20-24 septembrie 2009 - Biblioteca Metropolitana Bucuresti

84 Oliver CorffAnother element of style which is prototypical for Classical Chineseis the parallel structure. The parallelism can be observed in immediatesequences of statements as well within each statement. The examplesfollowing hereafter reveal a specific order of elements:Enemy situation+ Own situation= Potential outcome of battleAnyone familiar with today's military reporting procedures will readilyrecognize the timeless core elements of a standard intelligence report.(from section 3, “Attack by Stratagem”):Chinese in characters and pinyin,interlinear translation belowEnglish translation知 彼 知 己 百 戰 不 殆zhi bi zhi ji, bai zhan bu dai(know self know other, 100 battles notfeared)不 知 彼 而 知 己 一 勝 一 負bu zhi bi er zhi ji, yi sheng yi fu(not know self but know other, one victory,one loss)不 知 彼 不 知 己 戰 必 敗bu zhi bi bu zhi ji mei zhan bi bai(not know self not know other, each battlecertainly lost)If you know the enemy and knowyourself, you need not fear the resultof a hundred battlesIf you know yourself but not theenemy, for every victory gained youwill also suffer a defeatIf you know neither the enemy noryourself, you will succumb in everybattleA logical presentation using a truth table shows the logic of these threestatements:Situational Awareness about...ResultEnemySelfYes Yes PositiveNo Yes MixedNo No Negative