凡事预则立，不预则废 “In all matters, preparation brings success. Without preparation, there is failure.” The line comes from the Doctrine of the Mean. The Handian dictionary explains yu as making plans or preparations in advance.
The dictionary’s example is from Mao Zedong’s On Protracted War. Mao quoted the line and added that without plans and preparations made beforehand, victory in war cannot be won.
居安思危，思则有备，有备无患 “In safety, think of danger. Thinking of it, one is prepared. Being prepared, one meets no disaster.” The words appear in the Zuo Commentary, under the eleventh year of Duke Xiang.
The Handian dictionary explains the first four characters: even in a peaceful situation, keep in mind that danger may come, and be ready in thought for the unexpected.
The History of the Han tells of a guest who saw a straight chimney with a pile of firewood beside it. He told the host to bend the chimney and move the wood away, or there would be a fire. The host said nothing. Soon the house caught fire, and the neighbors put it out together.
The host feasted the neighbors and seated those with burns in the place of honor. The guest was not invited. Someone then asked: “The one who said to bend the chimney and move the firewood gets no reward, and those with scorched heads are honored guests?”
The idiom qu tu xi xin, bend the chimney and move the firewood, means to act in advance to prevent disaster.
On January 21, 2019, Xi Jinping spoke at a study session for provincial and ministerial leaders on “upholding bottom-line thinking and preventing and defusing major risks.” He said: “We must be highly alert to ‘black swan’ events, and also guard against ‘gray rhino’ events.”
He called on officials to “uphold bottom-line thinking, strengthen the sense of potential danger and raise the ability to prevent and control” risks.
The first chapter of The Art of War describes the calculations made in the ancestral temple before a war. “Whoever wins in the temple calculation before the battle has more counting rods. Whoever loses has fewer. More calculation wins, less calculation loses. How much more so no calculation at all! From this, I can see who will win and who will lose.”
In the Records of the Grand Historian, Liu Bang, the founder of the Han dynasty, speaks of his strategist. “In devising strategy within the tent and deciding victory a thousand li away, I am not the equal of Zifang,” he says. Zifang was Zhang Liang.
The idiom yunchou weiwo, to devise strategy in the tent, now means to plan and direct.
In the chapter on disposition in The Art of War, Sunzi writes: “The victorious army first wins and then seeks battle. The defeated army first fights and then seeks victory.” In the original: 胜兵先胜而后求战，败兵先战而后求胜.
In chapter 54 of Romance of the Three Kingdoms, Liu Bei must travel to the state of Wu to marry, and he fears a trap. Zhuge Liang calls the general Zhao Yun close and speaks into his ear: “Escort our lord into Wu and take these three brocade bags. In the bags are three clever plans. Carry them out in order.” Zhao Yun keeps the bags against his skin.
When the boats reach the shore, Zhao Yun opens the first bag. He then gives the five hundred soldiers their orders, one by one. The idiom 锦囊妙计, a clever plan in a brocade bag, now means a well-prepared answer to an emergency.
人无远虑，必有近忧 A person without far-reaching thoughts will have troubles close at hand. (Analects)
十年树木，百年树人 Ten years to grow trees, a hundred years to grow people. Training people takes long investment.
舍车保帅 Give up the chariot to save the general. A term from Chinese chess. To sacrifice something secondary to protect what matters most.
On September 10, 2019, at its twentieth anniversary, Alibaba announced six new values. The third reads: “The only thing that does not change is change.” (唯一不变的是变化) Its earlier values had included “Embrace change.” (拥抱变化)