36 Stratagems Comic
Learn about Chinese culture in 36 Strategems fun comic, which interprets a collection of military tactics accumulated over 3000 years of Chinese history.
Number of Lessons: 36 lessons
Suggested Study Time: Open hours
You should already know: No requirements
Using tactics to accomplish one’s goal by shrouding the truth, under false pretenses, in what appears to be normal circumstances. In this idiom, the character 天 means “ heaven, celestial, god” and 瞒天 means “cheating or deceiving a reverential being”. The literal translation of the combined characters is, “to cross over by deceiving a person of reverence.”
Attacking an enemy’s weakest spot to achieve a surprising victory. "Besieging Wei" refers to the means used to attack an opponent, and "Relieving Zhao" is the end result of such a method.
Utilizing external resources for one’s own benefit.
This stratagem means preserving one’s energy while the enemy exhausts himself. The idea is to have your troops well-prepared for battle, in the same time that the enemy is rushing to fight against you. This will give your troops a huge advantage in the upcoming battle, of which you will get to select the time and place.
The phrase "plundering a burning house" is derived from the 16th chapter of one of the four great classical novels of Chinese literature, Journey to the West. It simply means "benefiting from a struggling enemy."
"Clamor in the east, attack in the west" means to create a feint to get the enemy to focus his forces somewhere else, and then attack a spot that will be feebly defended.
There are some cheating strategies used on the battlefield defensively and offensively to accomplish goals. "Create something from nothing" is one of the deceptive tactics used to bait and confuse the enemy. It can be in the form of a lie, an illusion or even an impression.
This phrase is a two-part strategy. The first part is to initiate a direct attack for which the enemy will be prepared to defend. The second part is an unsuspected circuitous move that leaves the enemy confused, leading to his defeat.
“When the snipe and the clam grapple, the fisherman profits.” This tale best describes the idiom, “watching a fire from the other side of the river.” It means to defer entering a battlefield until all parties involved become exhausted fighting each other. Then enter full force and take over; the win would be effortless because minimal strength was required.
"Hide a dragger in a smile" means have murderous intent behind one's smiles. First to fawn over and enchant your enemy. Once you have gained your enemy's trust, secretly attack your enemy in the back.
“Sacrifice the plum for the peach” originated from an ancient poem. This poem narrates the story of a peach tree and a plum tree that germinated from the same root. The root, however, was invaded by noxious insects and both trees died off. The plum tree was the first to tumble, thereby giving life to the peach tree. The moral of the story is that it pays to sacrifice a short-term goal to achieve a long-term objective. In essence, someone bears the consequences so that the rest are set free.
"Lead away a goat in passing" means to exploit any slight negligence made by the enemy, however small, and use it to your benefit.
This stratagem aims to beat the grass to lure out the snake in hiding in order to destroy it or defend oneself. It is applied in war to tempt the enemy to emerge from the dark and expose his identity and strategy through a test of his responses and behavior.
This strategy means raising a corpse from the dead by using magical powers. It is often applied to the changes of an empire in history. Reviving a corpse from the past by using it for a certain purpose by using new ways mixed with old. In order to destroy a powerful empire or army this is needed.
Tiger is the king of mountains. If you want to beat it, you’d better lure it to the open plain. Because tigers are not good at running, when they come to the plains they would be defeated by a group of dogs. This strategy means luring the tiger out of his den. When applied at war, it means lure the enemy to the unfavorable environment, then attack!
There is no need to attack the enemy directly, only if you want to destroy them completely. Because the beast will do something desperate which may hurt us. You can let them go deliberately so that the enemy will relax, and their weakness will be exposed. You could eliminate them all in the next war.
Give your enemies some benefits to induce them to lose their judgments and then lose more. In this strategy, 砖(Brick) means small benefits to induce the enemies, 玉 (jade) means the last victory. In general terms it refers to trade small benefits for the last victory.
There is a saying “defeat the rider by shooting the horse, defeat the enemy by capturing their chief”. If the enemy's army is strong but is allied to the commander only by money or threats, then take aim at the leader. If the commander falls the rest of the army will disperse or come over to your side.
The meaning of the strategy is that if you want to cool the water which is on the fire, drawing off the bottom of the firewood is better than drawing off the hot water to cool. Because the firewood is the source of the fire, it is also the object which most easily touched. Boiled water and flame are both dangerous as the power of the enemy is not easy to touch, only the fight against the weaknesses of the enemy can crush out their arrogant flame.
The original meaning of this stratagem is fishermen muddy the water when he is fishing in order to frighten the fish, and then he can take advantage of this to cast the net. Some fish will lose their sense of direction and swim into the net. In the case of military strategy, one can create confusion and then use this confusion to further your own goals. Find a way to confuse the enemy in the battle, and then take advantage of this opportunity to destroy them.
Sometimes you can see shells which are left by cicada after exuviation in the summer night. Although they look like a living cicada in the distance but in fact, it is no longer useful. In military terms, one can often confuse the enemy by taking on a false appearance, in order to retreat completely. This is the stratagem, "slough off the cicada's golden shell."
"Shut the door to catch the thief" is to surround an enemy to isolate his surroundings and limit his movement for only then would it be easy to capture him. If you have the chance to completely capture the enemy then you should do so thereby bringing the battle to a quick and decisive conclusion. To allow your enemy to escape plants the seeds for future conflict. If the enemy escapes, it will definitely regroup, sowing future conflicts. That is why there can be no mess-up when catching the enemy. This strategy serves the final victory with other trapping strategies like "entice the tiger to leave its mountain lair" and "clamour in the east, attack in the west".
It is common that nations who border each other become enemies while nations separated by distance and obstacles make better allies. When you are the strongest in one field, your greatest threat is from the second strongest in your field, not the strongest from another field.
If there is a small state between two larger states, it would definitely become the place where the two larger states cross in order to do battle. With the excuse of protecting it and inducement of treasure, one of the larger states will receive the trust of the smaller state. As a result of this, the larger state will take advantage of the smaller state to attack the other large state. Then, after their victory, they will be able to conquer the smaller state easily on their way back through. “虢” is a state in the Spring and Autumn Period of China. “假途” means borrow the road.
Replace the enemy's strength with weakness. One way of making for the enemy's weak points is to give the enemy weaknesses that he does not recognize. Infiltration of your own picked personnel to take key roles in the enemy's forces is one way of following this stratagem. But it is less costly and less risky to cause the opponent to switch out his own best people. This stratagem is “replace the beams with rotten timbers.”
To discipline, control, or warn others whose status or position excludes them from direct confrontation; use analogy and innuendo. This stratagem is often used for warning soldiers by generals. When someone broke the discipline, the general often chose one or two to punish, in order to threaten others.
Pretending as not to care about things and not knowing how to sort things out or malingering and pretending to be insane. All these methods can be used to deceive the enemy to lower their guard, and then waiting for an opportunity to counter-attack.
Being disguised in a weak position, so that the enemy was self-satisfied with their strong position and relaxed vigilance. Then lure the enemy in deep and lead the enemy to the situation of your own design. Make the enemy have no way to back on to and annihilate them. This is the stratagem of 'remove the ladder when the enemy has ascended to the roof.' The simple explanation is, to trap people on the roof, then remove the ladder so that the people could not leave from the roof. This means that the enemy will be completely under your control.
Tying silk blossoms on a dead tree gives the illusion that the tree is healthy. Through the use of artificiality and disguise it will make something of no value appear valuable; of no threat to appear dangerous; of no use to appear useful.
Usurping leadership in a situation where you are normally the subordinate and infiltrate your target. Initially, pretend to be a guest to be accepted, even though you are a guest, you exercise enough influence on the host so that you are making key decisions to put the host under your control, developing from inside and become the owner later.
Comments
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Aleen Thomer
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Aleen Thomer
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Lenjerie Dama
wow so many Chinese fun comic can it can be converted in other languages?
The six sections of six stratagems each presents the Chinese original w/pinyin at the heading of each cleverly illustrated chapter.
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Thanks & Regards,
The six sections and stratagems each presents the Chinese original w/pinyin at the caption of each ingeniously illustrate chapter. The focus of this 300-year old text is on the use of dishonesty, stratagem or hidden tactics to achieve military objectives.
Excellent topic, always interesting to read suggestions, comments that are relevant to the topic, thanks for all the input.
Thanks & Regards,
Wang Xuanming's pioneering work in illustrating the 36 Stratagems in comic form breathes life into these Chinese military strategies perfected through a few thousand years of battlefield tactics, political intrigue, ingenuity and human folly. The six sections of six stratagems each presents the Chinese original w/pinyin at the heading of each cleverly illustrated chapter. The focus of this 300-year old text is on the use of deception, subterfuge or hidden tactics to achieve military objectives. Examples of the use of these stratagems are marvellously explored through characters who exhibit ingenuity, bravery, and even calculated brutality in warfare.
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ni hao
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Thanks & Regards,
ni hao!
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ni hao!
您好！