焚琴煮鹤

fén qín zhǔ hè

lit. to burn zithers and cook cranes

fig. to waste valuable resources; to destroy wantonly beautiful things

焚

fén

to burn

琴

qín

guqin 古琴[gu3 qin2] (a type of zither)

煮

zhǔ

to cook

鹤

hè

crane