食玉炊桂

shí yù chuī guì

food is more precious than jade and firewood more expensive than cassia (idiom)

the cost of living is very high

食

shí

to eat

玉

yù

jade

炊

chuī

to cook food

桂

guì

abbr. for Guangxi Autonomous Region 廣西壯族自治區|广西壮族自治区[Guang3 xi1 Zhuang4 zu2 Zi4 zhi4 qu1]