按倒葫芦起了瓢，顾了这头儿顾不上那头儿按倒葫蘆起了瓢，顧了這頭兒顧不上那頭兒按倒葫蘆起了瓢，顧了這頭兒顧不上那頭兒

Press down the gourd and the ladle pops up: look after this end and you can't tend the other

Saying俗语俗語

Two-part saying歇后语歇後語 · Widely known

Meaning: Solving one problem creates another, and you can't handle both at once. Like 'robbing Peter to pay Paul' or whack-a-mole.

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Simplified: 按倒葫芦起了瓢，顾了这头儿顾不上那头儿
Traditional (Taiwan): 按倒葫蘆起了瓢，顧了這頭兒顧不上那頭兒
Pinyin: àn dào húlu qǐle piáo, gùle zhè tóur gùbúshàng nà tóur
Bopomofo: ㄢˋ ㄉㄠˋ ㄏㄨˊ ˙ㄌㄨㄑㄧˇ ˙ㄌㄜㄆㄧㄠˊ，ㄍㄨˋ ˙ㄌㄜㄓㄜˋ ㄊㄡˊㄦㄍㄨˋ ㄅㄨˊ ㄕㄤˋ ㄋㄚˋ ㄊㄡˊㄦ

Written with HSK 6 vocabulary, at CEFR level B2.

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