Hǎo yuángōng huàn dào chà de tuánduì, shēng yú Huáiběi zé wéi zhǐ, biǎoxiàn yīluòqiānzhàng.
Good employees in a bad team - 'north of the Huai it becomes bitter' - their performance plummets.
Tips
history
From 《晏子春秋·内篇杂下》. When the Qi minister 晏婴 (Yanzi) was on a mission to Chu, the king of Chu mocked the people of Qi as ill-behaved. Yanzi rebutted with 'an orange grown south of the Huai is sweet, but grown north it turns into the bitter zhi,' implying that the environment of Chu, not Qi, was what corrupted people.
usage
The character 枳 is read zhǐ; it is the sour, bitter trifoliate orange of the rue family, whose fruit is inedible. The line is always paired with the preceding clause 橘生淮南则为橘 as a parallel couplet.
