36 Stratagems
三十六计
A collection of 36 ancient Chinese strategies for warfare, politics, and negotiation — compiled during the Ming Dynasty but rooted in thousands of years of military history. Each stratagem is a pattern of thinking that still works today.
Primary Focus
A readable way into Chinese strategy
Use this page to enter through an overview, a few high-signal stratagems, or the full bilingual reference list.
Current Scope
35 stratagems live
Built as a practical strategy library with plain-English explanations, original Chinese text, and modern application paths.
Reading Modes
Overview, key stratagems, or bilingual reference
You do not need to read all 36 in order. Choose the mode that matches whether you want context, tactics, or reference.
Use one of these three starting points
Most readers do better with one clear opening than with 36 equal choices. Start with the route that matches your intent.
Start with the overview question
Use the main explainer first if you want the overall system before reading individual stratagems.
Open Classic firstRead Stratagem 1
Start with the clearest and most famous example of hiding in plain sight.
Open Most practicalRead Stratagem 2
Start here if you want the strongest example of indirect action and strategic redirection.
OpenChoose the route that fits how you think
Some readers want the system first, some want modern application first, and some want a philosophical counterweight before diving deeper.
What Are the 36 Stratagems?
Best first stop if you want the whole collection explained as a system before reading individual tactics.
Open Modern useHow to Apply the 36 Stratagems
Best route if you care most about business, negotiation, pressure, and modern use cases.
Open CounterweightTaoism for Leadership
Use this as the balancing page if you want strategy without slipping into shallow manipulation or constant force.
OpenStart Here
Beginner · core strategic patternsGoing Deeper
Intermediate · positioning and indirect actionStratagem 1: Deceive the Heavens
The first stratagem is about concealment through normality. When an action looks routine, expected, or harmless, it can pass through resistance that would stop an obvious move.
Stratagem 2: Besiege Wei to Rescue Zhao
When the enemy is too strong to confront directly, strike at their vulnerable point. Attacking where they are not defending creates opportunity where direct confrontation would fail.
Stratagem 3: Kill with a Borrowed Knife
This stratagem is about indirect force. Instead of striking with your own hand, align another actor's motives, pressure, or resources so their movement accomplishes your aim.
Stratagem 4: Wait at Leisure While the Enemy Labors
This stratagem is about energetic asymmetry. If the other side must travel, scramble, and strain while you remain settled, the battle is already tilting before the clash begins.
Stratagem 5: Loot a Burning House
This stratagem works by attacking when the opponent is already weakened by internal crisis, divided attention, or emergency. The fire does part of the work for you.
Stratagem 8: Openly Repair the Walkway, Secretly March to Chencang
This stratagem divides the enemy's attention by making one route visible and another decisive. The overt preparation becomes cover for the hidden advance.
Stratagem 11: Sacrifice the Plum Tree to Preserve the Peach Tree
This stratagem is about ranked sacrifice. When the whole cannot be saved, choose consciously what can be lost so that what matters more can survive.
Stratagem 13: Beat the Grass to Startle the Snake
This stratagem is a test of hidden structure. Create a limited disturbance, then watch what moves. The goal is not noise itself but revelation.
Stratagem 15: Lure the Tiger from the Mountain
This stratagem is about positional displacement. A strong opponent is weakest when separated from the ground, systems, and rhythms that make them formidable.
Stratagem 16: To Catch Something, First Let It Go
This stratagem uses deliberate release. Tight pursuit keeps the target alert; selective looseness can produce relaxation, overextension, or exhaustion.
Stratagem 17: Throw a Brick to Attract Jade
This stratagem is about calibrated offering. You present something of lower value in order to provoke a more valuable response, reveal information, or invite a larger exchange.
Stratagem 18: Capture the Ringleader to Catch the Gang
This stratagem focuses on command structure. Instead of dissipating effort across the whole field, strike the node that gives the whole field coherence.
Stratagem 20: Fish in Troubled Waters
This stratagem is about operating in confusion better than the other side. When the field becomes muddy, the prepared actor can seize advantage while others lose the ability to read clearly.
Stratagem 21: Shed the Cicada's Golden Shell
This stratagem works through substitution of presence. You leave behind enough appearance to hold attention while your real movement has already gone elsewhere.
Stratagem 22: Shut the Door to Catch the Thief
Rather than chasing a dispersed threat across open ground, contain it in a closed space and finish the problem there. The power of this stratagem is concentration, not theatrical trapping.
Stratagem 26: Point at the Mulberry, Curse the Locust
This stratagem uses indirection. You address one person, object, or case outwardly while the real audience understands the rebuke, threat, or instruction is meant for them.
Stratagem 29: Adorn the Tree with False Blossoms
This stratagem is about decorative enhancement: adding display, symbolism, or visible attraction to make a position appear stronger, richer, or more desirable than it really is.
Stratagem 31: The Beautiful Woman Stratagem
This stratagem uses attraction, desire, or emotional fascination to cloud judgment. When key decision-makers become captivated, they neglect priorities, reveal weakness, and misallocate attention.
Stratagem 36: Retreat Is the Best Option
The final stratagem states a hard truth: when victory is no longer realistic, withdrawal is superior to useless destruction. Preservation is itself a strategic achievement.
Advanced
Advanced · complex pressure and layered tacticsStratagem 7: Create Something from Nothing
This stratagem works by producing a convincing appearance where little or nothing yet exists. What matters is not fantasy by itself but the enemy's reaction to the new appearance.
Stratagem 9: Watch the Fire from the Opposite Shore
When your opponent is already in disorder or conflict, do not rush in too early. Stand back, watch the fire from the far bank, and move only after the situation has matured in your favor.
Stratagem 10: Hide a Dagger Behind a Smile
This stratagem works through emotional disarmament. Outward friendliness lowers suspicion while hidden preparation continues underneath.
Stratagem 14: Borrow a Corpse to Return the Soul
This stratagem reuses abandoned forms, names, systems, or symbols by giving them fresh strategic life. The body is old, but the animating intention is new.
Stratagem 19: Remove the Firewood from Beneath the Cauldron
This stratagem shifts attention from symptoms to fuel. Instead of fighting the boiling surface, remove the hidden support that keeps it boiling.
Stratagem 23: Befriend the Distant, Attack the Near
This stratagem is about geographic priority. Neutralize or befriend distant powers so you do not fight on too many fronts, then direct concentrated effort toward the nearest danger.
Stratagem 24: Borrow a Route to Attack Guo
This stratagem is about borrowed access. Gain passage, entry, or permission under one rationale, then use that access to strike where you really intended all along.
Stratagem 25: Replace the Beams and Pillars
This stratagem weakens a system from within by quietly substituting key supports. The visible form remains, but the underlying strength has already changed.
Stratagem 27: Pretend Foolishness, Not Madness
This stratagem uses controlled foolishness as cover. By appearing slow, harmless, or unserious, you discourage scrutiny while preserving your actual intention and capacity.
Stratagem 28: Lure Them Onto the Roof
This stratagem is about manufactured commitment. Get the other side to invest in a position they think benefits them, then remove their easy way back.
Stratagem 30: Turn the Guest into the Host
This stratagem is about role reversal. Enter as the guest, minor player, or secondary actor, then gradually take over initiative until you are effectively setting the terms.
Stratagem 32: The Empty Fortress Stratagem
This stratagem weaponizes expectation. When you are weak, you display such improbable calm that the enemy suspects an unseen ambush and hesitates.
Stratagem 33: Counter-Espionage
This stratagem works by feeding falsehood, suspicion, or misdirection into the enemy's own intelligence system. Instead of merely blocking their eyes, you make them see what harms them.
Stratagem 34: Inflict Injury on Yourself
Sometimes a deception is only convincing if you are willing to pay a real price for it. Visible self-injury or sacrifice can make the enemy believe what they would otherwise doubt.
Stratagem 35: The Chain Stratagem
This stratagem uses linked operations rather than a single blow. The opponent becomes trapped not by one attack but by the accumulating consequences of several coordinated moves.
Scan all 36 stratagems in Chinese and English
Use this table when you want to compare the original Chinese with the English rendering before opening a full explanation.
三十六计 · 中英文对照
Chinese · English对照
Click to expand bilingual reference
35 chapters
The first stratagem is about concealment through normality. When an action looks routine, expected, or harmless, it can pass through resistance that would stop an obvious move.
Stratagem 1: Deceive the Heavens →
When the enemy is too strong to confront directly, strike at their vulnerable point. Attacking where they are not defending creates opportunity where direct confrontation would fail.
Stratagem 2: Besiege Wei to Rescue Zhao →
This stratagem is about indirect force. Instead of striking with your own hand, align another actor's motives, pressure, or resources so their movement accomplishes your aim.
Stratagem 3: Kill with a Borrowed Knife →
This stratagem is about energetic asymmetry. If the other side must travel, scramble, and strain while you remain settled, the battle is already tilting before the clash begins.
Stratagem 4: Wait at Leisure While the Enemy Labors →
This stratagem works by attacking when the opponent is already weakened by internal crisis, divided attention, or emergency. The fire does part of the work for you.
Stratagem 5: Loot a Burning House →
This stratagem works by producing a convincing appearance where little or nothing yet exists. What matters is not fantasy by itself but the enemy's reaction to the new appearance.
Stratagem 7: Create Something from Nothing →
This stratagem divides the enemy's attention by making one route visible and another decisive. The overt preparation becomes cover for the hidden advance.
Stratagem 8: Openly Repair the Walkway, Secretly March to Chencang →
When your opponent is already in disorder or conflict, do not rush in too early. Stand back, watch the fire from the far bank, and move only after the situation has matured in your favor.
Stratagem 9: Watch the Fire from the Opposite Shore →
This stratagem works through emotional disarmament. Outward friendliness lowers suspicion while hidden preparation continues underneath.
Stratagem 10: Hide a Dagger Behind a Smile →
This stratagem is about ranked sacrifice. When the whole cannot be saved, choose consciously what can be lost so that what matters more can survive.
Stratagem 11: Sacrifice the Plum Tree to Preserve the Peach Tree →
This stratagem is about opportunism without distraction. While moving toward a larger objective, seize nearby gains that can be taken cheaply and without breaking your main direction.
Stratagem 12: Take the Opportunity to Pilfer a Goat →
This stratagem is a test of hidden structure. Create a limited disturbance, then watch what moves. The goal is not noise itself but revelation.
Stratagem 13: Beat the Grass to Startle the Snake →
This stratagem reuses abandoned forms, names, systems, or symbols by giving them fresh strategic life. The body is old, but the animating intention is new.
Stratagem 14: Borrow a Corpse to Return the Soul →
This stratagem is about positional displacement. A strong opponent is weakest when separated from the ground, systems, and rhythms that make them formidable.
Stratagem 15: Lure the Tiger from the Mountain →
This stratagem uses deliberate release. Tight pursuit keeps the target alert; selective looseness can produce relaxation, overextension, or exhaustion.
Stratagem 16: To Catch Something, First Let It Go →
This stratagem is about calibrated offering. You present something of lower value in order to provoke a more valuable response, reveal information, or invite a larger exchange.
Stratagem 17: Throw a Brick to Attract Jade →
This stratagem focuses on command structure. Instead of dissipating effort across the whole field, strike the node that gives the whole field coherence.
Stratagem 18: Capture the Ringleader to Catch the Gang →
This stratagem shifts attention from symptoms to fuel. Instead of fighting the boiling surface, remove the hidden support that keeps it boiling.
Stratagem 19: Remove the Firewood from Beneath the Cauldron →
This stratagem is about operating in confusion better than the other side. When the field becomes muddy, the prepared actor can seize advantage while others lose the ability to read clearly.
Stratagem 20: Fish in Troubled Waters →
This stratagem works through substitution of presence. You leave behind enough appearance to hold attention while your real movement has already gone elsewhere.
Stratagem 21: Shed the Cicada's Golden Shell →
Rather than chasing a dispersed threat across open ground, contain it in a closed space and finish the problem there. The power of this stratagem is concentration, not theatrical trapping.
Stratagem 22: Shut the Door to Catch the Thief →
This stratagem is about geographic priority. Neutralize or befriend distant powers so you do not fight on too many fronts, then direct concentrated effort toward the nearest danger.
Stratagem 23: Befriend the Distant, Attack the Near →
This stratagem is about borrowed access. Gain passage, entry, or permission under one rationale, then use that access to strike where you really intended all along.
Stratagem 24: Borrow a Route to Attack Guo →
This stratagem weakens a system from within by quietly substituting key supports. The visible form remains, but the underlying strength has already changed.
Stratagem 25: Replace the Beams and Pillars →
This stratagem uses indirection. You address one person, object, or case outwardly while the real audience understands the rebuke, threat, or instruction is meant for them.
Stratagem 26: Point at the Mulberry, Curse the Locust →
This stratagem uses controlled foolishness as cover. By appearing slow, harmless, or unserious, you discourage scrutiny while preserving your actual intention and capacity.
Stratagem 27: Pretend Foolishness, Not Madness →
This stratagem is about manufactured commitment. Get the other side to invest in a position they think benefits them, then remove their easy way back.
Stratagem 28: Lure Them Onto the Roof →
This stratagem is about decorative enhancement: adding display, symbolism, or visible attraction to make a position appear stronger, richer, or more desirable than it really is.
Stratagem 29: Adorn the Tree with False Blossoms →
This stratagem is about role reversal. Enter as the guest, minor player, or secondary actor, then gradually take over initiative until you are effectively setting the terms.
Stratagem 30: Turn the Guest into the Host →
This stratagem uses attraction, desire, or emotional fascination to cloud judgment. When key decision-makers become captivated, they neglect priorities, reveal weakness, and misallocate attention.
Stratagem 31: The Beautiful Woman Stratagem →
This stratagem weaponizes expectation. When you are weak, you display such improbable calm that the enemy suspects an unseen ambush and hesitates.
Stratagem 32: The Empty Fortress Stratagem →
This stratagem works by feeding falsehood, suspicion, or misdirection into the enemy's own intelligence system. Instead of merely blocking their eyes, you make them see what harms them.
Stratagem 33: Counter-Espionage →
Sometimes a deception is only convincing if you are willing to pay a real price for it. Visible self-injury or sacrifice can make the enemy believe what they would otherwise doubt.
Stratagem 34: Inflict Injury on Yourself →
This stratagem uses linked operations rather than a single blow. The opponent becomes trapped not by one attack but by the accumulating consequences of several coordinated moves.
Stratagem 35: The Chain Stratagem →
The final stratagem states a hard truth: when victory is no longer realistic, withdrawal is superior to useless destruction. Preservation is itself a strategic achievement.
Stratagem 36: Retreat Is the Best Option →
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