By: Wee Chow Hou and Lan Luh Luh
Without doubt, China is becoming a stronger economic power by the day. The Asian economic crisis which precipicated in 1997 clearly demonstrated the increasing influence of the Chinese on world economy and politics.
That China will emerge as a powerful economy in the twenty-first century is no longer a question for forecasters. It is now a reality. Thus, it is imperative that we learn to better understand the Chinese psyche, especially in the realm of business.
Well-known Chinese classics have often been cited as important driving forces in the minds of Chinese strategists. Sun Zi’z Art of War, the Annals of the Three Kingdoms, Water Margin, and several other Chinese military classics are good examples. Indeed Chinese war strategies have become topics of research, especially in their application to business. This is not surprising, considering the fact that the Chinese have a saying that the business world is like a battlefield.
The “Thirty-six Strategies” are well-known to the Chines and are frequently applied in business practices. No one can pinpoint the exact period in which the thirty-six strategies were written, nor the exact combinations of strategies that constitute the thirty-six. However, through the years, scholars have expediently adopted the thirty-six strategies as a set of common tactics used by the Chinese.
The “Thirty-six Strategies” are devided by six parts. They are:
First, Advantagies Strategies
Strategy 1 : “Deceiving the heavens to cross the sea”
(Man tian guo hai)
Strategy 2 : “Besieging Wei to save Zhao”
(Wei wei jiu zhao)
Strategy 3 : “Killing with a borrowed knife”
(Jie dao sha ren)
Strategy 4 : “Conserving energy while the enemy tires himself out”
(Yi yi dai lao)
Strategy 5 : “Looting a house on fire”
(Chen huo da jie)
Strategy 6 : “Making a feint to the east but hitting out in the west”
(Sheng dong ji xi)
Second, Opportunistic Strategies
Strategy 7 : “Creating something out of nothing”
(Wu zhong sheng you)
Strategy 8 : “Secret escape through Chen Cang”
(An du chen cang)
Strategy 9 : “Observing the fire from the other side of the river”
(Ge an guan huo)
Strategy 10 : “A dagger sheated in a smile”
(Xiao li cang dao)
Strategy 11 : “The plum dies in place of the peach”
(Li dai tao jiang)
Strategy 12 : “Stealing a goat along the way”
(Shun shou qian yang)
Third, Offensive Strategies
Strategy 13 : “Hitting the grass to startle the snake”
(Da cao jing she)
Strategy 14 : “Borrowing a corpse to resurrect a soul”
(Jie shi huan hun)
Strategy 15 : “Luring a tiger from its lair in the mountain”
(Diao hu li shan)
Strategy 16 : “Releasing the enemy to recapture him later ”
(Yu qin gu zong)
Strategy 17 : “Tossing out a brick to get a jade”
(Pao zhuan yin yu)
Strategy 18 : “Disband the bandits by arresting their leader”
(Qin zei qin wang)
Fourth, Confusion Strategies
Strategy 19 : “Pulling out the firewood from beneath the cauldron”
(Fu di chou xin)
Strategy 20 : “Catching a fish in troubled water”
(Hun shui mo yu)
Strategy 21 : “Making an unnoticed escape like a golden cicada shedding its skin”
(Jin chan tuo ke)
Strategy 22 : “Shutting the doors to catch the thief”
(Guan men zhuo zei)
Strategy 23 : “Befriend the far and attack the near”
(Yuan jiao jin di)
Strategy 24 : “Borrow a passage to attack Guo”
(Jia tu fa Guo)
Fifth, Deception Strategies
Strategy 25 : “Replace superior beams and pillars with inferior ones”
(Tou liang huan zhu)
Strategy 26 : “Pointing at the mulberry but scolding the locust tree”
(Zhi sang ma huai)
Strategy 27 : “Pretending to be insane but remaining smart”
(Jia chi bu dian )
Strategy 28 : “Remove the ladder after the enemy ascends to the roof”
(Shang wu chou ti)
Strategy 29 : “Deck the tree with flowers”
(Shu shang kai hua)
Strategy 30 : “The guest takes over as host”
(Fan ke wei zhu)
Sixth, Desperate Strategies
Strategy 31 : “Beauty scheme”
(Mei ren ji)
Strategy 32 : “Empty city scheme”
(Kong cheng ji)
Strategy 33 : “Double agent ploy”
(Fan jian ji)
Strategy 34 : “Self-injury scheme”
(Ku rou ji)
Strategy 35 : “A series of interconnected ploys”
(Lian huan ji)
Strategy 36 : “Escape – the best scheme”
(Zou wei shang)
In the research room
Pk 23.47
Thursday, December 15, 2005
