Learn the 36 Stratagems with flashcards, a multiple-choice quiz, and browse-by-set — hanzi, pinyin, and meaning. Free, in 5 languages.
36 Stratagems Flashcard Trainer
How to Use the Flashcard Trainer
Pick a mode
Flashcards to flip through the 36 one at a time, Quiz to test yourself with multiple choice, or Browse to see all 36 grouped by their six sets.
Flip and recall
Each card shows the stratagem in Chinese with pinyin; tap to reveal the meaning and a one-line gist. Flip the direction to practise recall the other way.
Mark what you know
Tag cards "known" and switch on "study only unknown" to drill the ones you're still learning. Your progress is saved in your browser.
Go deeper
Any card links to the full stratagem — its historical origin, meaning, and modern applications — and you can switch language at any time.
Learning the 36 Stratagems
Why the 36 come in sixes
The Thirty-Six Stratagems are easier to learn than they look, because they are not a random list — they are organised into six sets of six, and the sets follow the arc of a conflict from strength to desperation. The first set, the "winning stratagems," is for when you hold the advantage; the second, for when you are evenly matched; then come the "attacking" and "chaos" stratagems for going on the offensive and profiting from confusion; the "proximate" set for close-quarters and allied situations; and finally the "desperate" stratagems for when your back is to the wall. Learning them in their sets, rather than as thirty-six loose idioms, gives each one a place to live in your memory — you remember not just the move but the kind of moment it is for.
Flip, test, repeat
This trainer gives you three ways to study the same material. Flashcards are the classic tool: the front of each card shows the stratagem in Chinese characters with its pinyin, and a tap flips it to reveal the meaning, a one-line gist, and a link to the full stratagem with its historical origin. You can flip the direction — meaning on the front, characters on the back — to practise recall the other way, and mark each card "known" so you can filter down to just the ones you are still learning. The quiz turns study into a game: it shows a stratagem and asks you to pick its meaning from four choices, keeping score as you go. And the browse view lays out all thirty-six grouped by set, so you can see the whole system at a glance and jump straight to any stratagem's page.
"The trick to the thirty-six is not memorising thirty-six things — it is learning six shapes, six times over."
The reason a tool like this works is the same reason flashcards have outlasted every study fad: active recall. Simply re-reading a list of stratagems feels like learning but fades fast; being forced to retrieve the answer builds a far stronger memory. Spacing that retrieval across several short sessions, and concentrating on the cards you keep getting wrong, beats one long cram. Your "known" marks are saved in your browser, so you can come back and pick up where you left off. Whether you are a student of Chinese, a strategy enthusiast, or someone who simply enjoys a good historical idiom, the goal is the same: to turn thirty-six borrowed lines of ancient wisdom into something you actually carry with you.
A simple study routine
If you want a plan rather than a pile of cards, try this. Start in browse mode and read the whole system once, set by set, so the six shapes settle into place. Then switch to flashcards and go through one set of six at a time, marking the ones that stick as "known" and leaving the rest. Come back a day later, turn on "study only unknown," and clear a few more. Once a set feels solid, run the quiz to test it under a little pressure. Repeat set by set, and within a week or two of short sittings the full thirty-six become genuinely familiar. The collection is worth the effort: the phrase "of the thirty-six stratagems, retreat is the best" is far older than the compiled list, and the idioms it gathered have been quoted in Chinese business, politics, and everyday speech ever since.
10 Things to Know About the 36 Stratagems
The 36 are organised into six sets of six, running from advantage to desperation.
Each stratagem is a four-character idiom (chengyu) with a historical or literary origin.
The sets: winning, enemy-dealing, attacking, chaos, proximate (combined), and desperate.
空城计 — the "empty fort" — is among the most famous: a bluff at an open, undefended gate.
走为上 — "retreat is best" — is stratagem 36, the origin of the saying "of the 36, fleeing is best."
The collection was compiled far later than Sun Tzu's Art of War — the phrase dates to the 5th century CE.
Active recall — being tested — builds memory far better than simply re-reading a list.
Spacing study across short sessions beats a single long cram.
Many stratagems are everyday Chinese idioms still in common use today.
Your progress is saved in your browser — nothing is uploaded or tracked.
Frequently Asked Questions
- It is a free study tool for learning the Thirty-Six Stratagems, the classic set of Chinese strategic idioms. It offers three modes — flip flashcards, a multiple-choice quiz, and a browse-by-set view — each showing the stratagem in Chinese with pinyin and its meaning, and linking to the full stratagem with its historical origin. Everything runs in your browser.
- Each card shows a stratagem's Chinese characters and pinyin on the front; tap or press the card to flip it and reveal the English meaning, a short gist, and a link to the full page. You can flip the direction so the meaning is on the front instead, shuffle the deck, and mark cards "known" — then switch on "study only unknown" to focus on what you haven't learned yet.
- The quiz shows a stratagem and asks you to pick its meaning from four options, keeping a running score. It uses active recall — the act of retrieving an answer rather than re-reading one — which is the most effective way to move something into long-term memory. Wrong answers reveal the correct one with a link to read more.
- The thirty-six are grouped into six sets of six, by the situation they suit: winning stratagems (when you hold the advantage), enemy-dealing (evenly matched), attacking, chaos (profiting from confusion), proximate or combined (close quarters and alliances), and desperate (when you are losing). The browse view lays them out set by set so you can see the whole framework.
- Yes — the cards you mark "known" are saved in your browser's local storage, so when you come back the trainer remembers your progress and you can pick up where you left off. Nothing is sent to a server; the data never leaves your device, and you can reset it any time.
- Five: English, Simplified Chinese, Traditional Chinese, Malay, and Indonesian. The Chinese characters and pinyin are always shown; the meanings and gists switch to your chosen language, which you can change at any time with the buttons at the top of the trainer.
- Not at all. Every card shows pinyin (the romanised pronunciation) and the meaning in your language, so you can learn the stratagems as concepts and idioms without reading Chinese. It is also a natural fit for Chinese learners who want to pick up thirty-six vivid, widely-used four-character idioms along the way.
- Sun Tzu's Art of War is the older philosophical treatise on strategy; the Thirty-Six Stratagems are a separate, later collection of concrete tactical moves, each an idiom with a story behind it. They are companions — the philosophy and the playbook. You can read the full Art of War chapter by chapter and browse all thirty-six stratagems from the same hub on this site.
- Every card and quiz answer links straight to that stratagem's page, and you can browse the whole set at the 36 Stratagems library or read Sun Tzu's Art of War. Each stratagem page carries its historical origin, a plain-language explanation, and modern applications, in all five languages.
- It is an independent educational tool built by RECATOOLS to make a 2,500-year-old strategic tradition easier to learn. The meanings and origins draw on the mainstream understanding of each stratagem; for scholarly study you should also consult primary sources and academic translations. It is meant as an accessible way in, not a definitive edition.
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