十羊九牧

Pronunciation: shí yáng jiǔ mù Literal meaning: Ten sheep, nine shepherds

Origin & Usage

From the Book of Sui (《隋书·杨尚希传》). Early in the Sui dynasty the empire had inherited far too many prefectures and counties from the divided centuries before it. The official Yang Shangxi (杨尚希) petitioned Emperor Wen to merge them, arguing that capable administrators were rare while posts ran into the tens of thousands: 'This is what is called few people and many officials — ten sheep and nine shepherds' (所谓民少官多，十羊九牧). The emperor agreed and abolished whole layers of local government. The idiom still describes bloated administration, and more broadly any situation where so many people give orders that nobody can follow them.

Examples

English: "Five managers for six engineers — ten sheep and nine shepherds."

Chinese: 一个小项目安排了七八个负责人，真是十羊九牧，谁也说了不算。