https://www.scmp.com/rss/323918/feed en https://assets.i-scmp.com/static/img/icons/scmp-meta-1200x630.png https://www.scmp.com Sun Tzu’s The Art of War Illustrated: Chinese Bound, translated by James Trapp, Amber Books, 4/5 stars The first thing to understand when reading an English translation of Sun Tzu’s The Art of War is that you are dealing with what former US defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld called “known unknowns”. Scholars are not certain when the book was written (estimates range between 770BC and 221BC), whether it was written by one or several authors, and what motivated the author(s) to write the... https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/arts-culture/article/3093869/sun-tzus-art-war-and-how-it-applies-battles-modern-and?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/arts-culture/article/3093869/sun-tzus-art-war-and-how-it-applies-battles-modern-and?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 20 Jul 2020 15:45:11 +0000 Chinese Spies: From Chairman Mao to Xi Jinping, by Roger Faligot (translation by Natasha Lehrer), Hurst Publishing, 4 stars French investigative journalist Roger Faligot has been writing about Chinese spying and intelligence for more than 30 years. His encyclopedic knowledge of the history of communist China’s intelligence services is on full display in Chinese Spies, originally published in France in 2008 (and later updated in 2015) and now in an English translation by Natasha Lehrer. This book... https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/arts-culture/article/3022756/chinas-spies-wests-biggest-challenge-today-and-their-history?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/arts-culture/article/3022756/chinas-spies-wests-biggest-challenge-today-and-their-history?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 16 Aug 2019 12:00:14 +0000 The Patient Assassin: A True Tale of Massacre, Revenge and India’s Quest for Independence, by Anita Anand, Simon & Schuster/Scribner, 3.5/5 stars On April 13, 1919, British and imperial troops under the command of General Reginald “Rex” Dyer gunned down between 400 and 600 Indian protesters at Jallianwala Bagh, a garden near the Golden Temple in the city of Amritsar in India’s Punjab state. Many more protesters were wounded. The shooting lasted for 10 minutes. Many were shot as they ran for... https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/arts-culture/article/3015945/true-story-indian-assassin-who-avenged-massacre-british?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/arts-culture/article/3015945/true-story-indian-assassin-who-avenged-massacre-british?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 25 Jun 2019 10:00:06 +0000 Red Star Over the Pacific, Second Edition: China’s Rise and the Challenge to US Maritime Strategy, by Toshi Yoshihara and James R. Holmes. Published by Naval Institute Press The renowned British geopolitical theorist Halford Mackinder wrote that great statesmanship requires “geographical capacity” and “an insight into the minds of other nations”. He explained geographical capacity as a “mind which flits easily over the globe, which thinks in terms of the map, which quickly clothes the map with... https://www.scmp.com/culture/books/article/2181032/how-us-should-respond-chinas-rising-sea-threat-examined-new-book?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/culture/books/article/2181032/how-us-should-respond-chinas-rising-sea-threat-examined-new-book?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 07 Jan 2019 14:01:53 +0000 The South China Sea Disputes: Historical, Geopolitical and Legal Studies edited by Tsu-Sung Hsieh World Scientific 3.5 stars This latest volume in a series on contemporary China published by World Scientific looks at the historical, geopolitical, and legal aspects of the disputes over the South China Sea and its islands, reefs, and rocks. Edited by Tsu-Sung Hsieh, a retired Taiwanese navy captain and professor at the Ming Chuan University School of Law in Taipei, The South China Sea Disputes:... https://www.scmp.com/culture/books/article/2154119/south-china-seas-history-and-role-international-politics-scholarly?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/culture/books/article/2154119/south-china-seas-history-and-role-international-politics-scholarly?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 09 Jul 2018 00:45:24 +0000 The China Mission: George Marshall’s Unfinished War, 1945-1947 by Daniel Kurtz-Phelan WW Norton 4/5 stars The title of Daniel Kurtz-Phelan’s new book about US general George Marshall’s efforts to bring about peace between the Nationalists and Communists in China after the end of the second world war should be “The Impossible China Mission”. Marshall’s ill-fated mission was the product of wishful thinking and hubris on the part of policymakers in the Truman administration. Marshall’s mission to... https://www.scmp.com/culture/books/article/2146314/us-failure-bring-peace-post-war-china-explained-china-mission-book?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/culture/books/article/2146314/us-failure-bring-peace-post-war-china-explained-china-mission-book?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 16 May 2018 13:00:15 +0000 Great Powers, Grand Strategies: The New Game in the South China Sea edited by Anders Corr Naval Institute Press 3.5/5 stars The South China Sea, notes Bernard Cole, a former US Navy captain who also taught maritime strategy at the National War College, covers four million square kilometres, has significant energy resources, and contains trade arteries through which one-third of the world’s commerce transits. Its geographic location astride the Southeast Asian littoral makes it the maritime... https://www.scmp.com/culture/books/article/2133576/south-china-sea-its-history-and-role-international-politics-examined?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/culture/books/article/2133576/south-china-sea-its-history-and-role-international-politics-examined?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 19 Feb 2018 04:49:48 +0000 The Gunpowder Age: China, Military Innovation, and the Rise of the West in World History by Tonio Andrade Princeton University Press In Tonio Andrade’s well-researched, balanced and comparative history of military innovation in Asia and the West, he challenges the traditional notion – compellingly set forth by Victor Davis Hanson in Carnage and Culture and Niall Ferguson in Civilization – that Western culture largely explains Western global predominance in the post-medieval world. Although... https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/books/article/1898109/book-review-gunpowder-age-challenges-traditional-explanations-wests?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/books/article/1898109/book-review-gunpowder-age-challenges-traditional-explanations-wests?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 07 Jan 2016 00:00:30 +0000