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Imagine a small state with a small population let there be labor-saving tools that aren’t used let people consider death and not move far let there be boats and carts but no reason to ride them let there be armor and weapons but no reason to employ them let people return to the use of knots and be satisfied with their food and pleased with their clothing and content with their homes and happy with their customs let there be another state so near people hear its dogs and chickens but live out their lives without making a visit

HUANG-TI says, “A great state is yang. A small state is yin.”

SU CH’E says, “Lao-tzu lived during the decline of the Chou, when artifice flourished and customs suffered, and he wished to restore its virtue through doing nothing. Hence, at the end of his book he wishes he had a small state to try this on. But he never got his wish.”

YAO NAI says, “In ancient times, states were many and small. In later times, they were few and great. But even if a great state wanted to return to the ancient ways, how could it?”

HO-SHANG KUNG says, “When sages govern great states, they think of them as small states and are frugal in the use of resources. When the people are many, sages think of them as few and are careful not to exhaust them.”

HU SHIH says, “With the advance of civilization, the power of technology is used to replace human labor. A cart can carry thousands of pounds, and a boat can carry hundreds of passengers. This is the meaning of ‘labor-saving tools’” (Chung-kuo che-hsueh-shih ta-kang, p. 64).

WANG AN-SHIH says, “When the people are content with their lot, they don’t concern themselves with moving far away or with going to war.”

THE YICHING CHITZU says, “The earlier rulers used knots in their government. Later sages introduced the use of writing” (B.2).

WU CH’ENG says, “People who are satisfied with their food and pleased with their clothes cherish their lives and don’t tempt death. People who are content with their homes and happy with their customs don’t move far away. They grow old and die where they were born.”

CH’ENG HSUAN-YING says, “They are satisfied with their food because they taste the Tao. They are pleased with their clothing because they are adorned with virtue. They are content with their homes because they are content wherever they are. And they are happy with their customs because they soften the glare of the world.”

TS’AO TAO-CH’UNG says, “Those who do their own farming and weaving don’t lack food or clothes. They have nothing to give and seek nothing. Why should they visit others?”

Where is this place? In line two, some editions delete jen (man) in the compound shih-pai-jen (labor-saving). I have followed Yen Tsun, Ho-shang Kung, and the Suotan and Mawangtui texts, all of which include it. This phrase can also be interpreted with or without jen to mean “tools of war.” But Hu Shih’s reading, seconded by Cheng Liang-shu, is, I think, more profound. After line ten, Ssu-ma Ch’ien and the Fuyi edition add: “the goal of perfect rule / and everyone is…” But this appears to be an interpolation. Finally, some editions reverse the order of lines thirteen and fourteen but thereby abandon the rhyme. This verse is not present in the Kuotien texts.