Stopping Deceit with Deceit

Stopping Deceit with Deceit is a collection of essays on navigating life by Liu Yong, following his I'm Not Teaching You to Be Deceitful series and belonging with titles such as Love Without Deceit to the author's "Deceit" series. The book's premise is "stop war with war, fight poison with poison, stop deceit with deceit": it does not teach people to deceive but urges them to see clearly how deceit operates, so they are not used or led by the nose without knowing it—or even become unwitting accomplices. Drawing on a wealth of everyday and business examples, the author dissects the tricks of deceit one by one: how "old birds" in the workplace push out newcomers, how unscrupulous employees embezzle, how business intelligence is quietly carried away, how antique dealers and salespeople set verbal traps, how the sensitive and suspicious are provoked into action, and so on. He also brings seemingly trivial details into the analysis—leaving midway, tearing up documents, picking up a briefcase, addressing an envelope, changing seats, choosing jewelry—because these small gestures often determine who is cheated and who gets away with it. The book has fifteen chapters, each built around a specific topic, written in a sharp, blunt style that is more pointed than I'm Not Teaching You to Be Deceitful and more focused on the dark side of society. While exposing human weaknesses and the logic of the game, the author repeatedly reminds readers: understanding the rules is about holding the line, and taking a roundabout path is about preserving the possibility of change. The afterword expresses the wish that "war may bring peace, vaccines may bring health, and deceit may bring honesty and kindness." The book is especially valuable for young people with little worldly experience and is also suitable for professionals reviewing the finer points of getting along in the world.