Chinese Word: 民穷财尽 - Talking Chinese English Dictionary

the people are impoverished, their means exhausted (idiom); to drive the nation to bankruptcy

1		shí zhí 时值 bīng 兵 zhì 炙 zhī hòu 之后， tián yuán 田园 huāng wú 荒芜， mín qióng cái jìn 民穷财尽， rén 人 duō 多 xǐ 徙 wài dì 外地， tā 他 zhāo lái 招来 liú sǎn 流散 bǎi xìng 百姓， miǎn chú 免除 tián fù 田赋 yáo 摇 yì 役， ràng 让 qí 其 xiū yǎng shēng xī 休养生息。 Sunburn military value, the barren countryside, people have been used up, a large resettlement overseas, he brought the people dispersed, shake Land Tax exemption from service, to recuperate.
2		zài 在 kàng rì zhàn zhēng 抗日战争 qī jiān 期间 hé 和 nèi zhàn 内战 chū qī 初期， jǐn guǎn 尽管 zhōng guó 中国 yǐ jīng 已经 kuài 快 dào 到 le 了 mín qióng cái jìn 民穷财尽 de 的 dì bù 地步， kě shì 可是 guó mín dǎng 国民党 de 的 nà xiē 那些 guān liáo 官僚 què 却 hái 还 wèi 为 zhēng 争 fā 发 guó nán cái 国难财 ér 而 nào dé 闹得 bù kě kāi jiāo 不可开交。 During the Japanese war and the early days of the civil war the Kuomintang bureaucrats turned to squabble among themselves over the wealth of the country which was fast diminishing.