假戏真唱

假戏真唱

Literally means:

to do what is put on stage in real life

Actually means:

to carry out what was false as real

It means doing something false as real. It also means carrying out what one pretended to be doing before. In the former case, it means even though one poses as doing something, he would try to make it appear as real. In the later case, it means one originally intends to pretend to do something, but for some reason, it bring on a real effect. Derogatory.

指把假的事当成真的事来做。也指把原来假做的事做成真的事。用在前一个意思时，通常表明事情虽然是假装的，做做样子给人家看的，也要做得使人信以为真。用在后一个意思时则表明，原本是扮演的事情，由于种种原因，结果却变成了真实的事情。具有贬义色彩。