頭會箕斂

Chinese

head; (noun suffix)
to meet; to gather; group
to meet; to gather; group; to assemble; association; be able to; be likely to; to balance an account; accounting
 
 winnow basket arrange; control oneself; gather
trad. (頭會箕斂/頭會箕歛) 頭 會 箕 斂/歛
simp. (头会箕敛) 头 会 箕 敛
Literally: “to collect revenue by polling and amass them in baskets”.

Etymology

Originally used to describe oppressive taxation of the Qin dynasty:

外內騷動，百姓罷敝，頭會箕斂，以供軍費，財匱力盡，民不聊生。 [Traditional Chinese poetry, trad.]
外内骚动，百姓疲敝，头会箕敛，以供军费，财匮力尽，民不聊生。 [Traditional Chinese poetry, simp.]
From: The Records of the Grand Historian, by Sima Qian, c. 91 BCE
Wàinèi sāodòng, bǎixìng píbì, tóuhuì jīliǎn, yǐgōng jūnfèi, cáikuì lìjìn, mín bùliáo shēng. [Pinyin]
On the frontiers and in the interior there was widespread unrest, and the populace were destitute and exhausted. Still, taxation was levied by polling and goods were amassed by the basketful to make up for the expenses of war. Their wealth destroyed and labour worn out, the people simply couldn't make a living at all.

Pronunciation

  • Mandarin
    (Pinyin): tóuhuìjīliǎn, tóuhuìjīliàn
    (Zhuyin): ㄊㄡˊ ㄏㄨㄟˋ ㄐㄧ ㄌㄧㄢˇ, ㄊㄡˊ ㄏㄨㄟˋ ㄐㄧ ㄌㄧㄢˋ

Idiom

頭會箕斂

  1. (literary) to plunder the populace, especially by excessive levies; to overtax; to oppress and exploit the people
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