The moment the company ran into trouble, its clients vanished from the door.
Tips
history
From Bai Juyi's (白居易, Tang dynasty) 《琵琶行》 ('Song of the Pipa'), spoken by the aging pipa player about her faded youth: 门前冷落鞍马稀，老大嫁作商人妇 — 'visitors at my gate grew sparse; in middle age I married a merchant.' Classical shorthand for fallen fortunes.
usage
Bai Juyi's original text has 鞍马 ('saddle-horses'); later quotation standardized to 车马 ('carriages and horses'). Both forms are understood; 车马稀 is the version that entered general idiom.
