Addition and Subtraction: The Chinese Martial Arts of Strategy and Manipulation

Author: Wu Jiaxiang
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2006-03-01
Features: "Making Addition" and "Making Subtraction" are now a collective wisdom that Chinese people often recite. This originates from the original creation of the author a decade ago, the sister volume of "Wisdom Arithmetic—Addition and Subtraction Strategy Theory": a brand-new version, more concise, more brilliant, and more popular. Over the past decade, it has been the most popular original strategic and tactical book in mainland China. Ten years ago, when I read "Addition and Subtraction Strategy Theory," it seemed like a hidden weapon, only useful in tactical actions, not suitable for grand occasions. Now, when I look at it, it's like the Ruyi Jingu Bang, versatile in size and function. It can be long enough to support heaven and earth, or short enough to clean one's ear. It can be used for both practice and thinking; it can be used as a tactic or as a strategy. In planning, it can create great enterprises, and in emergencies, it can save lives. Wu Jiaxiang won an award for his book "Wisdom Arithmetic—Addition and Subtraction Strategy Theory," which proposed the addition and subtraction theory and revealed the mysteries of Chinese management thought.
Whether you are a housewife or a senior official, whether you are a soldier or a corporate executive, you definitely know that 1 + 1 = 2 and 1 - 1 = 0. But you may not know that some things in the world become less when added and more when subtracted. You may not know that conquering a kingdom might be due to solving a correct addition or subtraction problem, while ruining a business could be because of not knowing how to do addition or subtraction.
There are two types of addition and subtraction: one is the numerical addition and subtraction of 1 + 1 = 2, which everyone can do; the other is the wisdom addition and subtraction of 1 ≠ 2, which you may not know how to do. It could equal -8, or it could equal 1,000, or even hundreds of thousands.
A prince of the Qin State, Yiren, plus a crown princess, Huayan, equals the entire Qin State becoming a plaything in someone's hands. This was the addition problem done by the great merchant Lü Buwei back then. Once you learn this type of addition and subtraction, you will have mastered the Chinese martial arts of setting traps and gaining advantages.