卷地皮

juǎndìpí

idiom

Meanings

1 to roll up the ground
2 to strip a place bare through extortion
3 rapacious official plunder

Characters

Examples

HSK 7-9

那些贪官简直是卷地皮，百姓怨声载道。

Nàxiē tānguān jiǎnzhí shì juǎndìpí, bǎixìng yuànshēng-zàidào.

Those corrupt officials are stripping the place bare - the people are up in arms.

HSK 7-9

县官卷地皮三年，民不聊生。

Xiànguān juǎndìpí sān nián, mínbùliáoshēng.

Three years of the magistrate's plunder left the people unable to survive.

Tips

history

From a Tang poem by Lu Tong (卢仝): 扬州恶百姓，疑我卷地皮 - bad folks in Yangzhou suspect me of rolling up the earth itself. The image is an official so greedy he'd carry off the very topsoil.

Stroke Order

卷 juǎn

地 dì

皮 pí