' different formulations on discipline and training.
- Note differences between ancient and modern military systems as you read, avoiding direct application of ancient regulations to modern situations.
- The text is short; read it in two or three sessions, summarizing the key points in a few sentences after each.
About the publisher
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.
Contents
- 版权信息
- 正文一
- 正文二
- 正文三
- 正文四
FAQ
What does "Zhibing" mainly discuss within "Wuzi"?
Can I read this book without a foundation in classical Chinese?
Do I need to read "The Art of War" first before reading "Zhibing"?
Comments
Find this book
This site is an index: you start “Search all sources” in your browser, and the entries it lists all point to third-party sites; please judge their availability yourself.
About the 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.
