then I will talk about the book itself. The book consists of 13 parts, altogether 5913 words. Compared with Tao Te Ching there are fewer words in this book. We are very lucky for the book we get today should be a complete book of the war of art with well-knit system and structure as well as coherence. It’s a very precious cultural heritage the ancients gave us. Today I’ll make a horizontal comparison to show why we say it is very precious. In the early Warring States period, military strategists, like Sun Zi and Wu Zi won wide reputation as the representatives or great masters. According to Hanfei Zi both Sun Zi and Wu Zi had been regarded as the outstanding masters at Hanfei Zi’s times. In warring states period war was the biggest issue, as every scholar liked to study the art of war, they all had the books written by Sun Zi and Wu Zi. In The Historical Records, both Sun Zi and Wu Zi are introduced in the section of the Collected Biographies of Sun Zi and Wu Zi. Later a court historian commented that all the things relevant to war were included in Sun Zi’s Art of War. That is to say, whenever people talk about the art of war they will cite or mention the original Sun Zi’s Art of War. Then the court historian continued most people had Wu Zi’s Art or War. That means both Sun Zi and Wu Zi were regarded as strategist masters. Although both of them were regarded as two outstanding strategist masters, Sun Zi has enjoyed great reputation after their death. For the research of Sun Zi is very popular even across the world. For example, conferences and seminars on Sun Zi’s Art of War have been held one after another across the world, on the other hand, few people or even no people study Wu Zi’s Art of War. Both of them are outstanding strategist masters, but why do they have different influences after their death? The reason in a sense is because of the incompleteness of Wu Zi’s Art of War. Let’s simply talk about the reason why it is incomplete. Wu Zi’s Art of War today consists of two volumes with six piece of writing. But according to The Records of Art and Literature, History of Han Dynasty Wu Zi’s Art of War consists of 48 pieces of writing. If it is true, it means the version of Wu Zi’s Art of War today only accounts for one eighth of the whole book. So it can be said the book is incomplete. Is truly recorded in The Records of Art and Literature, History of Han Dynasty ? From the middle or late period of Qing Dynasty to 1949, historical skepticism had been very popular, for people had doubted many ancient records. But the authenticity of the records has been constantly verified by the bamboo slips and silk manuscripts unearthed one after another these years, which also proved historical skepticism cannot hold the water, and ancient records are full and accurate. From this point Wu Zi’s Art of War is in a sense an incomplete one, which account for the reason why the two outstanding strategist masters have different influences after their death. For us, it is very luck to have a complete version of Sun Zi’s The Art of War. That’s the second point, authenticity. Here comes the third point. There are 5900 words in Sun Zi’s The Art of War, which covered the essence of the art of war. Its language is very concise, and many famous remarks are still so catchy today, for many people even can learn by heart. It is all due to its concise language and his writing technique. Therefore It is also a masterpiece among the essays written before Qin Dynasty. He very concisely explained the essence of the art of war with about 6000words. After making another horizontal comparison. We can see it’s not easy to do so. Take the requirement of undergraduate degree thesis in XJTU as an example. according to the rule, the thesis must be over 10000 words. That is to say most students will spend over half a year, and make great effort to write a 10000-word-theis. What’s the ending? It is nearly preserved in archives forever. That is to say many theses are not original, and don’t have ideological value. The importance of the requirement is through the programmatic training to experience a beneficial process. There are Only 5000 words in Sun Zi’s The Art of War, but they cover almost all the aspects of art of war, Which is not easy. Next I’ll talk about the fourth point about Sun Zi’s The Art of War. How do we think about the position its thought as well as the fate of its school. In Record of Art and Culture, History of Han Dynasty, it has its own classification which is a new classification. I’d rather adopt another classification, that is Sun Zi’s The Art of War , on the whole, belongs to the School of Qi, while the equally famous book Wu Zi’s The Art of War belongs to the School of Lu. The Schools of Qi and Lu were named after the regions. As two schools, they are not only limited in the art of war, accordingly, we can also divide the corresponding art of war into the art of war of Qi and Lu, that is, Wu Zi’s The Art of War was originated in the region of Lu, and its theory directly derived from the theoretical system of Zhou Gong, an ancient sage-king. The characteristic of the war of art of Lu is that it is relatively macroscopic, In the specific study of war, it even involves the strategy of running a state. Such as Scheme of State in the first volume of Wu Zi’s The Art of War This essay deal with the strategy of running a state. So the characteristic of the war of art of Lu is relatively macroscopic, for it not only studies the art of war but also the strategy of running a state. Sun Zi’s The Art of War belongs to the school of Qi. Compared with the school of Lu, it is more specific, for it only studies the art of war. For example, there is a well known statement in Sun Zi’s The Art of War, that is, “A commander at the front may even refuse a king's order.” means a commander at the front should take full charge of the army while if the king far away in the palace doesn’t know the real military situation at front, he should not issue confused orders, which may add troubles， that is, in Sun Zi’s view. may cause chaos.
