Pages: 455-484
The article contains an unexpected view on the Chinese tradition. The author focuses his attention on a combination of tradition and innovation, which is complex and contradictory. The author sees a bearer of innovation in Chinese culture in the school binfa – a school of military theorists headed by Sun Tzu. Their mentality, based on a balance of principles zheng (as a straight, true and traditional) and qi (as unusual, innovative), was used in China in crucial periods, while Confucianism as ideology was meant for periods of stability. A special attention is paid to Taoism, and, first of all, to the structure of the canonic book Dao de jing in the view of the modern informatics. The experience accumulated by the Chinese culture is of special importance today.