About
What the Thirty-Six Stratagems are
The Thirty-Six Stratagems (三十六計, Sān shí liù jì) is a classic Chinese collection of schemes for war, politics, and everyday maneuvering. It gathers, into thirty-six four-character sayings, a very old and very unsentimental idea: that most contests are won by positioning and deception long before they are won by force.
The phrase is far older than the book. “Of the thirty-six stratagems, fleeing is best” was already a proverb by the 5th century — the collection that fills in the other thirty-five was assembled much later, likely during the Ming dynasty. Each entry is a compressed metaphor: not an instruction, but a pattern you’re meant to recognise once it’s named.
How it’s organised — six chapters of six
The thirty-six are grouped into six chapters, and the order is not decorative: the first three chapters are for when you hold the advantage, the last three for when you’re on the back foot.
| Chapter | 汉字 | Theme | When |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 勝戰計 | Winning | you already hold the advantage |
| 2 | 敵戰計 | Enemy-Dealing | you’re evenly matched |
| 3 | 攻戰計 | Attacking | you’re on the front foot |
| 4 | 混戰計 | Chaos | the field is confused |
| 5 | 併戰計 | Close-Quarters | you’re close in, combining schemes |
| 6 | 敗戰計 | Desperate | you’re losing |
By the sixth chapter the schemes are frankly the moves of someone in trouble — and the very last one, fittingly, is simply leave.
How to read this site
Each stratagem has its own page: the four characters and their literal reading, a plain-language gloss, an illustration of our resident schemer, a 今 Today example dragging the ancient idea into modern life, and a 反 When it backfires note — because every one of these tricks has a way of turning on the person who uses it.
The examples are original and deliberately illustrative; they’re there to make the pattern click, not to report history. The Chinese names and the six-chapter structure follow the traditional text.
A note on the schemer
The mascot doing all the scheming is General Bao, a panda who looks entirely harmless and is not. He’s a joke, but a useful one: these are tactics of influence and deception, and the friendliest face in the room is often the one running the play.
Recognise, don’t glorify
A manual of schemes can read like a manual for manipulation. That’s not the intent here. The Thirty-Six Stratagems have survived for centuries because they’re a field guide to how influence, misdirection, and power actually move — and the best reason to learn them is to spot them being used on you. The “when it backfires” note on every page is the honest other half of the lesson: each of these moves has a cost, and the person who reaches for them first, and most often, usually pays it.
Read them to understand the game. Whether you play it is on you.