Art of War 11.5
The Art of War (孫子兵法), The Nine Situations 九地篇
我可以往彼可以來者爲交地
Ground on which each side has liberty of movement is open ground.
Lionel Giles (1910), Sun Tzŭ on the Art of War (1910), with Giles' notes — public domain.
Lionel Giles's notes
This is only a makeshift translation of 交, which according to Ts‘ao Kung stands for 交錯 “ground covered with a network of roads,” like a chess-board. Another interpretation, suggested by Ho Shih, is 交通 “ground on which intercommunication is easy.” In either case, it must evidently be 平原 “flat country,” and therefore 不可杜絶 “cannot be blocked.” Cf. 通形, X. § 2.
Character glossary
- 我wǒI, me, my; our, us
- 可kěmay, can, -able; possibly
- 以yǐaccording to; so as to; because of; then
- 往wǎngto go, to depart; past, former
- 彼bǐthat, those, the other
- 來láito arrive, to come, to return; in the fu
- 者zhěthat which; they who; those who
- 爲wèido, handle, govern, act; be
- 交jiāoto connect; to deliver, to exchange; to
- 地deearth, ground, soil; land, region; struc
Passages with shared wording
Data: English Wikisource (Public domain texts; transcription CC BY-SA 4.0). Retrieved 2026-10-22.