Bù huì dǎzhàng, bù chīliáng; bù huì chànggē, bù mài táng.

不會打仗不吃糧, 不會唱歌不賣糖。

Lit [If one] can't fight, one cannot eat [army] rations; [if one] can't sing, one cannot sell sweet [pear] syrup.

Fig If one is not competent, one should not be in the trade.

Note [Rhyme; this kind of rhymed doggerel couplet is known as shùnkǒuliū(r); note: street vendors in traditional China sang to tout their medicines in a kind of “medicine show”; note: lígāo táng, sweet pear cough medicine.]

Topics COMPETENCE couplet doggerel lígāo táng MEDICINE rhyme shùnkǒuliū