Seven Military Classics

Hi, can anyone provide with the Pdfs for the Seven Military Classics?


Jiang Ziya (Taigong)'s Six Secret Teachings
The Methods of the Ssu-ma (also known as Sima Rangju Art of War)
Sun Tzu's The Art of War
Wu Qi's Wuzi
Wei Liaozi
Three Strategies of Huang Shigong
Questions and Replies between Tang Taizong and Li Weigong

I'm sure you will find them online. International laws say that after works have reached a certain age, they can be published for free.

hugga12 said:

Hi, can anyone provide with the Pdfs for the Seven Military Classics?


Jiang Ziya (Taigong)'s Six Secret Teachings
The Methods of the Ssu-ma (also known as Sima Rangju Art of War)
Sun Tzu's The Art of War
Wu Qi's Wuzi
Wei Liaozi
Three Strategies of Huang Shigong
Questions and Replies between Tang Taizong and Li Weigong

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That's some very weird translation out there, might simply "freak out" those who actually knows the CLASSIC NAME of the books but not familiar with the "simplified English version".

And again, those who might be understanding the CLASSIC CHINESE readings, might not be able to help you out with "simplified English" in reading.

I'm sure you will find them online. International laws say that after works have reached a certain age, they can be published for free.

Click to expand...

One thing to compare with is that, do you need to pay for The tale of two city? and if you don't pay for it, is it a legal offence? (theoretically, I konw we all download stuff from time to time) - The answer is Yes. Because modern publishers published them. They being not prosecuting you (us), didn't justify the issue here, theotetically.

I really recommend to read the Chinese version, it's not like a dead civilization that only archeologist can make some wild guess on the stones, it live through today.


武经七书: 《孙子兵法》《吴子兵法》《六韬》《司马法》《三略》《尉缭子》《李卫公问对》

Unfortunately many of us are handicapped because we don't read Chinese. I know that I prefer very much to read books in English rather than translated from English because if translation mistakes are to be made I prefer to do it myself. I might go back to the book to reread it. It is much more difficult when you read a translation.
But in this case: Are there reliable translations into English or German for these books?

delft said:

But in this case: Are there reliable translations into English or German for these books?

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The others might be impossible because not too much fame of them, thus not even too much annotated Chinese versions around; but the one Sun Tzu's The Art of War, I believe it got dozens of languages translated (and annotated) around the world. (German included)

Let's both compromise a bit - stuff like this, you have to actually go to a bookstore to buy a printed book of your own language. Encourage the interpreters (and historians) of your own culture to keep-up bringing these kind of hardwork to your convinience, don't you think?

PS. Early Chinese CPC leaders tried their asses to read the original Communist Manifesto in German, in order to have a better grasp of the thing, that's how you treat the great literatures.

^^

Well I found five of these books in English from Asiapac, might want to give a try. ^^

For the Art of War you can get download them as ebook, read online or as a text file for free by visiting the Project Gutenburg website.

You might want to try the Lionel Giles version of the translated AoW in english:




Note that there is an error in the final sentence of Project Gutenberg's transcription of Lionel Giles' work. In the fragment "Spies are a most important element in war" the word "war" is transposed to "water". Also in Chapter 9, "If, when the soldiers have become attached to you, punishments are not enforced, they will still be useless", the word "useless" is transposed as "unless".

The actual AoW text is not too long, in 13 relatively short chapters. The book also include Lionel's own expanded interpretation as well as quite a bit of historical backgrounds at the start.

If you want just the translated text, you can always just read from here :

Red___Sword said:

The others might be impossible because not too much fame of them, thus not even too much annotated Chinese versions around; but the one Sun Tzu's The Art of War, I believe it got dozens of languages translated (and annotated) around the world. (German included)

Let's both compromise a bit - stuff like this, you have to actually go to a bookstore to buy a printed book of your own language. Encourage the interpreters (and historians) of your own culture to keep-up bringing these kind of hardwork to your convinience, don't you think?

PS. Early Chinese CPC leaders tried their asses to read the original Communist Manifesto in German, in order to have a better grasp of the thing, that's how you treat the great literatures.

^^

Click to expand...

Very few books are translated from Chinese in Dutch. So it is generally better for me to read them in English. I already collected The Art of War from Gutenberg Project, haven't yet read it and would not be able to judge the quality of the translation. And of course, as no_name writes, Project Gutenberg depends on the typing and proof-reading skills of people. The result is mostly very good.

cant anyone provide links for the books in PDF? i have the sun tzu book