Only by uniting can we escape a state of scattered disarray.
Tips
history
Coined by Liang Qichao in 《十种德性相反相成论》 (late Qing): '然终不免一盘散沙之诮者,则以无合群之德故也' — 'we cannot escape the charge of being a sheet of loose sand because we lack the virtue of group unity'. Liang's phrase became a stock diagnosis of Chinese national weakness in the 20th century.
memory
Picture sand in a plate — it never clumps into anything useful. 一盘 ('one plateful') + 散沙 ('scattered sand') = a group that has no structure.
