teak the tail of

LIU XIAOBO, China first non-Tibetan to wear the laurel of a Nobel peace prize, languishes quietly in prison and the artist known as Ai Weiwei remains better known abroad than at home. But a number of writers and activists whose names are not so famous overseas have gained a following within China by daring to tweak the tail of the Communist Party.

It reminds me a Chinese old saying which says "don't touch the butt of the tiger." It seems like an English adage saying "don't beard the lion". Both of them, I think, mean not to defy the authority. So the guy who dare to 'beard the lion' or 'tweak the tail of the Communist Party'—maybe a metaphor here— is audacious. Have I gussed it right?