开源节流
kāi yuán jié liú
to increase income and cut spending
Character by character
开kāi
open
open
源yuán
source
source
节jié
restrain
restrain
流liú
flow
flow
Example
公司今年效益不好，只能开源节流，一边找新客户，一边压缩开支。
The company is not doing well this year, so it has to bring in more and spend less: finding new clients while squeezing costs.
Tone: positive (praise).
Usage and origin
From the philosopher Xunzi (《荀子·富国》: 节其流，开其源): 开源 is opening new sources of income, 节流 is stemming the outflow. Used of governments, companies and households alike, and often split up (既要开源，也要节流).
Learn this in Lesson 189 · HSK 7–9: 先花后还 (Spend now, pay later)
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.
Open the lesson →