Let the people...

"Let the state be small and the people few; So that the people... fearing death, will be reluctant to move great distances. And, even if they have boats and carts, will not use them. So that the people... will find their food sweet and their clothes beautiful, Will be content with where they live and happy in their customs. Though adjoining states be within sight of one another and cocks crowing and dogs barking in one be heard in the next, Yet the people of one state will grow old and die without having had any dealings with those of another."
Hongwu, Ming Emperor (1328-1398)

In David S. Landes' "Why Europe and the West? Why Not China?", 2006