Home – H004: THE ART OF WAR UNABRIDGED《孫子》全十三篇授受 (俗謂《孫子兵法》)

This full-fledged formation programme on Sun Tze’s The Art of War is probably the first one in recent times of Hong Kong to study the world classic in its entirety, and to learn and start applying the wisdom therein. The programme will examine war and peace and strategy in their fullest scope: their nature, their components, their science, their power, their dilemmas, their limits. The military realm aside, the wisdom in The Art of War will be taught as it should be, with the hope that those wisdom and knowledge be justly and righteously applied in business or organizational settings, among human relations, and in personal life. And with the world approaching global and regional unrest, the time may have rightly come for students to learn the time-honoured wisdom of knowing thyself, knowing the world as it is, and knowing how to whistle in peace and in the dark.

The Art of War 孫子兵法 was elevated to its present status as a key world classic and the cardinal strategic text after the Second World War, and have since been taught systematically in the major military academies around the globe, and in a piecemeal fashion, in top business schools. Its ideas with War and Peace have given the world—in a general sense only, while not forgetting the atrocities that have happened here and there—a relatively longer period of respite compared to former times. And in business the Japanese’s ardent love for the book has served them well in catapulting their management execution and strategic planning, leading to their meteoric rise in economic dominance from the 70s to the 90s.

• Time: On hold.
• Enrolment deadline: subject to availability before April 5.
• Prerequisite 學前先修: The Great Learning 《大學》《太史公自序》(code: H002) posted above.
• Place: HKU Campus/Island West or East – to be confirmed
• Text: Ancient manuscript of Sun Tze from Song Dynasty, in traditional Chinese and with no punctuation. You will be taught how to read such kind of text. For the English sessions, the text is Gen. Samuel Griffiths’s translation.
• Medium of Instruction: Mainly in Cantonese, and whenever necessary in discussing strategic and hermeneutic issues and examples, also in English and Mandarin. English is used for sessions for English speakers, but Chinese will be used sporadically to highlight relevant concepts in the original text.
• Fees: On Hold. Plus the price of two textbooks to be ordered for either case: $90 HKD for two. (NB: Highly motivated learners facing financial challenges may write to the teacher for a fee reduction in the form of a scholarship, or for fee payment in two instalments.)
• Enrolment procedure: Address an email (hingeinstitute@gmail.com) to Mr. John Tai (戴賢聰老師) the teacher. Interested students should introduce themselves by stating their name in English and Chinese, institution/organization, major, and contact number; and express their wish to enrol with a statement of intention not exceeding 150 words – writing about their learning motivation – either in English or in Chinese. The teacher will call the applicant for a brief telephone interview or a face-to-face interview. You will be informed of the result of your enrolment in less than 48 hours, along with the means and details to carry it through.