ABSTRACT
"All war is based on deception," Sun Tzu explains succinctly, and the successful commander must therefore cheat not only with his spies but with his soldiers. More than a century after Sun Tzu is said to have lived, his descendant Sun Pin gave a classic demonstration of how his ancestor's precepts could be put into practice, and the very strength of an enemy used against him with almost supernatural effect. If Sun Tzu suggests Rommel, Hsun Tzu suggests Montgomery, and throughout Chinese history generals have been heavily influenced by their two schools of thought—and often identified with one or the other. Chinese military instructors quote examples not only from the history of China, but from accounts of past Western generalship to prove somewhat chauvinistically that when the principles of Sun Tzu and Hsun Tzu were respected, all went well—and when they were not, disaster followed. The Chinese Nationalist general had concocted a typical Chinese mix of "normal" and "extraordinary" forces.
