36 Stratagems (Illustrated Version)

Author: Ji Jianghong, Editor-in-Chief
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2003-10-01
Features: A brand-new perspective, a brand-new level, presenting the Complete Collection of Chinese Wisdom from all angles. Over 300,000 words, more than 1,500 military and historical illustrations, and 300+ strategic examples, allowing you to grasp the essence of "military strategy like Sun Tzu, 36 stratagems" through vivid text and precious, rich images.
Spectacle: The sharp Wu-Yue Ding Sword, weathered by history yet still razor-sharp; exquisitely crafted, ingenious war equipment; the ancient border defense facilities spanning thousands of miles; the majestic underground mausoleum armies; layered fortifications, impregnable garrison cities.
Learning: How the brilliant Qin Shi Huang conquered the six kingdoms and unified the world; how the wise Zhang Liang masterminded victories across thousands of miles; how the extraordinary Zhuge Liang predicted events with uncanny accuracy; how Xie defeated a million Qin army with ease in a single conversation.
Discovery: The water engineer Zheng Guo, who built the Zheng Guo Canal, was actually a spy sent by the State of Han to Qin; the earliest battle terrain model was made of rice; the "cunning tyrant" Cao Cao was actually an outstanding military strategist; the "Night Banquet of Han Xi" was actually a spy map.
The book "The 36 Stratagems" has no precise dating or author, and has never been recorded in historical military chronicles. It is a comprehensive collection of wisdom and strategy, summarized from the outstanding military thought and rich struggle experience of ancient China. It concisely encapsulates the essence of wisdom and strategy throughout Chinese history, a crystallization of the wisdom accumulated over millennia by the ancient Chinese working people, and one of the most highly regarded classics by strategists worldwide. It is a remarkable military book that can be called "a treasury of wisdom, a masterpiece of strategy."
The book is arranged in the order of stratagems, divided into six sets: Victory Stratagems, Enemy Stratagems, Attack Stratagems, Mixed Stratagems, Combined Stratagems, and Defeat Stratagems. Each set contains six stratagems, totaling 36. Each stratagem includes a title explanation, annotations, and remarks. The annotations draw widely from the hexagrams of the I Ching and apply the principles of yin and yang to military strategy, transforming them into concepts of hardness and softness, direct and indirect, advance and retreat, offense and defense, oneself and others, the dominant and the subordinate, and effort and rest. This gives each stratagem a strong dialectical philosophy. The remarks often cite battle examples from before the Song Dynasty and famous quotes from renowned military strategists like Sun Tzu, Wu Zi, and Wei Liao, providing interpretations and extensions of the 36 stratagems.