zhí​mù​xiān​fá

straight trees are felled first

直木先伐 zhí​mù​xiān​fá
straight trees are felled first
a straight tree is cut down first for its utility; figuratively, the most capable people are the first to be worn out or targeted

Frequency

Written text
0.003 per million

Cross-References

Referenced by

Sources

Frequency data
BCC Corpus (BLCU)