治大国若烹小鲜

ruling a large nation is like cooking a small delicacy (idiom) / effective government requires minimal intervention

to rule / to govern / to manage / to control / to harness (a river) / to treat (a disease) / to wipe out (a pest) / to punish / to research

see 大夫[dai4 fu5]

big; large; great / older (than another person) / eldest (as in 大姐[da4 jie3]) / greatly; freely; fully / (dialect) father / (dialect) uncle (father's brother)

a power (i.e. a dominant country)

surname Guo

country / nation / state / national / CL:個|个[ge4]

to seem / like / as / if

cooking method / to boil sb alive (capital punishment in imperial China)

small / tiny / few / young

variant of 鮮|鲜[xian3]

variant of 尟|鲜[xian3]

fresh / bright (in color) / delicious / tasty / delicacy / aquatic foods

few / rare

fish / old variant of 鮮|鲜[xian1]

old variant of 鮮|鲜[xian3]