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Sun Bin | |
|---|---|
 Sun Bin | |
| Native name | 孫臏 |
| Died | 316 BC |
| Allegiance | Wei (former) Qi |
| Battles / wars | Battle of Guiling Battle of Maling |
| Sun Bin | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Traditional Chinese | 孫臏 | ||||||||
| Simplified Chinese | 孙膑 | ||||||||
| |||||||||
Sun Bin (died 316 BC) was a Chinese general,military strategist, and writer who lived during theWarring States period ofChinese history. A supposed descendant ofSun Tzu, Sun was tutored in military strategy by the hermitGuiguzi. He was accused oftreason byPang Juan while servingWei and punished by beingbranded and crippled. Sun escaped and became a strategist and commander forQi, defeating Wei at theBattle of Guiling and theBattle of Maling; Pang was killed at Maling. Sun'sArt of War with theYinqueshan Han Slips were discovered in 1972 after going missing for at least 1400 years.
Sun Bin was allegedly a descendant ofSun Tzu. Sun Bin excelled while studyingmilitary strategy under the hermitGuiguzi; he could reciteThe Art of War and identified by Guiguzi as a role model for other students.Pang Juan, a fellow student, became Sun'sblood brother. Pang left to be aWei general, and built a reputation through a few victories. Sun continued his studies until accepting a Wei recruitment offer and joining Pang. Pang considered Sun to be more talented and knowledgeable, and became jealous.
King Hui of Wei sentenced Sun to death after Sun was framed for treason by Pang. Pang convinced King Hui to commute the sentence; Sun wasbranded and crippled by having his kneecaps removed. Pang attempted to entice Sun to compile a book on military strategy with good treatment, with the intent of killing Sun afterwards. Eventually, Sun discovered Pang's intentions and feignedinsanity. As a test, Pang locked Sun in asty where the latter ate animalfaeces, calling them delicious. When Pang lowered his guard, Sun escaped with the help ofQi diplomats.
Sun became aretainer (guest) to GeneralTian Ji in Qi. Sun came to the attention ofKing Wei of Qi during a racing competition, where Sun's advice allowed Tian to win two of the three rounds. Sun entered King Wei's on Tian's recommendation. King Wei appointed Sun as chief military advisor and Tian's deputy. Sun declined appointment as a commander since he could not ride a horse, due to his handicap, which would harm troopmorale.
In 354 BC, a Wei army under Pang attackedZhao and besieged the Zhao capital city ofHandan. Zhao requested help from Qi, which dispatched an army led by Tian and Sun. The Qi army attacked the Wei capital city of Daliang (present-dayKaifeng) according to Sun's strategy of "besieging Wei to rescue Zhao". The Wei army withdrew from Handan to defend Daliang, and was ambushed and defeated by the Qi theBattle of Guiling.
In 342 BC, a Wei army led by Pang attackedHan, a Qi ally. Again, a Qi army deployed against the Wei led by Tian and using Sun's strategy. The Qi army feigned defeat in a series of skirmishes, while reducing the number of cooking stoves it used. The pursuing Wei overestimated Qi casualties based on the shrinking number of marks left by the stoves. At theBattle of Maling, the Qi ambushed and defeated the Wei in a narrow valley. The crown prince of Wei was captured, and Pang was killed. According to folklore, Sun carved "Pang Juan dies under this tree" on a tree in the ambush area. When Pang arrived, he lit a torch to examine the carving and was fired upon by the Qi using the light as a target; Peng was hit by multiple arrows and then committed suicide.
Sun retired due to politics in theroyal court. He lived as a hermit in the later part of his life.
Sun wrote the military treatiseSun Bin's Art of War (孫臏兵法). The book was believed to be lost after theHan dynasty. Some historians doubted its existence as evidence was limited to references in post-contemporary texts. TheYinqueshan Han Slips scroll fragments, recovered in 1972 from a tomb inLinyi,Shandong, contained text from theSun Bin's Art of War. 16 chapters have been identified; historical texts attributed 89 chapters to the work.
Sun Bin's Art of War includes sections related to the Battles of Guiling and Maling. A major difference between Sun Tzu's earlierThe Art of War andSun Bin's Art of War is insiege warfare. The former advises against it, and the latter - reflecting developments in the later stages of theWarring States period - contains advice for attacking besieged cities.
Sun sometimes appears as aMenshen (door god) inChinese andTaoist temples, usually paired with Pang.
His rivalry with Pang is portrayed in the 2011 filmThe Warring States.
Sun is one of the 32 historical figures who appear as special characters in the video gameRomance of the Three Kingdoms XI byKoei.
