Meaning:

“顶” means “to substitute for” or “to carry on one’s shoulder,” and “包” is short for “包

袱,” which means “burden.” A slang term used in Chinese for many years, it means “to act as a scapegoat for another person who is the real culprit.”

Example:

A: 听说小马撞了车之后找人顶包，被发现了。

Tīngshuō xiǎomǎ zhuàng le chē zhīhòu zhǎorén dǐngbāo， bèi fāxiàn le。

Have you heard that Xiaoma found a scapegoat for himself as the “driver” after crashing his car, but was found out?

B: 他喝酒了吗？为什么要找人顶包？

Tā hējiǔ le ma？Wèishénme yào zhǎorén dǐngbāo？

Was he drunk? Why was it necessary to find a scapegoat?

A: 因为他还没拿到驾照呢，车也是朋友借他的。

Yīnwèi tā hái méi nádào jiàzhào ne，chē yěshì péngyǒu jiè tā de。

Because he hasn’t got a driver’s license yet, and the car he crashed was borrowed from a friend.