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The Word for WarQ: I have been told that the Chinese word for war, wu
, is composed of two elements meaning "stop arms," so China as a culture is naturally peaceful. True?
A: To deduce the nature of a civilization from the way it spells its words is not a very adult proceeding. China probably has more wars on its record than anybody else on the planet. But the original folk etymology does not say precisely what was asked by the question above, and though the etymology is wrong in any case, the lesson drawn from the original story is not without its interest.
In the Dzwo Jwan (a long historical romance of the 04th century), and more precisely at DJ 7/12:2 , there is a tremendously long story of a battle between Jin and Chu, in which Jin was defeated. At the end of the battle, someone advised the victorious Chu ruler to pile up the bodies of the slain as a monument to his military prowess ( "prowess" and not "war" is the actual meaning of the word "wu"). In a long and eloquent answer, the Chu ruler refuses to do so. He begins by pointing out that the word wu is made up of components meaning "stop" and "dagger-axe" -
and goes on to say that true prowess in war is to conclude the war; to have achieved by war a lasting peace. He quotes various poems and dance-songs about the great conquerors of old, to show that they had most emphasized not their wars, but the subsequent putting away of arms, and the settling of the state and the people in a condition of lawfulness and virtue. He ends by saying that since his own battle has not ended the war, he is not worthy to compare himself with these great conquerors. He sacrifices to the River by which the battle had been fought, sets up a sacrificial tablet to his ancestors, announces the result of the battle to them, and goes back home.
This tale was being told at just the time that the Sundz "Art of War," the oldest of the Chinese military texts, was being put together. The Sundz discusses how to manage a march or a battle, how to plan and how to lead, but not how to stop. It was not until the second of the military texts, the Wudz "Art of War" in the next generation, that the successful ending of a war and the conciliation of the conquered populace were addressed as part of military knowledge. In this case, then, the composers of the court poems and dance-songs, and the tale-spinners who had an earlier ruler quote them, were ahead of the military thinkers. It took the military thinkers a generation to catch up.
Some military thinkers, even in our time, have not yet caught up. The first thing to learn about driving a car is how to stop the car. But those who study war are rarely told about how to stop a war, or how to recognize when it has reached its intended objective. The true objective of a war is something other than a war. This is the understanding reached by the Chinese court poets and political philosophers of the 04th century, and also by the Chinese military thinkers of the 03rd century. Where the rest of the world may be at, on this issue, is not a question to which the writer of these notes is required to give an answer.
14 Mar 2009 / Contact The Project / Exit to Implications Page
