Could please a person who has chinese origins tell me what Lao Tzu (a philosopher who lived when Confucius lived) meant with these words (the translation could be a bit inaccurate, please verify the original text if you can, thank you).


A big state is at the mouth of the river. It's the contact point of the empire. It's the female of the empire. With calm, female always win against the male.

With calm, it's kept the lower.

Therefore, a big state, lowering in front of a small state, conquers it.

A small state, lowering in front of a big state, conquers it.

Therefore one lowers to conquer, the other conquers being low.

A big state just desire to join and feed people, a small state just desire to enter and serve them. But so that both obtain what they desire, the big state has to be low.

Lao Tzu - chinese philosopher


I hope this doesn't offend anybody. it have no political intention. Sorry for my English.