Thirty-Six Stratagems

The Thirty-Six Stratagems is a Chinese essay used to illustrate a series of stratagems used in politics, war, and civil interaction.

Its focus on the use of cunning and deception both on the battlefield and in court have drawn comparisons to Sun Tzu's The Art of War. Zhang Yingyu's The Book of Swindles, a late-Ming dynasty work that focuses on the realms of commerce and civil society, shares some thematic similarities.^[1]

The name of the collection comes from the Book of Qi's seventh biographical volume, Biography of Wang Jingze (王敬則傳).^[2] Wáng was a general who had served Southern Qi since the first Emperor Gao of the dynasty. When Emperor Ming came to power and executed many members of the court and royal family for fear that they would threaten his reign, Wang believed that he would be targeted next and rebelled. As Wang received news that Xiao Baojuan, son and crown prince of Emperor Ming, had escaped in haste after learning of the rebellion, he commented that "of the thirty-six stratagems of Lord Tán, retreat was his best, you father and son should run for sure."^[3] "Lord Tán" refers to general Tan Daoji of the Liu Song dynasty, who was forced to retreat after his failed attack on Northern Wei, and Wang mentioned his name in contempt as an example of cowardice.^[4]

The number thirty-six was used by Wang as a figure of speech in this context, and is meant to denote "numerous stratagems" instead of any specific number. Wang's choice of this term came from the I Ching, where six is the number of yin that shared many characteristics with the dark schemes involved in military strategy. As thirty-six is the square of six, it therefore acted as a metaphor for "numerous strategies".^[4] Since Wang did not refer to any thirty-six specific stratagems, the thirty-six proverbs and their connection to military strategies and tactics are likely to have been created after the fact, with only the collection's name being attributed to Wang.^[5]

The prevailing view is that contents of the Thirty-Six Stratagems originated in both written and oral history. Some stratagems reference occurrences in the time of Sun Bin, approximately 150 years after Sun Tzu's death.^[5] The original hand-copied paperback was believed to have been discovered in China's Shaanxi province, of an unknown date and author, and put into print by a local publisher in 1941. The Thirty-Six Stratagems came to the public's attention after a review of it was published in the Chinese Communist Party's Guangming Daily newspaper on September 16, 1961. It was subsequently reprinted and distributed with growing popularity.^[5]

The Thirty-Six Stratagems are divided into a preface, six chapters containing six stratagems each, and an incomplete afterword that was missing text. The first three chapters generally describe tactics for use in advantageous situations, while the last three chapters contain stratagems that are more suitable for disadvantageous situations. The original text of the Thirty-Six Stratagems has a laconic style that is common to Classical Chinese. Each proverb is accompanied by a short comment, no longer than a sentence or two, that explains how said proverb is applicable to military tactics. These 36 Chinese proverbs are related to 36 battle scenarios in Chinese history and folklore, predominantly of the Warring States period and the Three Kingdoms period.

• The Art of War
• The Book of Five Rings
• On War
• Psychological warfare

• The 36 Secret Strategies of the Martial Arts: The Classic Chinese Guide for Success in War, Business and Life by Hiroshi Moriya, William Scott Wilson
• The Book of Stratagems by Harro von Senger. ISBN 0140169547
• The 36 Stratagems for Business: Achieve Your Objectives Through Hidden and Unconventional Strategies and Tactics by Harro von Senger. ISBN 9781904879466
• Greatness in Simplicity: The 36 Stratagems and Chinese Enterprises, Strategic Thinking by Cungen GE. ISBN 7802076420

• Original text of Thirty-Six Stratagems (Simplified Chinese) With comments and explanations to the preface, six chapters, and afterword
• English and French translation of the Thirty-Six Stratagems
• English introduction to the Stratagems with translation of each accompanied by examples taken from Chinese and Japanese history]
• The 36 Stratagems compendium (German)
• Binh phap ton tu va 36 ke (Vietnamese)
• "An Electronic Art of War in 36 Stratagems" (French/English)
• The Thirty-Six Stratagems (Classic Chinese war theories, 800–300 BC) (English)