{"id":281,"date":"2005-10-11T18:08:55","date_gmt":"2005-10-12T01:08:55","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.wiredatom.com\/blog\/?p=281"},"modified":"2005-12-21T23:00:22","modified_gmt":"2005-12-22T07:00:22","slug":"thirty-six-stratagems-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.wiredatom.com\/blog\/2005\/10\/11\/thirty-six-stratagems-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Thirty-six Stratagems"},"content":{"rendered":"

“The Art of War<\/a>“, a military strategy book written by the great military general, Sun Tze<\/a>, has been re-interpreted to apply its concepts on business and fields other than military. It’s arguably one of the most famous literary exports of China.<\/p>\n

However, there’s another collection of lesser-known strategies that are equally useful but perhaps easier to understand and apply in real life. They are often called the “Thirty-six Stratagems<\/i><\/a>“. I remember growing up in Taiwan, the grown ups would often refer to one of the strategies in their conversations about work and about life.<\/p>\n

Ancient China was basically a bunch of huge warring states. It’s no surprise that our ancestors took the brutality of wars and systematically came up with organized methods in order to win more frequently in battles.<\/p>\n

Here’s the list with rough translations. Wikipedia apparently has the same list with brief explanations as well.<\/p>\n

\u00e7\u017e\u017e\u00e5\u00a4\u00a9\u00e9\u0081\u017d\u00e6\u00b5\u00b7: crossing the sea under camouflage
\n\u00e5\u0153\u008d\u00e9\u00ad\u008f\u00e6\u2022\u2018\u00e8\u00b6\u2122: relieving the state of Zhao by besieging the state of Wei
\n\u00e5\u20ac\u0178\u00e5\u02c6\u20ac\u00e6\u00ae\u00ba\u00e4\u00ba\u00ba: killing someone with a borrowed knife
\n\u00e4\u00bb\u00a5\u00e9\u20ac\u00b8\u00e5\u00be\u2026\u00e5\u2039\u017e: waiting at one\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s ease for the exhausted enemy
\n\u00e8\u00b6\u0081\u00e7\u0081\u00ab\u00e6\u2030\u201c\u00e5\u0160\u00ab: plundering a burning house
\n\u00e8\u0081\u00b2\u00e6\u009d\u00b1\u00e6\u201c\u0160\u00e8\u00a5\u00bf: making a feint to the east and attacking in the west
\n\u00e7\u201e\u00a1\u00e4\u00b8\u00ad\u00e7\u201d\u0178\u00e6\u0153\u2030: creating something out of nothing
\n\u00e6\u0161\u2014\u00e6\u00b8\u00a1\u00e9\u2122\u00b3\u00e5\u20ac\u2030: advancing secretly by an unknown path
\n\u00e9\u0161\u201d\u00e5\u00b2\u00b8\u00e8\u00a7\u20ac\u00e7\u0081\u00ab: watching a fire from the other side of the river
\n\u00e7\u00ac\u2018\u00e8\u00a3\u00a1\u00e8\u2014\u008f\u00e5\u02c6\u20ac: covering the dagger with a smile
\n\u00e6\u009d\u017d\u00e4\u00bb\u00a3\u00e6\u00a1\u0192\u00e5\u0192\u00b5: palming off substitute for the real thing
\n\u00e9\u00a0\u2020\u00e6\u2030\u2039\u00e7\u2030\u00bd\u00e7\u00be\u0160: picking up something in passing
\n\u00e6\u2030\u201c\u00e8\u008d\u2030\u00e9\u00a9\u0161\u00e8\u203a\u2021: beating the grass to frighten the snake
\n\u00e5\u20ac\u0178\u00e5\u00b1\u008d\u00e9\u201a\u201e\u00e9\u00ad\u201a: resurrecting a dead soul by borrowing a corpse
\n\u00e8\u00aa\u00bf\u00e8\u2122\u017d\u00e9\u203a\u00a2\u00e5\u00b1\u00b1: luring the tiger out of his den
\n\u00e6\u00ac\u00b2\u00e6\u201c\u2019\u00e6\u2022\u2026\u00e7\u00b8\u00b1: letting the enemy off in order to catch him
\n\u00e6\u2039\u2039\u00e7\u00a3\u0161\u00e5\u00bc\u2022\u00e7\u017d\u2030: giving the enemy something to induce him to lose more valuable things
\n\u00e6\u201c\u2019\u00e8\u00b3\u0160\u00e6\u201c\u2019\u00e7\u017d\u2039: capturing the ringleader first in order to capture all the followers
\n\u00e9\u2021\u0153\u00e5\u00ba\u2022\u00e6\u0160\u00bd\u00e8\u2013\u00aa: extracting the firewood from under the cauldron
\n\u00e6\u00b7\u00b7\u00e6\u00b0\u00b4\u00e6\u2018\u00b8\u00e9\u00ad\u0161: muddling the water to catch the fish
\n\u00e9\u2021\u2018\u00e8\u0178\u00ac\u00e8\u201e\u00ab\u00e6\u00ae\u00bc: slipping away by casting off a cloak
\n\u00e9\u2014\u0153\u00e9\u2013\u20ac\u00e6\u008d\u2030\u00e8\u00b3\u0160: catching the thief by closing his escape route
\n\u00e9\u0081\u00a0\u00e4\u00ba\u00a4\u00e8\u00bf\u2018\u00e6\u201d\u00bb: befriending the enemy while attacking a nearby enemy
\n\u00e5\u0081\u2021\u00e9\u20ac\u201d\u00e4\u00bc\u0090\u00e8\u2122\u00a2: attacking the enemy by passing through a common neighbor
\n\u00e5\u0081\u00b7\u00e6\u00a8\u2018\u00e6\u008f\u203a\u00e6\u0178\u00b1: stealing the beams and pillars and replacing them with rotten timbers
\n\u00e6\u0152\u2021\u00e6\u00a1\u2018\u00e7\u00bd\u00b5\u00e6\u00a7\u0090: reviling the locust tree while pointing to the mulberry
\n\u00e5\u0081\u2021\u00e7\u2014\u00b4\u00e4\u00b8\u008d\u00e9\u00a1\u203a: feigning madness without becoming insane
\n\u00e4\u00b8\u0160\u00e6\u00a8\u201c\u00e6\u0160\u00bd\u00e6\u00a2\u00af: removing the ladder after the enemy has climbed up the roof
\n\u00e8\u2122\u203a\u00e5\u00bc\u00b5\u00e8\u0081\u00b2\u00e5\u2039\u00a2: putting artificial flowers on trees
\n\u00e5\u008f\u008d\u00e5\u00ae\u00a2\u00e7\u201a\u00ba\u00e4\u00b8\u00bb: turning from the guest into host
\n\u00e7\u00be\u017d\u00e4\u00ba\u00ba\u00e8\u00a8\u02c6: using seductive women to corrupt the enemy
\n\u00e7\u00a9\u00ba\u00e5\u0178\u017d\u00e8\u00a8\u02c6: presenting a bold front to conceal unpreparedness
\n\u00e5\u008f\u008d\u00e9\u2013\u201c\u00e8\u00a8\u02c6: sowing discord among the enemy
\n\u00e8\u2039\u00a6\u00e8\u201a\u2030\u00e8\u00a8\u02c6: deceiving the enemy by torturing one\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s own man
\n\u00e9\u20ac\u00a3\u00e7\u2019\u00b0\u00e8\u00a8\u02c6: coordinating one stratagem with another
\n\u00e8\u00b5\u00b0\u00e7\u201a\u00ba\u00e4\u00b8\u0160\u00e7\u00ad\u2013: decamping being the best<\/p>\n

For you Chinese readers, explanations with historical context can be obtained here<\/a> and here<\/a>. For business-related application, some good examples<\/a> (also in action in Chinese only).<\/p>\n

via [\u00e4\u00b8\u008d\u00e8\u00be\u00a3\u00e5\u201c\u00a5\u00e7\u0161\u201e BLOG<\/a>]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

“The Art of War“, a military strategy book written by the great military general, Sun Tze, has been re-interpreted to apply its concepts on business and fields other than military. It’s arguably one of the most famous literary exports of China. However, there’s another collection of lesser-known strategies that are equally useful but perhaps easier … Continue reading “Thirty-six Stratagems”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[9,16,4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-281","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-philosophy","category-politics","category-tips-tricks"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p54IqZ-4x","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wiredatom.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/281","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wiredatom.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wiredatom.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wiredatom.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wiredatom.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=281"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.wiredatom.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/281\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wiredatom.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=281"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wiredatom.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=281"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wiredatom.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=281"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}