One Idiom a Day: Chinese Wisdom in Stories

During the Warring States period, the State of Zhao was preparing to attack the State of Yan.

Yan sent a diplomat named Su Dai to persuade the King of Zhao not to go to war. Instead of giving the king a long lecture, Su Dai told him a simple story.

One day, a clam opened its shell and lay on the riverbank, enjoying the sun.

A snipe flew over and tried to peck at the clam's meat.

The clam quickly closed its shell and tightly clamped down on the snipe's beak.

The snipe said,
“If it doesn’t rain today or tomorrow, you’ll dry out and die!”

The clam replied,
“If I don’t let you go today or tomorrow, you’ll starve to death!”

Neither side was willing to give in. They remained locked in a bitter struggle.

Just then, a fisherman came by in his boat. Seeing the snipe and the clam fighting, he easily caught them both.

After telling the story, Su Dai said to the King of Zhao:

“Your Majesty, if Zhao and Yan fight each other and neither side is willing to back down, the powerful State of Qin may take advantage of the situation and defeat both of us—just like the fisherman caught the snipe and the clam.”

The King of Zhao thought about it and realized that Su Dai had a point. He eventually gave up his plan to attack Yan.

This story gave rise to the famous Chinese idiom “The Snipe and the Clam Fight” (鹬蚌相争 Yù bàng xiāng zhēng).

It is used to describe a situation where two sides fight over their immediate interests and refuse to compromise, only to let a third party benefit from their conflict.

There is an old lesson behind the story:

When two sides fight among themselves, they may end up giving someone else the chance to win.