26 | The Thirty-Six Stratagems

General Bao acting out Point at the Mulberry, Curse the Locust — General Bao demonstrates 指桑罵槐 — Point at the Mulberry, Curse the Locust.

指桑罵槐 point · mulberry · curse · locust-tree

Warn or discipline someone powerful indirectly, by making an example of a safer target they'll recognise.

今 Today

You can't rebuke the choir's star tenor for dragging — they're half the reason people turn up. So you stop rehearsal to thank the basses, warmly, "for staying right on the beat." Every singer in the room knows exactly who just got told off.

反 When it backfires

Indirection fools no one when it's this thin. Point at the mulberry too obviously and you look cowardly to the locust and unfair to the mulberry — you insult two trees at once.