掩耳盜鈴

From a story in Lüshi Chunqiu:

范氏之亡也，百姓有得鍾者，欲負而走。則鍾大不可負，以椎毀之，鍾況然有音。恐人聞之而奪己也，遽揜其耳。 [Classical Chinese, trad.][▼ expand/hide]

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范氏之亡也，百姓有得钟者，欲负而走。则钟大不可负，以椎毁之，钟况然有音。恐人闻之而夺己也，遽揜其耳。 [Classical Chinese, simp.]

Fàn shì zhī wáng yě, bǎixìng yǒu dé zhōng zhě, yù fù ér zǒu. Zé zhōng dà bùkě fù, yǐ chúi huǐ zhī, zhōng huàngrán yǒu yīn. Kǒng rén wén zhī ér duó jǐ yě, jù yǎn qí ěr. [Pinyin]

When the Fan family was wiped out, there was a thief who wanted to carry the bell on his back and leave. Since the bell was too big for him to carry, he smashed it with a hammer, but the bell clanged loudly. For fear that people would hear it and take it from him, he quickly covered his ears.

掩耳盜鈴

1. (derogatory) to fool oneself; to bury one's head in the sand

• 自欺欺人 (zìqīqīrén)