Tian Ji’s Horse Racing is a story about the competition of horse racing between King Qi and a man called Tian Ji. Each member is allowed to select three horses, classifying them as good, better, and best. There are three rounds to the competition and each round, each side would select one horse to compete against the oponents’ horse. However, King Qi would always win because he has slightly superior horses in all three categories. This is, however, until Sun Bin comes and helps Tian Ji with his strategy. Sun Bin tells Tian Ji to use his ‘good’ horse against King Qi’s ‘best’ horse, use his ‘better’ horse against King Qi’s ‘good’ horse, and finally use his ‘best’ horse against King Qi’s ‘good’ horse. This way, Tian Ji would win two out of the three rounds, eventually winning the game. Sun Bin may have been smart, but he violated many rules and points of the game. I believe Tian Ji’s racing method was wrong and that he cheated to win. We can be smart in life but we should never play dirty.
Using an inferior player against a knowingly superior one of the opponents team is forbidden and many sports/games in life. Racing in sports is fun and stressful and nobody is guaranteed a win. However, to cheat to win is a bad thing to do. In Tian Ji’s case, he changed up the order of his horses in order to win, which is a dirty thing to do during a competition and should be considered cheating. If you are racing against somebody fast, let’s say swimming, you can’t just find another faster swimmer and replace you and let them swim for you. In many sports like that, you would be disqualified and your team would be too. Though disqualification may not have been a thing back then, Tian Ji still did something that is bad. Knowing that none of his horses are better than King Qi’s, he just decided to mess up the order and win through trickery. Replacing a player (or horse in this case), is restricted in many sports today and is a dishonest act and dirty play.
Receiving help from an outside member is forbidden in many common things in life and is considered cheating. Receiving help from an outside member means getting help when you’re not supposed to which in other words is called cheating. Tian Ji, knowing that he would lose, accepted help from Sun Bin when he wasn’t supposed to, resulting in him beating King Qi. If you are taking a test in school and you know you’re about to fail, you can’t just ask your friend or the smartest kid in the class for help or the answer. If you did that, you would not only lose points on the test but consequences would be taken. Tian Ji would be the cheater in this place, asking Sun Bin for help because he knew he was going to lose. Instead of being honest with King Qi, he decided to be sly and get help from a smarter person. Cheating in life is a dishonest thing to do and can cause you consequences.
Challenge is good but understand the odds of winning before doing so. You can’t compare a beginner to a pro because it is obvious that the pro is better. Tian Ji thought he could win King Qi’s horses but in reality, he lost every time until Sun Bin helped. Tian Ji should’ve known that no matter what, he was going to lose and that maybe he should find someone equal to his level of horses to race against. He also decided to challenge the King out of all people. He now also has to take into account that the King has power and if Tian Ji angered him, he [Tian Ji] could be executed. Tian Ji’s social class is below the King, his horses are weaker than the King’s, and his odds of winning are very low. Tian Ji may have good horses but there was no need to boast about it because there’s always going to be someone else in the world with even better horses. One should understand their opponents and odds of winning before challenging another.
Tian Ji’s Horse Racing (田忌赛马), is a famous Chinese story about the competition between a man named Tian Ji and King Qi to see whose horses were faster. Throughout this competition, we are able to see how Tian Ji won and what dishonest tricks he played in order to win. Tian Ji not only used an inferior horse against a knowingly superior one of his opponents’ team, but he also received help from an outsider, which wasn’t allowed. Though these rules may not have been set at that time, it is still bad to play dirty and use trickery to win. Tian Ji, though he may have won once, he will never be the true winner because he didn’t win honestly. Winning fair and square means that you are truly the winner and worthy of the winner. Although many may argue that Tian Ji’s horse racing is fair and smart, after all these points, you can’t simply ignore the fact that Tian Jinplayed dirty to win. Tian Ji’s horse racing strategy was a dishonest and dirty play.
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