Sun Tzu: What a Family Learns From Them
A rule said once and kept at one table
The course replaced by the book and the table
A school gate at four in the afternoon, and a grandparent with an umbrella.
The cost of sun tzu is a rule kept and a decision made once, and the rule costs nothing to repeat.
Prices for sun tzu arrive in ranges rather than headlines, and the ranges are what a household can plan with.
The free version of sun tzu costs nothing and is worth what the household puts into it.
What does sun tzu cost?
For sun tzu, the cost splits into 5 lines, and the table is the only honest way to show them.
The rule is free to keep and expensive to break, and the household counts the second number.
The etiquette of sun tzu is priced in gifts and meals rather than in lessons.
Treat every figure as a typical range, because the same line is a different number in the next city and the next season.
The equipment for the rule is bought once and the instruction is bought monthly, and the two move differently.
A routine for the rule is comfort and not a treatment, and a household with a condition should follow medical advice.
| Line | Typical range | Basis |
|---|---|---|
| A course | $50–300 | typical |
| A tutor hour | $30–80 | typical |
| A workshop | $20–80 | typical |
| Keeping the rule at home | $0 | free |
| The book | $10–25 | typical |
Two lines, added up
Take two lines of the rule: the book at $10–25 and a workshop at $20–80. Together they run $30–105 before anything optional.
That total is the number to budget, and the optional lines are the ones to cut when the month is short.
The sum is the minimum a household should expect, and the minimum is the number that survives a bad month.
A household that pays for the rule buys accountability, and accountability is the product.
Add the third line, a tutor hour at $30–80, and the minimum rises to $60–185 before anything optional.
| Line | Typical range |
|---|---|
| The book | $10–25 |
| A workshop | $20–80 |
| Minimum total | $30–105 |
What a household gives up instead
The comparison that matters is not cheap against expensive, it is this route against that one.
The table lists the substitutes, and the cheapest substitute is usually the one that costs an hour rather than a fee.
A household that prices the substitute before the purchase usually finds that the expensive version was buying convenience, not quality.
The free version of the rule is free because nobody is correcting it, and correction is the value.
| Alternative | Typical range |
|---|---|
| A counsellor | $80–200 |
| A management course | $300–1,500 |
| A parenting book | $15–30 |
Six moves that change the number
Every step here is a decision rather than a purchase, and the first one is to price the line before paying it.
Teach the child to pour tea. The pouring is a small duty and the first one.
Visit at the holiday, not at the funeral. The visit is cheap and it is the whole relationship.
Eat at one table when the household is together. A table is the cheapest institution in the house, and the rule is kept there.
Serve the oldest person first. The order of the serving is the order of the household.
Say the rule once and keep it. A rule repeated becomes a negotiation.
Correct in private. A correction in front of others is a loss of face, and the lesson goes with it.
What the rule costs is an hour, and the hour is cheaper than the alternative it replaces.
Where does it go wrong?
A fair account of the rule has to include the parts that do not work.
Saving face keeps a household's problems inside the household, and help arrives later than it should.
Deference to the oldest person concentrates decisions in one chair, and a household with a difficult parent pays for it.
The obligation to a parent is a real cost, and an adult child who funds a parent's care is making a choice.
A household that keeps the form of the rule and drops the substance has kept the expensive part.
A rule that is never explained is obeyed until it is resented, and the rule is no exception.
The philosophy is quoted more than it is read, and a quotation is not an argument.
A subscription to the rule that renews quietly is a bill the household forgets.
A class for the rule is worth the fee only if the household attends it.
When to buy
Timing changes the number more than bargaining does.
The school term is when the rule matters most, and the summer is when it is forgotten.
The rule is taught at the table every day and tested at the holidays, and the holidays are when the family sees the result.
The best month to start the rule is the one with the fewest holidays, and the calendar is free to check.
A household that plans by the season pays the ordinary price, and the ordinary price is the one the table describes.
Before you pay
Before paying for the rule, five checks change the total more than any discount.
Start with ten minutes. A ten-minute version of the rule survives a busy week, and the hour does not.
Ask what the fee buys. A class in the rule sells correction and company, and the company is half the price.
Ask what happens if you stop. A course in the rule that cannot be paused is a course that runs until it ends.
Ask about the instructor. The person teaching the rule matters more than the room, and the room is what the brochure shows.
Try the free version first. A free class or video for the rule answers the question a subscription cannot.
Keep a record for a month. A month of the rule written down shows whether the fee is buying anything.
A household that runs the five checks once runs them on the next purchase without thinking.
Which household is this for?
The cost falls on the person who books it, and the benefit falls on everyone at the table.
The household that splits the cost also splits the decision, and the split is the argument.
The table does not change with the household, but the number of lines a household uses does.
The person who starts the rule is often the person who pays for it, and the household absorbs the hour.
The one line to keep
What the rule saves is the argument, and the argument is the expensive part of a family.
Related reading, on the same kind of arithmetic: Chinese Business Etiquette, Legalism China and Zen Buddhism.
The search for the rule ends with a number, and the number is easier to check than to argue about.
A household that starts the rule with the free version knows what it is paying for later.
The price of the rule is a range because the teacher, the room and the size of the group all move it.
A subscription for the rule is a rental of something that is available without one.
A household that buys equipment for the rule before trying the free version usually stores the equipment.
The line that moves most in the rule is the hour, and the hour is what a class sells.
The household that keeps the rule to ten minutes is the one that still has it next year.
The price of the rule splits into instruction and equipment, and the instruction is the expensive half.
Sources
- Population ages 65 and above (% of total population) — World Bank Open Data · accessed 2026-10-19
- School enrollment, tertiary (% gross) — World Bank Open Data · accessed 2026-10-19