谷贱伤农
gǔ jiàn shāng nóng
when grain is cheap, the farmers suffer
Character by character
谷gǔ
grain
grain
贱jiàn
cheap
cheap
伤shāng
hurt
hurt
农nóng
farmer
farmer
Example
今年玉米大丰收，价格却一路下跌，真是谷贱伤农。
Maize had a bumper year, but the price kept falling: a classic case of cheap grain hurting the farmers.
Tone: neutral.
Usage and origin
From the statesman Li Kui’s argument, recorded in 《汉书·食货志》, that grain too dear hurts the people and grain too cheap hurts the farmers (籴甚贵伤民，甚贱伤农). News writing swaps the first character for the product: 菜贱伤农, 果贱伤农, 奶贱伤农.
Learn this in Lesson 173 · HSK 7–9: 寿光的大棚 (The greenhouses of Shouguang)
A dialogue, a reading, word cards with audio and a drill that uses it, in Learn Chinese with Bao. The first lessons of every level are free.
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