知难而退
zhī nán ér tuìzhinanertui
- (lit.) to sound out the difficulties and retreat to avoid defeat (idiom)
- (fig.) to back out of an awkward situation; to get out on finding out what it's really like
zhī nán ér tuìzhinanertui
Data from JMdict, KANJIDIC2 (EDRDG), KanjiVG, CC-CEDICT and Make Me a Hanzi. Sources and licences