In this period of economic uncertainty, staying successful means finding new ways of approaching challenges. For years, business people have looked to Chinese classics such as “The Art of War” for advice and strategy. In this series, we introduce another classic, The Thirty-Six Strategies (or Strategems), which, as Chinese classics go, was only fairly recently introduced to the Western world.

Beginnings

The title Thirty-Six Strategies comes from General Wang Jingze, a general who had been in the service of the Southern Qi dynasty since the first Emperor Gao. When Emperor Ming ascended the throne and executed many members of the old court and the royal family to consolidate his reign, Wang feared he would be next on the list and started a rebellion.

The crown prince Xiao Baojuan escaped after hearing the rebellion. Upon hearing this, Wang said “Of the thirty-six strategies of Lord Tan, retreat was his best, you father and son should run for sure.” Wang was referring contemptuously to General Tan Daoji of the Liu Song dynasty, who was forced to retreat after his failed attack on Northern Wei.

Wang used “thirty-six” as a figure of speech, to show that there were numerous, rather than a specific number of strategies that the general could have employed. According to Wikipedia, in the I Ching, six is the number of Yin that shared many characteristics with the schemes involved military strategy.

The advice contained in the Thirty-Six Strategies have been attributed to both Sun Tzu from the Spring and Autumn Period and to Zhuge Liang of the Three Kingdoms. Historians doubt that either is the true author.

The original hand-copied paperback on which current versions of the Thirty-Six Strategies are based on was believed to have been discovered in Shaanxi province. The manuscript did not contain a date or author, but a local publisher put it into circulation in 1941. The work came to the public's attention only in 1961, after a review of it was published in Guangming Daily.

“If all else fails, retreat...”

It was the Swiss Sinologist Harro von Senger, who brought The Thirty-Six Strategies to a Western audience. Von Senger published just the first 18 Strategies (or Strategems in his version) in 1992 as he was not sure how the work will be received. In 2000, he published the remaining 18.

Von Senger's work has been translated from German into 12 languages, including Dutch, Italian, English and French. In 2006, the two-volume work was also translated into Chinese.

It was pure serendipity that brought The Thirty-Six Strategies to von Senger's attention. Already interested in Chinese culture, he decided to study Chinese. At the Center for Chinese language and Cultural Studies of the National Taiwan Normal University, a professor one day told him that of the 36 strategies, running away was the best.

Von Senger asked what the other 35 strategies were, but the professor said he didn't know. Von Senger asked from his schoolmates, as he was living at a student dormitory at the time. A few days later, while browsing at a book market, von Senger and another student found a copy of the Thirty-Six Strategies.

The strategies

Each strategy takes the form of a three- or four-character idiom. Sometimes, the text refers directly to a battle that has taken place in China's long and tumultuous history. The Thirty-Six Strategies offers knowledge that has been culled from the lessons of ancient Chinese warfare.

Studying the Thirty-Six Strategies could provide modern day generals of industry with another way of looking at situations they face. Some of the strategies are unorthodox to say the least. In fact, von Senger used the term “strategems” to describe them because in the old days, it also meant a ruse. Von Senger wanted to lessen the negative association with ruse and instead emphasize that the strategies offered a way to reach a goal through unorthodox means.

The Thirty-Six Strategies are classically divided into six, depending on what situation the advice seeks to address. The traditional divisions which Cungen GE, a researcher of the Thirty-Six Strategies from the perspective of modern Chinese competition, supports are:

1. Strategies for winning
2. Strategies for defending
3. Strategies for attacking
4. Strategies for scuffling
5. Strategies for merging
6. Strategies for losing

In a time of crisis, survival in the business world often depends on finding an unorthodox solution to even common problems. The Thirty-Six Strategies could rightly offer ancient Chinese wisdom to help you succeed in the modern-day battlefield of business.