1. Governing a big country is like cooking a small fish. Oil, salt, sauce and vinegar should be just right, not too much and not lacking.
2. Governing a big country should be as difficult as cooking and as meticulous as cooking. Both should master the heat and pay attention to seasoning.
3. "Little Fairy" is like a small fish or a piece of meat. Governing a big country is like cooking a small fish. Boil small fish, don't stir it too much, it will rot easily, that is to say, governing a big country should be inaction. Later, it was often used to describe how easy it was. [2]?
Since ancient times, many politicians like to quote this sentence to remind rulers. For the meaning of this sentence, the common understanding in ancient and modern times is that to govern a big country, such as cooking small fish, oil, salt, sauce, vinegar and other seasonings should be put just right, neither too much nor too little. Is this the right understanding? In fact, there has been great controversy in ancient academic circles.
5. As far as the sentence itself is concerned, there are different opinions on how to treat big countries and small countries. In fact, small fishy and small scales are different views on small fresh fish. Even the traditional saying of governing a big country, such as cooking small fresh food, which is generally recognized in modern times, has differences in words in ancient times.
6. Some ancient scholars believe that this famous saying is missing a word in the process of circulation. Han Feizi, born 29 1 year later than Laozi, is quoted with the word "zhe". "Everything is done to solve the old age" says that to govern a big country, you should cook something fresh. Wang Xianshen, a scholar in the late Qing Dynasty, holds this view. He believes that the rule of the country should be based on words, such as the annals of the Three Kingdoms and the annals of Shu (Volume 44). Chen Shou commented: "Laozi has a cloud: governing a big country can cook a little fresh." There is also a comment in the biography of officials in the later Han Dynasty: "Governing a big country can cook small things."
7. But no matter which of the above statements is correct, the meaning of this sentence is the same, that is, governing the country is the same as cooking small fish. Then, why does Lao Tzu use the metaphor of cooking small fresh vegetables when talking about governing the country? If we find out how people in Lao Tzu's time cooked small fresh vegetables, we will understand Lao Tzu's original intention.
8. The author consulted a variety of historical notes and found that the most active and controversial study on the phrase "If you cook small things, you can rule a big country" was in the Qing Dynasty, especially in the late Qing Dynasty. At that time, a group of famous scholars, including Luo Zhenyu and Ma Qicheng, analyzed this sentence, which may be related to the background of poor governance and lawlessness in the late Qing Dynasty, and also reflected academic anxiety about the future of the country.
9. So, what exactly is Lao Tzu's so-called way of governing the country by cooking small things? Ma Qichang quoted the words in "Biography of Shi Mao's Old Training" in the early Han Dynasty, proving that Laozi meant: "Cooking fish is annoying and broken, and treating people is annoying and scattered. Knowing how to cook fish means knowing how to treat people." This sentence explains the way people cooked small fish in Laozi's time: it turned out that the ancients could not always turn over the small fish when cooking, otherwise it would be completely broken.
10. The Qing people probably misunderstood how to govern a big country and how to cook some fresh dishes, which influenced modern people's understanding. In the second year of Yongzheng (A.D. 1724), Hang Shijun, a famous scholar who was a juren and later edited Historical Records of Qianlong Dynasty, wrote A Collection of Misconceptions, which included people's misunderstandings about how to govern a big country and thought that "there are many misunderstandings in recent poems and articles that cannot be corrected." The ancients only washed the fried small fish clean, and did not remove the feces or fish scales, for fear of breaking them. Therefore, Hang Shijun further extended this point: cooking small and fresh should not be disturbed, and governing a big country should not be disturbed. Annoying is laborious, disturbing is destructive.
1 1. If I combine Lao Tzu's thought of governing by doing nothing, the way I want to express in governing a big country is very clear, that is, governing a big country can't be tossed, it can't disturb people at will, and it can't be tossed.
Please point out the problem clearly. . . .