阳奉阴违

yáng fèng yīn wéi

to comply in public and defy in private

Character by character

阳yáng
openly

奉fèng
obey

阴yīn
secretly

违wéi
defy

有的部门对新规定阳奉阴违。

Some departments pay lip service to the new rules but ignore them.

Tone: negative (criticism).

Common in news about officials ignoring orders.

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