2 Chinese Idioms from Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (卧虎藏龙)
The chengyu spoken in Ang Lee's Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon — the title idiom itself and 心诚则灵 from Lo's desert legend.
Ang Lee's 2000 wuxia classic Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (卧虎藏龙) is named after a chengyu — and weaves another into its dialogue. The characters' names — Xiaohu (小虎, little tiger) and Jiaolong (蛟龙, delicate dragon) — mirror the title's hidden tiger and dragon.
卧虎藏龙
wò hǔ cáng lóngHidden talents or extraordinary people in an unassuming place
Literal: Crouching tiger, hidden dragon
Yu Xin of the Northern Zhou wrote 暗石疑藏虎，盘根似卧龙 — dark stones seem to hide tigers, gnarled roots resemble a reclining dragon — and the halves were later compressed into one phrase: a crouching (卧) tiger (虎), a hidden (藏) dragon (龙). It names a place where formidable people are present and unrecognised...
Example
This quiet neighborhood is full of hidden talent — a true case of crouching tiger, hidden dragon.
江湖里卧虎藏龙，人心里何尝不是？
心诚则灵
xīn chéng zé língGenuine sincerity brings results; a faithful heart makes wishes come true
Literal: Heart sincere, then it answers
The heart (心) being sincere (诚), the thing then (则) answers (灵). 灵 is the word used of a prayer that is heard, an oracle that proves true, a remedy that works — efficacy of the kind you cannot engineer, only deserve. That is why the phrase belongs to temples and to wishes rather than to argument: it...
Example
She believed that if she studied with genuine dedication, results would follow — a sincere heart achieves the divine.
真心的，就会实现。我问过汉人，他们说是——心诚则灵。
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