The texts were canonized under this name during the 11th century AD, and from the time of the Song dynasty, were included in most military leishu.
[3][4] According to Ralph D. Sawyer and Mei-chün Sawyer, who created one of the latest translations, the Seven Military Classics include the following texts:[5] There are no other known variations of the Seven Military Classics anthology with alternating members but the constituent works themselves have had many multiple versions, especially The Art of War, which has had at least several dozen different translations to English in the 20th century alone.
[6] There were many anthologies with different notations and analyses by scholars throughout the centuries leading up to the present versions in Western publishing.
The Kangxi Emperor of the Qing dynasty commented on the seven military classics, stating, "I have read all of the seven books, among them there are some materials that are not necessarily right and there are superstitious stuff can be used by bad people."
[7][8] Chinese military works like Su Shu, San Liu, Six Secret Teachings and Art of War were translated into Manchu.