Art of War 13.9
The Art of War (孫子兵法), The Use Of Spies 用間篇
鄉間者因其鄉人而用之
Having local spies
means employing the services of the inhabitants of a district.
Lionel Giles (1910), Sun Tzŭ on the Art of War (1910), with Giles' notes — public domain.
Lionel Giles's notes
鄕間 is the emended reading of Chia Lin and the T‘u Shu for the unintelligible 因間, here and in § 7, of the standard text, which nevertheless reads 鄕間 in § 22.
Tu My says: “In the enemy’s country, win people over by kind treatment, and use them as spies.”
Character glossary
- 鄉xiāngcountry, village; rural
- 間jiānbetween, among; midpoint; space, place,
- 者zhěthat which; they who; those who
- 因yīncause, reason; by; because
- 其qíhis, her, its, their; that
- 人rénman, person; people
- 而érand, and then, and yet; but
- 用yòngto use, to employ, to apply; use
- 之zhīmarks preceding phrase as modifier of fo
Passages with shared wording
Data: English Wikisource (Public domain texts; transcription CC BY-SA 4.0). Retrieved 2026-10-22.