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Sun Bin (孫臏) (died 316 BC) was a military strategist who lived during the Warring States Period in ancient China. Born in Qi, he was a member of the Sun family, a family famed for producing military strategists. He is considered a descendant of Sun Tzu, and may have helped edit the Art of War. He also wrote his own military treatise, the Sun Bin Bing Fa, that was recently rediscovered after being lost for almost 2000 years.
Life
Sun Bin was recognized for his military brilliance at an early age. Pang Juan, a fellow student who was jealous of Sun Bin, plotted to bring Sun Bin to ruin. Appointed as a minister in Wei, Pang Juan enticed Sun Bin to go to Wei, then plotted to ruin Sun Bin. Sun Bin was mutilated, having his kneecaps removed; bin is a reference to the knees or the practice of mutiliation by removing one's knees. In ancient China, mutilation was an ignominious event and generally caused a person to be shunned by society for life; after the mutilation, Sun Bin's career should have effectively been over.
Sun Bin later escaped to Qi. His military skills were recognized, and he came to serve under King Wei. He formed a strong partnership with the military commander Tian Ji. They defeated the state of Wei (not to be confused with King Wei) at the Battle of Guiling against forces led by Pang Juan. When Tian Ji was banished from Qi due to court politics, Sun Bin followed him into exile to Chu. After King Wei died, the new king of Qi, King Xuan, recalled Tian Ji and Sun Bin. Sun Bin and Tian Ji later defeated Wei again at the Battle of Maling.
Sun Bin Bing Fa
The Sun Bin Bing Fa is considered to be a text of military treatise written by Sun Bin. After the Han Dynasty, this text was considered to be lost. Although there were numerous references to the Sun Bin Bing Fa from post-contemporary texts, some historians later came to believe that the text was never written or simply a forgery. In April of 1972, archaeologists discovered a tomb in Linyi County, Shandong Province, that contained several fragments of important scrolls buried during the Han Dynasty. Among the scrolls were a copy of the Sun Bin Bing Fa.
Although ancient texts mention that the original Sun Bin Bing Fa contained 89 chapters, the rediscovered copy contains only sixteen verifiable chapters. Since the tomb also contained fragments of the Art of War, some chapters might actually be lost chapters from the Art of War instead.
The newly discovered text provides historians with a different perspective on the Battle of Guiling and the Battle of Maling. In addition, the Sun Bin Bing Fa shows one major strategic divergence from the Art of War; while Sun Tzu advised against siege warfare, the Sun Bin Bing Fa contains numerous stratagems for assaulting a sieged city. This paralleled a shift in strategic consideration of siege warfare during the later stages of the Warring States Period.
See also
References
- The Seven Military Classics of Ancient China. Sawyer, Ralph D. ISBN 0813312280
- Sun Pin: The Art of Warfare. Lau, D.C. and Ames, Roger T. ISBN 0345379918
"Sun Bin"