铁锅翻了底，上面是黑，底下也是黑鐵鍋翻了底，上面是黑，底下也是黑鐵鍋翻了底，上面是黑，底下也是黑

An iron pot turned over: black on top, black underneath too

Saying俗语俗語

Two-part saying歇后语歇後語 · Rarely used now

Meaning: Said when people at every level are corrupt. Critical.
Wordplay: 黑 (hēi) means both the colour black and wicked or corrupt.

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Simplified: 铁锅翻了底，上面是黑，底下也是黑
Traditional (Taiwan): 鐵鍋翻了底，上面是黑，底下也是黑
Pinyin: tiěguō fānle dǐ, shàngmiàn shì hēi, dǐxia yě shì hēi
Bopomofo: ㄊㄧㄝˇ ㄍㄨㄛㄈㄢ ˙ㄌㄜㄉㄧˇ，ㄕㄤˋ ㄇㄧㄢˋ ㄕˋ ㄏㄟ，ㄉㄧˇ ˙ㄒㄧㄚㄧㄝˇ ㄕˋ ㄏㄟ

Written with HSK 5 vocabulary, at CEFR level B2.

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