Heidelberg University
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The Mismeasure of Sunzi: Reading Sunzi as a Western Text

  • Date in the past
  • Wednesday, 13 November 2024, 16:00 - 18:00
  • Online
    • Peter Lorge (Associate Professor, Vanderbilt University)

Peter Lorge (Associate Professor, Vanderbilt University) will share his thoughts on the Western (mis)interpretations of Sunzi’s Art of War: 

Sunzi’s Art of War has been a foundation text for strategy in China for over two millennia.  Its short history in the West has been attended by profound misunderstanding and misinterpretation.  This is particularly strange because Sunzi’s translation into French in the late 18th century directly influenced the modern Western definition of “strategy.” In this paper I will explain Sunzi’s reception in the West, and how its interpretation has much more to do with Western concepts of strategy than Sunzi’s original meaning. 

The Mismeasure of Sunzi

For more information about the Research Training Group "Ambivalent Enmity: Dynamics of Antagonism in Asia, Europe, and the Middle East”, please go to our website:

RTG 2840

This project has received funding from the German Research Foundation (Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft, DFG). 

All Dates of the Event 'Enemy Encounters Webinar Series'

Enemy Encounters in East Asia will have a similar geographic scope to the Aftermath webinar series, covering East Asia, but with a broader temporal reach beyond the Imjin War and its aftermath. It will feature speakers from across different academic disciplines working on East Asia, who deal with antagonisms and processes of enemization in their research. Contributing speakers will discuss enmities in East Asia and associated ambivalences as they have historically manifested in the concrete conflicts they are studying. Case studies will include both states and non-state actors like religious and terrorist movements, as well as antagonisms within societies, such as those revolving around gender differences and class conflicts. We will look at how enmity and processes of enemization took shape, evolved over time and influenced identities, perceptions of self and others, as well as state policies. Please find attached the program for the upcoming term at Heidelberg University, covering October 2024 until February 2025. Information about the first session follows below:

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