 The appearance of features from The Art of War in other historical texts is considered to be proof of his historicity and authorship . Certain strategic concepts , such as terrain classification , are attributed to Sun Tzu . Their use in other works such as The Methods of the Sima is considered proof of Sun Tzu 's historical priority . According to Ralph Sawyer , it is very likely Sun Tzu did exist and not only served as a general but also wrote the core of the book that bears his name . It is argued that there is a disparity between the large @-@ scale wars and sophisticated techniques detailed in the text and the more primitive small @-@ scale battles that many believe predominated in China during the 6th century BC . Against this , Sawyer argues that the teachings of Sun Wu were probably taught to succeeding generations in his family or a small school of disciples , which eventually included Sun Bin . These descendants or students may have revised or expanded upon certain points in the original text . 
