Sun Tzu's Art of War's Thirty-Six Stratagems

"The Art of War," also known as *Strategies of War*, *Sun Tzu*, and *Thirteen Chapters of Sun Tzu*, is a military treatise composed of thirteen chapters. It addresses the essential principles and wisdom of marching and fighting from thirteen distinct perspectives, totaling more than 5,900 words. The work was written by Sun Tzu, a renowned military strategist of the Spring and Autumn Period, and is regarded as the earliest and most celebrated military text in ancient China. Sun Tzu, whose given name was Wu and courtesy name Changqing, was born in the state of Qi during the Spring and Autumn Period. He was a descendant of Chen Wan (later renamed Tian Wan) of the Chen Kingdom, and the famous general Tian Shu and the noted military strategist Sima Rangju were among his ancestors. Owing to this lineage, Sun Tzu was able from an early age to study outstanding military and cultural classics such as *Sima Rangju's Art of War*, *Tai Gong's Art of War*, and *Guanzi*, which laid the groundwork for his later study and continuation of earlier military scholarship and for the development of his own military thought.