Thanks to the film “Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon”，「臥虎藏龍」is probably one of the best known Chinese idioms to non-Chinese speaking people. To them, the term is often interpreted literally, and perhaps even associated with some kind of lurking danger. To the Chinese speakers, however, the expression implies a sense of hidden power, and may be used to suggest the presence of exceptionally talented individuals that exist within larger groups, organizations, or companies.
Tigers, as everyone knows, are powerful animals. Dragons (Chinese dragons) in Chinese myths are powerful, mysterious, and lucky ones. They are used in the Chinese idiom 臥虎藏龍 (crouching臥, tiger虎, hidden藏, dragon龍, literally and respectively) as metaphors to mean some very talented or capable people in a group, organization, firm, university, etc,. And the tigers are "crouching" there and dragons are "hidden" somewhere because you as a new worker or new memeber don't know they are out there. The dragons haven't actively tried to hide from anyone. They are passively and relatively hidden from a new memeber or stranger who sees them and doesn't know they are talented or capable or very good at some skills or crafts until he is introduced to them and told so.
There's not at all dangers hidden (lurking) anywhere in this idiom. In Chinese, this is a very positive expression, though sounds slightly mysterious. Now pronounce it: 臥(woˋ)虎(huˇ)藏(tsangˊ)龍(lungˊ)。
