Talk:Thirty-Six Strategies

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[edit] Chinese characters

Is there a simplified version of each Chinese character for the 36 strategies? If not would it be okay if I added them in? —The preceding unsigned comment was added by CLDragon (talk • contribs).

Sure, go ahead. --maru (talk) contribs 23:28, 5 April 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Strategie #1 tian1 translation

AFAIK, tian is also some ancient naming for Emperor.

Theres also some matching story then, shortend:

1st try to invade korea with a fleet went bad because of the weather, emperor went sea-sick.

Generals want try a 2nd attempt, but emperor denies, because of his sea-sickness the 1st time.

Generals build a 'swimming city', composed of dozens of ships tied together, and invite the emperor...

Emperor arrives, generals let the 'city' depart to korea... emperor agrees then to invade...

However, I don't know, how far this story is true, but I read it in one translation of the san xi liu ji.

  • The story above is repeated in "The Thirty-Six Strategies of Ancient China" by Stefan H. Verstappen(China Books, 1999). He says the Emperor in question was Tai Zong of the Tang Dynasty. Amusingly, the 'floating city' was supposedly passed off as a dinner party at a large estate. The Emperor found himself in Korea in the morning none the wiser.
"Decieve the Emperor to Cross the Ocean" is not significantly clearer then "Decieve the Sky to Cross the Ocean", and needs the story to make sense. The story itself is only a subtle allusion to the actual strategy, which is to give the appearance of innocence to trick the enemy into dropping his guard. Of course, one could also infer the lesson that even your allies may need to be manipulated to achieve victory.
Unlike the other stories in Verstappen's book, the story of the Floating City does not explicitly cite sources, making it less history and, perhaps, more folklore. If a possibly apocryphal story inspires an axiom like "Decieve the Emperor...", does it deserve entry as a source material?
--MikeKozar 20:22, 30 October 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Summary of Edits and Cleanup

I will be adopting this page of sorts and try to edit it into better form. Current plan is to reformat the page, give the origin of each proverb, and an explaination on how the proverb applies to military tactics. Vyn 00:23, 28 November 2006 (UTC)

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