Pre - Qin Military Strategists Study

In comparison with the research of the various schools of thought like Confucianists, Taoists, Mohists, Legalists and Geomancers etc., the study of the Military Strategists in the pre-Qin times is yet to be extended with a more in-depth analysis. Till now, such have been mostly of case study which concentrates on certain well-known figures and their works, but not of a research of military science on the reason that this particular area was seldom approached from the mental and academic angle with the background of the contention and flourishing of numerous schools of thought (during the Spring and Autumn and the Warring States periods, 770-221 BC). Based on the summary of the almost one-hundred-year situation reasarch of the military strategists, drawing reference from and assimilating the results of the previous researches, this dissertation, bringing the pre-Qin military strategists into the category of the then prevalent schools of thought, observing and comparing them with the consideration of the predominant social background of the contention and flourishing of numerous schools of thought, e. g. examing them closely with Confucianists, Taoists, Mohists, Legalists etc., tries to combine the literature study with the ideological and cultural research and organize the procedure of the forming and development of this special school of thought. Thus mirroring and taking hold of the military ideological system of the military strategists and its relationship with that of other schools of thought as well, it is probed into the humanism spirit of the pre-Qin military strategists and its value in present age.Chapter one: The forming and the development of the pre-Qin military strategists. Born and formed at the end of the Spring and Autumn period and culminated in the later period of the Warring States, in which fierce annexing wars were continually fought. The birth of the pre-Qin military strategists, concurred with a background of drastic social turbulence, was given rise to by the annexing wars among the States, which respectively belonged to dukes or princes under their emperors, as a precondition of practice; by the rising influence of the Scholar in the society as a precondition of class and by the advanced culture of the Zhou Dynasty and the phenomenon of the contention and flourishing of numerousschools of thought as a precondition of ideology. The school of the pre-Qin military strategists can be roughly divided into two large systems, namely, Qi and Wei and five military sects: Sima, Sun, Wu, Taigong and Jixia.Chapter two: textual research into three works: "Art of War by Sun Wu" , "Wuzi" and "Art of War by Sun Bing" with emphases on their authors, the date of publishing and their circulation, objectively reflecting the authors' military ideology. Sun Wu was not a descendant of Tian Wan; He was neither Sun Shu' s nor Chen Shu' s grandson and Chen Shu and Sun Shu were two different figures. Wu Qi was a military strategist with a rigorous appearance but also had an inner disposition of Confucianism. The existing six articles of the work "Wuzi" were handed down originated from a volume of its annotation by Jia Xu. "Wuzi" is also part of the forty-eight articles collected in the work "Wu Qi" , which was recorded by Ban Gu and was later revised and enlarged by one man in the Warring States period or Qin-Han Dynasty. Jia Xu had only annotated "Wuzi" but not made any deletions or arrangements. The work "Art of War by Sun Bing" was compiled by Sun Bing' s disciples and was published only after Sun Bing' s death.Chapter three: textual research into three works: " Art of War by Sima" , "Weiliaozi" and "Six Strategies" with emphases on their authors, the date of publishing and their circulation, objectively reflecting the authors' military ideology. The work "Art of War by Sima Rangju" was recounted by those military strategists from Jixia in the State of Qi. The loss of a great number of unofficial pieces of this work should be estimated to take place in the period of the Southern and Northern Dynasties. "Art of War by Sima Rangju" is a work of no dubious authenticity. The existing five pieces of articles consist of a part of Ban Gu' s work "History of the Han Dynasty" , which contains 155 recorded pieces in total. The work "Weiliao" , also collected in the "History of the Han Dynasty" by the School of Eclectics originated, together with the work "Weiliao" by the military strategists, from the ancient book "Weiliao" with the military stategical ideology in the time of the Warring States. After its completion, the ancient book "Weiliao" with the military stategical ideology, gaining additional supplements in the course of the circulation throughout the Dynasties of Qin und Han, gradually took form into two versions of the Eclectics and of the Strategists respectively.One thing in common, which the two versions have, is that the basic contents of the ancient book "Weiliao" with the military stategical ideology were maintained. With the march of time within three hundreds of years, which spanned the Wei Dynasty, the Jin Dynasty and the Southern and Northern Dynasties, the "Weiliao" by the Eclectics survived the military strategists' work "Weiliao" , which was respectively recorded in the books "The History of the Sui Dynasty" and "The History of the Tang Dynasty" and was entitled "Weiliaozi" Volume 5 and Volume 6. The work "Six Strategies" is neither the same to the work "Six Strategies in the History of the Zhou Dynasty" , nor is it identical with the work "Six Strategies in the Jin Dynasty" . Though this work had an alias "Six Strategies by Tai Gong" , it was actually not written by Tai Gong. Emerged from the later phase of the period of the Warring States, "Six Strategies" has been regarded as a work of the military strategy, of which the real author was very probably the scholar from Jixia in the State of Qi.Chapter four: discussion on the relationship between the pre-Qin military strategist and the other systems of thought. The research of the military strategists should be treated as part of the study of the different systems of thought because the military strategist belonged to one of the schools of thought. Taking in beneficial elements from other schools of thought, the pre-Qin military strategist made developments in the strong atmosphere of the contention and flourishing of numerous schools of thought, so that it was broad-minded in discovering and making use of the strong points of all others and was also furnished with some hue of Confucianism, Taoism, Mohism, Legalism, Geomancer and so on. In the pre-Qin time the numerous schools, taking their own stand about class, politics, ideology and academic, made judgement on and evaluated military actions and their practitioners from the angle of ethics. Basically it held a negative attitude towards wars; the military strategist believed that just wars are the necessary means of striving for people and their viewpoint based on the ideal of the extermination of wars. Other pre-Qin schools of thought showed a general and neutral position and related hardly to fine tactics when discoursing on strategies. The military strategist, on the contrary, not only elaborated strategies macroscopically, but also had their own detailed planning of the way and art of wars. But, regardless of the above-mentioned differences, those schools of thought usually formed a mixture of the strategical and political ideology, which explained...