Chinese idiom · 成语
鸟尽弓藏
Meaning
To discard or mistreat those who helped once success has been achieved.
Character by character
Origin and story
Historical analogyShiji (史记), in its account of King Goujian of Yue, records Fan Li leaving after Yue's success and warning Wen Zhong by letter. Once birds are gone, he says, a good bow is put away; once hares are dead, hunting dogs are cooked. He judges Goujian a ruler with whom one can share hardship but not prosperity, and urges Wen Zhong to leave too.
The hunting comparison also occurs in the Huainanzi (淮南子), Shuolin. It illustrates what may happen when a ruler or employer no longer needs a capable helper. 鸟尽弓藏 concerns more than storing ordinary tools: its figurative force is the abandonment, sidelining, or destruction of people whose service made success possible.
Sources and further reading
In everyday life
项目一成功就把老员工排除在外，未免有鸟尽弓藏之嫌。
Excluding longtime employees as soon as the project succeeds looks like discarding people once they have served their purpose.
Critical; concerns mistreating contributors after their usefulness has passed.