蜀贾卖药 — “Refers to opportunistic business practices”

蜀贾卖药 is a Chinese idiom (chengyu) meaning “refers to opportunistic business practices”. Often involving questionable ethics or selling inferior goods at low prices, to gain significant profits. It highlights how different business strategies can lead to varied, sometimes counterintuitive, outcomes in the market. Literally, “Shu merchants selling medicine”.

Frequency

蜀贾卖药 Pronunciation and Pinyin

蜀贾卖药 Character Breakdown

Stroke Order

Character	Pinyin	Strokes	Meaning
蜀	shǔ	13	Sichuan province or Shu kingdom
贾	jiǎ	10	merchant, sell, surname
卖	mài	8	sell, betray, exert, show off
药	yào	9	medicine, drug, chemical

Example Sentence with 蜀贾卖药

在快速变化的市场中，一些商家为了迅速抢占份额，往往会采取“蜀贾卖药”的策略。

In a rapidly changing market, some businesses often adopt the "Shu merchants selling medicine" strategy to quickly seize market share.

Origin and Story of 蜀贾卖药

There were three medicine merchants from the Shu region (Sichuan). One specialized in selling high-quality medicine with small profit margins. The second was honest, selling both good and inferior medicine, but always clearly separating their prices. The third merchant specialized in selling low-quality medicine at cheap prices and often gave extra amounts.

After a year, the merchant who sold inferior medicine at low prices became very rich, with his shop always crowded and its threshold worn out by customers.

In contrast, the merchant who only sold good quality medicine found his shop deserted and lived in poverty, barely making ends meet.