lǐ​dài​táo​jiāng

to substitute one thing for another

李代桃僵 lǐ​dài​táo​jiāng
to substitute one thing for another
To substitute one thing for another, especially to take the blame or sacrifice oneself for another; to be a scapegoat
mutual aid among siblings
Originally a metaphor for brothers sharing hardships and helping one another, derived from a folk song where a plum tree withers to save a peach tree from insects

Frequency

Written text
0.084 per million

Sources

Frequency data
BCC Corpus (BLCU)