Distant Battle

AnonymousBashu Publishing House · ChinaJul 2024

3.7

Word count: 275 words
Chapters: 2

Summary

*Yuanzhan* ("Distant Battle") is a military treatise recorded in the ancient Chinese art-of-war book *Baizhan Qilue* (*A Hundred Battles, a Hundred Strategies*). It sets forth the guiding principle of surprise attack and annihilation of the enemy by means of the feigned maneuver "being distant, appear near." It holds that whenever one faces the enemy across a body of water and intends to cross at a distant point to strike, one should feign crossing at a near point in order to draw the enemy's forces there, then seize the moment when the distant sector is empty and swiftly cross to attack. It further stresses that when boats are lacking, rafts can be made from readily available materials such as bamboo and wood, rushes and reeds, and earthenware jars as crossing tools. The phrase "being distant, appear near" quoted in this chapter, together with "being near, appear distant" quoted in the next chapter, *Jinzhan* ("Close Battle"), are both among Sunzi's "twelve methods of deception" in the conduct of war. Practical experience in war has shown that this "display of form"—creating false appearances and using feigned maneuvers to mislead the enemy—can both conceal one's true intentions from the enemy's observation and maneuver the enemy into compliance, thereby plunging them into a passive position of attending to one thing and losing another. In this way one can exploit the moment when enemy forces are scattered and their position weak, and at the surprise-attack direction one has chosen (distant or near), strike suddenly and unexpectedly, achieving the success of surprise attack and annihilation. Hence the "display of form," consisting of creating false appearances and misleading the enemy by feigned maneuvers, is an effective method of warfare constantly advocated by ancient Chinese strategists.

Editor's review

This book is an edited edition of the *Yuanzhan* chapter of *Baizhan Qilue*. It is not long, yet it sets out the principle of deceptive maneuver and surprise attack—"being distant, appear near"—in clear layers. The text first explains the method of displaying form when facing the enemy across water, then descends to the practical level of making rafts from bamboo and wood, rushes and reeds, and earthenware jars when boats are lacking; theory and military practice thus reinforce each other. The editor places it alongside *Jinzhan* for comparison, revealing the two sides of the same coin in Sunzi's "twelve methods of deception": displaying form by "distant" and by "near"—creating false appearances, maneuvering the enemy, and striking when the position is weak. The book's exposition of the "display of form" method helps readers understand how ancient strategists sought the initiative under conditions of information asymmetry, and it can readily be extended to discussions of competitive strategy in general. It is suitable as auxiliary material for close thematic reading in military studies, and also for casual browsing by general readers interested in ancient military thought. When reading, one should examine the chain of logic closely against the original text rather than expect lengthy narratives of battle cases.

Who it's for

A good fit for

Readers interested in ancient Chinese military thought who wish to understand the "display of form" method
Readers studying *Baizhan Qilue* or Sunzi's art of war who need supplementary thematic material
Readers concerned with strategic thinking and competitive games who enjoy distilling methods from classical texts
Teachers needing short classical Chinese military texts as classroom or reading-group discussion material

Not a good fit for

Readers hoping for full narratives of military history and abundant case detail
Beginning readers who prefer long modern-vernacular interpretations and are unaccustomed to short classical Chinese texts
Readers seeking a business-management manual with directly applicable methods

Reading tips

Read the original text through first, mark the steps of the "being distant, appear near" reasoning, then compare with *Jinzhan* to see the difference in the direction of displayed form.
As you read, note the logic chain "display form—maneuver—exploit weakness—surprise attack," and after finishing, retell it in your own words.
Read alongside the relevant passages on Sunzi's "twelve methods of deception" to understand this chapter's place in the military-thought system.
If used for discussion, take the passage on makeshift rafts of bamboo, wood, rushes, and reeds and discuss the relation between ancient river-crossing support and the timing of surprise attack.

About the publisher

Bashu Publishing House China · Founded in 1983

Bashu Publishing House is a publisher centered on collating and publishing classical Chinese cultural texts, with its main publishing areas covering classical literature, Eastern philosophy, ancient poetry, and educational classics. Its library currently holds 1,075 titles, including representative works such as Dream of the Red Chamber, the Preface to the Orchid Pavilion Gathering, Renjian Cihua, and Out to the Frontier, involving authors such as Cao Xueqin, Wang Xizhi, Wang Guowei, Wang Changling, Liu Xie, and Yan Yu. These reflect the publisher's focus on literary classics, poetry criticism, and philosophical readings. Its publishing character lies in working around ancient texts and canonical works, with attention to textual collation and presentation. Public information on its more detailed publishing background and series plans is limited; this introduction is based only on the library's book information.

版权信息
远战

FAQ

What exactly is the tactic of "being distant, appear near"?

It means intending to cross water at a distant point to strike the enemy, but feigning that one will cross at a near point, so as to draw enemy forces toward the near side; when the distant sector is empty, one swiftly crosses there and attacks. The core is to mislead the enemy's judgment with false appearances and create emptiness in the surprise-attack direction one has chosen.

Why does the chapter stress makeshift materials when boats are lacking?

Because surprise attack depends on speed and concealment; if delayed by a shortage of boats, the opportunity won by the feigned maneuver would be lost. The chapter proposes crossing on rafts made from bamboo and wood, rushes and reeds, and earthenware jars—a concrete way of grounding the principle of feigned maneuver in logistics, reflecting the practical emphasis of ancient military texts.

What is the relation between this chapter and *Jinzhan*?

The two chapters quote "being distant, appear near" and "being near, appear distant" respectively; both belong to the "display of form" methods among Sunzi's "twelve methods of deception." The directions are opposite but the principle is the same: conceal true intentions with false appearances, maneuver the enemy, and strike suddenly when they attend to one thing and lose another. They can be read in comparison.

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About the author

Anonymous Author

Anonymous is not a real personal name but a general Chinese designation for authors whose names are unknown, lost, or unsigned. Neither nationality nor dates of birth and death can be verified, and available public information is limited, so the works attributed to this name are the only basis for description. The collection holds 2,078 works under Anonymous, spanning medicine, classics, historical readings, ancient poetry, classical literature, and philosophy. Representative works include The Yellow Emperor's Inner Canon: Lingshu, Mencius, The Book of Documents, Nineteen Old Poems, Complete Song Ci, and The Peacock Flies Southeast. Most of these works took shape through long transmission and editing, emerging either from collective folk creation or from authors whose names were lost over time. In ancient China, the Book of Songs, the Great Learning, and many popular storybooks and plays were signed Anonymous because their authors could not be traced. Anonymous works cross the classics, histories, philosophical writings, medical texts, and poetry; their subjects are broad, and their styles vary from archaic simplicity to clear naturalness, making them important and influential sources for understanding ancient Chinese thought, medicine, and literature.