Guo Huaruo

• Office1 — Commander of the Shanghai Garrison Command • Term Start1 — August 1949 • Term End1 — August 1955 • Predecessor1 — Song Shilun • Successor1 — Wang Bicheng • Office2 — Political Commissar the Shanghai Garrison Command • Term Start2 — May 1949 • Term End2 — November 1950 • Predecessor2 — New title • Successor2 — Li Shiying • Name — Guo Huaruo • Native Name — 郭化若 • Birth Name — Guo Kebin (郭可彬) • Born — 10 August 1904 • Birthplace — Fuzhou, Fujian, Qing China • Died — 26 November 1995 • Place of death — Beijing, China • Party — Chinese Communist Party • Children — 2 • Alma Mater — Republic of China Military Academy • Allegiance — China • Branch — * New Guangxi clique (1923–1927) • Chinese Red Army (1927–1937) • Eighth Route Army (1937–1947) • China (1947–1985) • Service Years — 1923–1985 • Rank — Lieutenant general • Battles — Second Sino-Japanese War Chinese Civil War • Mawards — * August 1 Medal (1st Class) • Order of Independence and Freedom (1st Class) • Order of Liberation (1st Class) • Red Star Merit Honor Medal (1st Class) Guo Huaruo (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, but Guo was "practically unknown in the West". 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.' Around June 4, 1937, Guo was the dean of studies of Qingyang Infantry School.

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." 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.

• 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) • 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) • 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. • Includes "Sun Zi yi zhu' qian yan," the preface to "Translation and Annotation of Sun Zi," 1983.