"Governing a big country is like cooking small delicacies" in Laozi's "Tao Te Ching" has been a famous saying in China's governance since ancient times. 2,500 years ago, I had already seen that governing a country is the same as cooking a small fish.

Laozi

Integrating the principles of governing the country with the principles of life has already appeared in ancient times in our country. As far back as the Shang Dynasty in ancient my country, a Prime Minister Yi Yin told Tang, the monarch of the Shang Dynasty, that governing a country is like cooking. You can't do it too hastily or too slack, but just right.

Being able to integrate the knowledge of governing a country and the principles of cooking small fish shows the profoundness of Laozi's wisdom. In the "Tao Te Ching", Lao Tzu integrated the principles of nature with the principles of life and society many times and discussed them together, which shows that Lao Tzu's philosophy has integrated life, society and nature, and is a relatively thorough understanding of the world.

Han Feizi during the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period was known by later generations as one of the people who best understood the essence of Laozi's thoughts. He once well explained Laozi's famous saying "Governing a big country is like cooking small delicacies."

"Han Feizi Jie Lao" said: "If you cook small delicacies and scratch them, you will steal the beauty; if you govern a big country and make many changes, the people will suffer. Therefore, a wise king values ??tranquility. Don’t focus on reform. That’s why it is said: He who governs a big country is like cooking small delicacies.”

Tao Te Ching

This passage means that if you dig out all the internal organs of small fish and wash them repeatedly before cooking, the benefits of the fish will be destroyed. In the same way, we should not do unnecessary things when governing the country, and do not change policies repeatedly. Because this will make people exhausted and make their lives even poorer. Therefore, a monarch who knows how to govern the country likes to be quiet and does little, rarely changes the policies of governing the country, and attaches great importance to the stability of policies but not to reforms. Therefore, the principle of governing a country is the same as cooking small fish.

As the saying goes, it is difficult for those who do not know how to do it, but it is not difficult for those who do. People who find it difficult to govern a country do so because they do not understand enough about it. Wise men who can see through it find it easy to do so.

Because highly intelligent people have integrated the big and small things in life and society, mastered the unique rules for doing big and small things, and know that governing a country is the same as cooking small fish. Therefore, governing a country by a highly intelligent person is as simple and easy as cooking a small fish.

Since ancient times, Laozi’s thoughts on governing the country have been valued by emperors of many dynasties in my country, such as Emperor Wen of the Han Dynasty, Emperor Jing of the Han Dynasty, Emperor Xuanzong of the Tang Dynasty, Emperor Huizong of the Song Dynasty, Emperor Taizu Zhu Yuanzhang of the Ming Dynasty, Emperor Wanli of the Ming Dynasty, Emperor Shunzhi of the Qing Dynasty, etc. Pay attention to the study of the Tao Te Ching and apply its principles to govern the country.

Tao Te Ching

The famous saying "Governing a big country is like cooking small delicacies" is still valued in contemporary China. A famous contemporary theorist of state governance in our country once said, "To govern a country, one must have the consciousness of walking on thin ice, but also have a relaxed attitude of governing a big country like cooking small dishes."

Laozi’s thoughts on governing the country also have a certain influence in the West. When former U.S. President Ronald Reagan delivered his State of the Union address during his term in office, he quoted Lao Tzu's saying, "Governing a big country is like cooking a small fish." This also triggered a craze in the United States to learn from Lao Tzu.