Guo Huaruo

Guo Huaruo (Chinese: 郭化若; pinyin: Guō Huàruò; Wade–Giles: Kuo Hua-jo; 1904−1995) was a Chinese military strategist and lieutenant general of the People's Liberation Army. According to Alastair Iain Johnston, Guo was until the mid-1980s "the CCP's most authoritative interpreter and annotator" of The Art of War by Sun Tzu,^[1] but Guo was "practically unknown in the West".^[2]

Johnson said 'Guo stressed that from a Marxist–Leninist perspective the notion of "not fighting and subduing the enemy"'—the core of the conventional interpretation of Sun Zi—was un-Marxist, since class enemies could not be credibly defeated without the application of violence.'^[1]

Around June 4, 1937, Guo was the dean of studies of Qingyang Infantry School.^[3]

Guo wrote A Preliminary Study of Sun Tzu's Art of War (T: 孫子兵法初步研究, S: 孙子兵法初步研究, P: Sūnzǐ Bīngfǎ Chūbù Yánjiū), which was completed in 1939. It was used as a military textbook in areas controlled by Communists. The book says "The position Kuo has now enjoyed as a leading military theoretician seems to date from that period."^[2]

By 1971, Guo's latest edition of The Art of War was A Modern Translation with New Chapter Arrangement of Sun Tzu's ʻArt of Warʼ (T: 今譯新編孫子兵法, S: 今译新编孙子兵法, P: Jīnyì Xīn Biān Sūnzǐ Bīngfǎ). In this edition, Guo rearranged the material, used Simplified Chinese, and phrased Sun Tzu's verses in colloquial Chinese.^[2]

• A Preliminary Study of Sun Tzu's Art of War (T: 孫子兵法初步研究, S: 孙子兵法初步研究, P: Sūnzǐ Bīngfǎ Chūbù Yánjiū)^[2]
• A Modern Translation with New Chapter Arrangement of Sun Tzu's ʻArt of Warʼ (T: 今譯新編孫子兵法, S: 今译新编孙子兵法, P: Jīnyì Xīn Biān Sūnzǐ Bīngfǎ)^[2]
• Guo Huaruo's Selected Essays on Military Affairs (S: 郭化若军事论文选集, T: 郭化若軍事論文選集 Jūnshì Lùnwén Xuǎnjí). Liberation Army Press (Beijing), 1989.^[1]
  • Includes "Sun Zi yi zhu' qian yan," the preface to "Translation and Annotation of Sun Zi," 1983.

• Johnston, Alastair Iain. "Cultural Realism and Strategy in Maoist China." Located in: Katzenstein, Peter J. (Contributor: Social Science Research Council (U.S.). Committee on International Peace & Security) The Culture of National Security: Norms and Identity in World Politics. Columbia University Press, 1996. pp. 216–268. ISBN 0231104693, 9780231104692.
• Schram, Stuart R. Mao's Road to Power - Revolutionary Writings, 1912-1949: The Pre-Marxist Period, 1912-1920. M.E. Sharpe, April 1, 1997. ISBN 1563244578, 9781563244575.
• Sun, Tzu (translation and introduction by Samuel B. Griffith, foreword by B.H. Liddell Hart). The Art of War. Oxford University Press, September 15, 1971. 56. ISBN 0195014766, 9780195014761.