The Thirty-Six Strategies
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The Thirty-Six Strategies By Stefan H. Verstappen Cover Design: S. Verstappen All Illustrations by S. Verstappen Copyright © 2017 by Stefan H. Verstappen All rights reserved Copyright 1999 by Stefan H. Verstappen First Edition Published by China Books, SF 1999 ISBN - 978-1-365-55430-8 Toronto, Canada The Thirty-Six Strategies Table of Contents Introduction ..................................................................................................... 1 Strategy 1 Fool the Emperor to Cross the Sea.............................................. 5 Strategy 2 Besiege Wei to Rescue Zhao....................................................... 11 Strategy 3 Kill With a Borrowed Sword ..................................................... 17 Strategy 4 Await the Exhausted Enemy at Your Ease ............................... 21 Strategy 5 Loot a Burning House ................................................................ 25 Strategy 6 Clamor in the East, Attack in the West .................................... 29 Strategy 7 Create Something from Nothing ............................................... 33 Strategy 8 Openly Repair the Walkway, Secretly March to Chencang ... 37 Strategy 9 Observe the Fire on the Opposite Shore ................................... 43 Strategy 10 Hide Your Dagger Behind A Smile ......................................... 47 Strategy 11 Sacrifice the Plum Tree in Place of the Peach ........................ 51 Strategy 12 Seize the Opportunity to Lead a Sheep Away ........................ 55 Strategy 13 Beat the Grass to Startle the Snake ......................................... 61 Strategy 14 Borrow a Corpse to Raise the Spirit ....................................... 65 Strategy 15 Lure the Tiger Down the Mountain ........................................ 71 Strategy 16 To Catch Something, First Let It Go ...................................... 75 Strategy 17 Toss Out A Brick To Attract Jade .......................................... 79 Strategy 18 To Catch The Bandits First Capture Their Leader ............... 83 Strategy 19 Steal the Firewood From Under the Pot ................................. 89 Strategy 20 Trouble the Water to Catch the Fish ...................................... 95 Strategy 21 Shed Your Skin Like The Golden Cicada ...............................99 Strategy 22 Shut the Door to Catch the Thief ...........................................105 Strategy 23 Befriend A Distant Enemy To Attack One Nearby ..............109 Strategy 24 Borrow The Road To Conquer Guo ......................................113 Strategy 25 Replace The Beams With Rotten Timbers ............................117 Strategy 26 Point At The Mulberry But Curse The Locust Tree ............123 Strategy 27 Feign Madness, But Keep Your Balance ...............................129 Strategy 28 Lure Your Enemy Onto The Roof, Then Take Away The Ladder...........................................................................................................135 Strategy 29 Tie Silk Blossoms To The Dead Tree .....................................141 Strategy 30 Exchange The Role Of Guest For That Of Host ...................147 Strategy 31 The Strategy Of Beautiful Women .........................................155 Strategy 32 The Strategy Of Open City Gates ..........................................161 Strategy 33 The Strategy Of Sowing Discord ............................................165 Strategy 34 The Strategy Of Injuring Yourself .........................................171 Strategy 35 The Strategy Of Combining Tactics ......................................175 Strategy 36 If All Else Fails, Retreat ..........................................................181 Chronological Tables ...................................................................................185 Bibliography .................................................................................................187 Index .............................................................................................................195 About the Author ......................................................................................199 Introduction Introduction The Thirty-Six Strategies is a unique collection of ancient Chinese proverbs that describe some of the most cunning and subtle war tactics ever devised. Whereas other Chinese military texts such as Sun Zi's The Art Of War focus on military organization, leadership, and battlefield tactics, the Thirty-Six Strategies are more suitably applied in the fields of politics, diplomacy, and espionage. These proverbs describe not only battlefield strategies, but tactics used in psychological warfare to undermine both the enemy's will to fight and his sanity. Tactics such as the 'double cross,' the 'frame job,' and the 'bait and switch,' can be traced back through thousands of years of Chinese history to such proverbs as Hide the Dagger Behind a Smile, Kill With a Borrowed Sword, and Toss Out a Brick to Attract Jade, respectively. Though other Chinese military works of strategy have at least paid lip service to the Confucian notion of honor, the Thirty-Six Strategies make no pretense of being anything but ruthless. For the Western reader the Thirty-Six Strategies offers timeless insights into the workings of human nature under conditions of extreme stress. 1 The Thirty-Six Strategies of Ancient China - S. H. Verstappen Many of the proverbs are based on events that occurred during China's Warring States Period (403-221 B.C.). This was a time so infamous that a later emperor banned history books of that era on the grounds that they contained accounts of such a devious nature, they would morally corrupt all who read them. Many of those accounts are presented here along with the exploits of some of the Orient's greatest generals, kings, emperors, and shoguns. Over 118 anecdotes are included to both explain and offer examples of each strategy's application. By learning from the old masters of the art of deception, one is better able to spot the modern pretenders, for, though the players come and go, the game remains the same. History of the Thirty-Six Strategies The origin of the Thirty-Six Strategies are unknown. No author or compiler has ever been mentioned, and no date as to when it may have been written has been ascertained. The first historical mention of the Thirty-Six Strategies dates back to the Southern Qi dynasty (A.D. 489-537) where it is mentioned in the Nan Qi Shi (History of the Southern Chi Dynasty). It briefly records, "Of the 36 stratagems of Master Tan, running away is the best." Master Tan may be the famous General Tan Daoji (d. A.D. 436), but there is no evidence to either prove or disprove his authorship. While this is the first recorded mention of Thirty-Six Strategies, some of the proverbs themselves are based on events that occurred up to seven hundred years earlier. For example, the strategy Openly Repair the Walkway, Secretly March to Chencang is based on a tactic allegedly used by the founder of the Han dynasty, Gaozu, to escape from Sichuan in 223 B.C. The strategy Besiege Wei to Rescue Zhao is named after an incident that took place even earlier, in 352 B.C., and is attributed to the famous strategist Sun Bin. All modern versions of the Thirty-Six Strategies are derived from a tattered book discovered at a roadside vendor's stall in Sichuan in 1941. 2 Introduction It turned out to be a reprint of an earlier book dating back to the late Ming or early Qing dynasty entitled, The Secret Art Of War, The Thirty-Six Strategies. There was no mention of who the authors or compilers were or when it was originally published. A reprint was first published for the public in Beijing in 1979. Since then several Chinese and English language versions have been published in China, Hong Kong, and Taiwan. Without any other information, current speculations about the origin of the Thirty-Six Strategies suggest that there was no single author. More likely, the book derived from a collection of idiomatic expressions taken from popular Chinese folklore, history, and myths. They may have first been recorded by General Tan and handed down verbally or in manuscript form for centuries. It is believed that sometime in the early Qing dynasty some enterprising editor collected them and published them in the form that comes down to us today. Notes on the Text The original text of The Secret Art of War, The Thirty-Six Strategies is rather short, comprising only 138 Chinese characters. It merely names each strategy followed by a brief explanation. The book was divided into six categories of six strategies each. The six categories are said to correspond to six situations as follows: Stratagems when in a superior position; Stratagems for confrontation; Stratagems for attack; Stratagems for confused situations; Stratagems for gaining ground; and Stratagems for desperate situations. This division is based on the hexagrams of the I-Ching (a hexagram being a grouping of six broken or unbroken lines). In addition, the explanation of each strategy is likewise said to be based on the interpretation of each hexagram as found in the I-Ching. Initially all this seemed to imply an almost scientific approach, but on closer examination I found the structure flawed. My guess is that elements of I-Ching numerology were added at some time merely to create an aura of mystery and antiquity (not an uncommon practice among publishers during the Ming and Qing dynasties). Since the six subtitles did little to improve understanding, I did not use them