Wikipedia
"Chinese fire drill" is a slang term for a situation that is chaotic or confusing, possibly due to poor or misunderstood instructions.
Usage examples of "chinese fire drill".
What with all the silent messages between ghosts and geriatrics, what I saw was wild and less than wonderful --like a Chinese fire drill -- the Greek airforce -- the Estonian navy.
And farther south than that, an attack by the Armys 5th Regimental Combat Team and a large portion of the 1st Marine Brigade had turned out to be, in Colonel Dunns opinion, even more of a Chinese fire drill.
The Marines had an ancient expression they used to describe what happened when the first sergeant started giving platoon assignments to the recruits: Chinese fire drill.
There were even those who said that the whole Raider concept was a Chinese fire drill, because the President's son was involved and because the Commandant didn't have the balls to tell the President the whole idea was a drain on manpower and resources that could be better used elsewhere.
It looked like a Chinese fire drill, with all those Maggie's drawers flying.