Turning hands is cloud, covering hands is rain
When the hand turns up, it is the cloud; when the hand turns down, it is the rain. It refers to being capricious or good at playing tricks.
source
Du Fu of the Tang Dynasty wrote in his book "poor friends" that "if you turn your hands over to make clouds and cover your hands with rain, you will be frivolous one after another [example] although monkeys have hands, they can't make tools. As for "~", monkeys can't make tools. (the story of hands by Mao Dun)
words whose meaning is similar
Turn the clouds over, turn the rain over, turn the clouds over
Chinese PinYin : fān shǒu wéi yún,fù shǒu wéi yǔ
Turning hands is cloud, covering hands is rain
besiege a city to annihilate the enemy reinforce. wéi chéng dǎ yuán
Attack a son's shield with his spear. yǐ zǐ zhī máo,gōng zǐ zhī
bribe all the way through the bureaucracy to exonerate criminals from charges. mǎi shàng gào xià
follow suit without knowing why. ǎi rén guān cháng
Get rid of the bad and get rid of the bad. chú láng dé hǔ
decide promptly and opportunely. zhuàng shì duàn wàn
covetousness of corrupted officials. fēng shǐ cháng shé