一穷二白

impoverished / backward both economically and culturally

one / single / a (article) / as soon as / entire; whole; all; throughout / "one" radical in Chinese characters (Kangxi radical 1) / also pr. [yao1] for greater clarity when spelling out numbers digit by digit

poor / destitute / to use up / to exhaust / thoroughly / extremely / (coll.) persistently and pointlessly

two / 2 / (Beijing dialect) stupid

white / snowy / pure / bright / empty / blank / plain / clear / to make clear / in vain / gratuitous / free of charge / reactionary / anti-communist / funeral / to stare coldly / to write wrong character / to state / to explain / vernacular / spoken lines in opera