ABSTRACT
The counterland concepts advocated in this study are steeped in military theory. Sun Tzu’s concept that balances the two forces of cheng and ch’i for maximum effect offers a remarkably pertinent example from the annals of martial history. In line with the popular Asian concept of yin and yang, Sun Tzu’s cheng and ch’i lays a firm foundation for a practical illustration of how air maneuver theory may be applied in an actual battle.1 By referring to a particular military force as cheng, Sun Tzu meant a normal, direct, regular, expected, or symmetric force. Ch’i, on the other hand, is translated as an extraordinary, indirect, irregular, unexpected, or asymmetric combat force. In The Art of War, Sun Tzu suggested that the sovereign should “generally, in battle, use the normal force to engage; use the extraordinary to win” (Sun Tzu 1963, 91). Samuel B. Griffith, in the introduction to his translation of Sun Tzu’s text, offered that cheng and ch’i “are reciprocal; their effects are mutually reproductive. We may define the cheng element as fixing and the ch’i as flanking or encircling, or … as the force(s) of distraction and the force(s) of decision. Their blows are correlated” (Sun Tzu 1963, 42). Expounding on his translation, Griffith explained that “the normal (cheng) force fixes or distracts the enemy; the extraordinary (ch’i) forces act when and where their blows are not anticipated” (Sun Tzu 1963, 91).
