Thirty-six Stratagems

“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 to understand and apply in real life. They are often called the “Thirty-six Stratagems“. 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.

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.

Here’s the list with rough translations. Wikipedia apparently has the same list with brief explanations as well.

瞞天過海: crossing the sea under camouflage
圍魏救趙: relieving the state of Zhao by besieging the state of Wei
借刀殺人: killing someone with a borrowed knife
以逸待勞: waiting at one’s ease for the exhausted enemy
趁火打劫: plundering a burning house
聲東擊西: making a feint to the east and attacking in the west
無中生有: creating something out of nothing
暗渡陳倉: advancing secretly by an unknown path
隔岸觀火: watching a fire from the other side of the river
笑裡藏刀: covering the dagger with a smile
李代桃僵: palming off substitute for the real thing
順手牽羊: picking up something in passing
打草驚蛇: beating the grass to frighten the snake
借屍還魂: resurrecting a dead soul by borrowing a corpse
調虎離山: luring the tiger out of his den
欲擒故縱: letting the enemy off in order to catch him
拋磚引玉: giving the enemy something to induce him to lose more valuable things
擒賊擒王: capturing the ringleader first in order to capture all the followers
釜底抽薪: extracting the firewood from under the cauldron
混水摸魚: muddling the water to catch the fish
金蟬脫殼: slipping away by casting off a cloak
關門捉賊: catching the thief by closing his escape route
遠交近攻: befriending the enemy while attacking a nearby enemy
假途伐虢: attacking the enemy by passing through a common neighbor
偷樑換柱: stealing the beams and pillars and replacing them with rotten timbers
指桑罵槐: reviling the locust tree while pointing to the mulberry
假痴不顛: feigning madness without becoming insane
上樓抽梯: removing the ladder after the enemy has climbed up the roof
虛張聲勢: putting artificial flowers on trees
反客為主: turning from the guest into host
美人計: using seductive women to corrupt the enemy
空城計: presenting a bold front to conceal unpreparedness
反間計: sowing discord among the enemy
苦肉計: deceiving the enemy by torturing one’s own man
連環計: coordinating one stratagem with another
走為上策: decamping being the best

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

via [不辣哥的 BLOG]