When you're at a disadvantage in negotiations, you easily end up being controlled by the other side.
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history
From 《三国志·蜀志·诸葛亮传》 (Western Jin): Zhuge Liang tells Liu Bei's envoy, "吾不能举全吴之地，十万之众，受制于人" — I cannot hand Wu's territory and hundred thousand troops over to be controlled by another. The phrase has since become standard diplomatic and business language.
usage
Common in business, politics, and technology discussions — "关键技术/核心芯片…受制于人" is a fixed modern collocation. 于 here is the classical preposition "by"; pronounced yú, not yù.
