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One Early Strategist in China --- Gao Dao In the history of China, one of the first strategists was Gao Dao who was helping the imperial court during the early period of Xia Dynasty. The story of Gao Dao appears in the book of Shang Shu, which is considered a book of political science for the period from Emperor Yao to Emperor Qin Shi Huang. Both Yu and Gao Dao were the immediate assistants to Emperor Shun. Gao Dao gave much strategic advice to the administration of Emperor Shun. The main contents of his proposals to Emperor Shun are:
The Outstanding Strategist of the Shang Dynasty --- Yi Yin Yi Yin was the chief strategist to the leader Tang. He
helped Tang to overthrow the Xia Dynasty and established the
Shang Dynasty. Tang became the Emperor Tang.
The Outstanding Strategist of the Zhou Dynasty --- Jiang Zi Ya Jiang Zi Ya is the father of strategy in China.He lived in the later part of the Shang Danasty about one thousand years before the century. When he was one of the officers in the imperial court of the Shang Dynasty, he found King Zhou was the fatuous and self-indulgent ruler. He gave up his post and became a hermit. He spent most of his time doing fishing at the River Ban of Wei Shui. One day, the head of the dukes Xi Bo for the west territory invited him to be his advisor. He prepared a strategic plan to overthrow King Zhou and finally with the support from the people, he helped Xi Bo and his successor to establish the Dynasty of Zhou. Jiang Zi Ya was the chief strategist to the leader Xi Bo. He helped Xi Bo to overthrow the Shang Dynasty and formed the Zhou Dynasty. Xi Bo became the Emperor Zhou Wen Wang. Jiang Zi Ya @ Tai Gong or commonly called Jiang Tai Gong. He died in 1073 B.C.. He was the great thinker, statesman, military man and strategist. He was a high ranking officer in the imperil court of Shang Dynasty. As he saw the Emperor Zhou of Shang Dynasty was the fatuous and self-indulgent ruler, he abandoned his position in the imperial court and became a recluse. When the unrest occurred in Shang Dynasty, Xi Bo of the Kingdom Zhou was appointed by the Shang Dynasty to be the head of all dukes. Xi Bo was a brilliant person, he respected his subordinates and followers. He went round the country to look for able and virtuous persons. One day, he encountered a man who was fishing near a stream and discovered his fishing line without hook and lure. It seems that it was the arrangement of the heaven, both of them met and talked very freely and sincerely. Finally, Xi Bo invited Jiang Zi Ya to be his aide-de-camp. Xi Bo followed the Ten Years Master Plans of Jiang Zi Ya. At last, Wu-Wang, the son of Xi Bo, defeated the tyrannical ruler of the Shang Dynasty and formed the Dynasty of Zhou. Jiang Zi Ya was recognized as Tai Gong after the formation of the administration of Zhou Dynasty. There is a book of recording the dialogue between Zhou Wen
Wang or King Wen and Tai Gong called Liu Tao or "The Six
Strategies and Tactics".
The Outstanding Strategist of the Spring and Autumn Period--- Sun Zi Sun Zi is the alias name of Sun Wu, he was born in the Period of Spring and Autumn in the Kingdom Ji at Le An county (To-day: Shang Dong Province, Hui Min). Due to the internal affair of the Kingdom Ji, Sun Zi ran away from Shang Dong Province to the south and joined the Kingdom Wu. He was called by King He Lu, who was impressed with his thirteen chapters on military strategy. He was finally appointed as one of the military generals and the immediate aide to the king. Due to the weakening of the Zhou administration in China, the
families of the power groups bred during the Zhou Dynasty and
emerged to be the territorial autonomous commanders and finally
they formed their own kingdoms. This was the period of Spring
and Autumn in the history of China. During this period, many
thinkers and philosophers surfaced to talk and teach about their
thoughts and philosophies to the people. The kingdom Lu had the
great philosopher and teacher Confucius and the kingdom Qi had a
great military strategist called Sun Zi. If we consider
Confucius as the sage of letters of China, then we must consider
Sun Zi as the sage of strategy of China.
Common Heritage of Universal Strategies An ancient document, Appendix 3: Yellow Emperor Attacks Red Emperor, was dug up along with other Sun Zi documents from the Han tombs, which records this interesting passage:
The above Appendix 3 shows that it was not only Sun Zi who used the kind of strategies found in Sun Zi's Art of War. For according to this appendix text, the strategies of Sun Zi's Art of War were also successfully used by Tang (and his famous strategist Yi Yin) to establish the Shang dynasty and Wu-Wang (and his famous strategist Jiang Zi Ya) to establish the Zhou dynasty. It appears that the ancient strategists shared a common heritage of rather powerful effective strategies, much of which were recorded in Sun Zi's Art of War. |