📖 Meaning
To stockpile scarce commodities and calculate the maximum profit from them. It describes merchants who corner the market on rare goods and manipulate supply to reap excessive gains.
📜 Origin Story
This idiom originates from Chao Cuo's memorial 'On the Importance of Grain' (《论贵粟疏》) during the Western Han dynasty. Chao Cuo criticized large merchants who hoarded goods to earn double interest while small traders sat in market stalls peddling wares, all 'manipulating rare goods for profit' (操其奇赢) as they idled through the cities. His essay argued that such profiteering harmed agriculture and destabilized the state, urging the emperor to prioritize grain production over commerce. The phrase was later condensed into the four-character idiom 操奇计赢.
💡 Example Usage
那些操奇计赢的奸商最终自食其果。
Those profiteering merchants who hoarded and manipulated the market ultimately reaped what they had sown.
🏷️ Category
➕ Similar Idioms
➖ Opposite Idioms
🔤 Quick Facts
- Chinese: 操奇计赢
- Pinyin: cāo qí jì yíng
- Literal Translation: hoard, rare goods, calculate, profit
- Category: Method
- Characters: 4