前门打虎，后门打狼

前門打虎，後門打狼
qiánméndǎhǔ,hòuméndǎláng
to beat a tiger from the front door, only to have a wolf come in at the back (idiom); fig. facing one problem after another

CEDICT

Entry Composition

1 前门 qiánmén
  1. front door
  2. main entrance
  3. honest and upright approach (as opposed to 后门, back-door or under the counter)
2 打 dǎ
  1. a semantically light, transitive verb that is combined with various grammatical objects to form compound verbs and verb-object phrases with a diverse range of meanings (e.g. 打伞 dǎsǎn "to hold an umbrella", 打电话 dǎdiànhuà "to make a phone call", 打针 dǎzhēn "to get an injection", 打手套 dǎshǒutào "to knit gloves", 打气 dǎqì "to inflate")
  2. to hit; to strike
  3. to fight
  4. (coll.) from; since (as in 打那以后 dǎnàyǐhòu "since then")
3 虎 hǔ tiger

classifier: 隻
4 后门 hòumén
  1. back door; back gate
  2. (fig.) back-door influence; under-the-table dealings
  3. anus
  4. (computing) backdoor
5 打 dǎ
  1. a semantically light, transitive verb that is combined with various grammatical objects to form compound verbs and verb-object phrases with a diverse range of meanings (e.g. 打伞 dǎsǎn "to hold an umbrella", 打电话 dǎdiànhuà "to make a phone call", 打针 dǎzhēn "to get an injection", 打手套 dǎshǒutào "to knit gloves", 打气 dǎqì "to inflate")
  2. to hit; to strike
  3. to fight
  4. (coll.) from; since (as in 打那以后 dǎnàyǐhòu "since then")
6 狼 láng wolf

classifiers: 匹, 隻, 條

Related entries

前门拒虎，后门进狼 qiánménjùhǔ,hòuménjìnláng to beat a tiger from the front door, only to have a wolf come in at the back (idiom); fig. facing one problem after another