Open    Access



The Research on the Stratagem of the Empty City



Author(s)

XING Cheng, BA Lei

Full-Text PDF XML     39 Views

DOI:10.17265/2328-2177/2025.06.007

The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hong Kong, China； Beijing Forestry University, Beijing, China

The stratagem of the empty city is a kind of traditional stratagem of ancient China. This stratagem is a type of psychological tactic, making full use of the enemy’s caution. It can be simply seen as a sort of deceptive tactic, applying to the situations of standoff and retreat. The stratagem of the empty city appeared many times in the war history of ancient China, offering many examples to the researchers. As a matter of fact, in ancient China, it was proved that the stratagem of the empty city could be adopted in many different fields such as military and politics. This stratagem was recorded in Thirty-Six Stratagems, one of the most famous military works of ancient China. With time goes by, compared with its original form, the stratagem of the empty city has greatly changed, developing some new forms. This stratagem is also of great use in modern politics and warfare.

stratagem, the stratagem of the empty city, psychological tactic