Chinese Dragon Culture

Chinese Dragon Culture

China is the birthplace of Chinese dragon culture. Dragon culture has a long history in China, which occupies an important position in the development of the cultural history of ethnic Chinese peoples. Chinese dragon culture is a sign of Chinese traditional culture. In long China’s history, the dragon is a symbol for the ethnic Chinese peoples. As common worship or a god, which is an artistic image for ethnic Chinese peoples, Chinese dragon links up the relationship of different ethnic peoples with different beliefs in China and enhances the mutual understanding and the unity of all the nationalities, which plays a positive role in the ethnic fusion and cultural unity.

The Origin of the Dragon

The Chinese dragon is a legendary animal in fiction. The dragon looks like a combination of many animals, which is often described visually as a composite of parts from nine animals, the horns of a deer, the head of a camel, the eyes of a rabbit, the neck of a snake, the abdomen of a large cockle, the scales of a fish, the claws of an eagle, the paws of a tiger, and the ears of an ox.

Chinese dragon originates from a primitive culture of totems, but the essence is beyond the totem culture. Some scholars believe that Chinese dragon originates from totems of different tribes in ancient China. Specifically speaking, ancient Huaxia Tribe, who takes the snake as their totem gradually conquers other tribes, which lake the deer, camel, rabbit, cockle, fish eagle, tiger, and ox as their respective totems in the tribe wars. To strengthen the unity, it requires a comprehensive idol as their shared totem. So the Huaxia Tribe takes their totem, the snake, for the body and absorbs other prominent features of other conquered tribal totems to form a new totem, which combines such characteristics as the snake, fish, and beast. Thus, it sublimates into the dragon which does not exist in nature. The Chinese dragon is a comprehensive creature, which combines the totems, which many other tribes worship. Chinese dragon becomes a shared totem of ethnic Chinese peoples, which constructs the Chinese national cohesion.

The Evolution of Chinese Dragon

The dragons before the Spring and Autumn Period can be called the “Ancient Dragon,” many of which have an image of crawling, which is humble in structure and morphology, with a snake's body and animals, head, and shares some reptilian characteristics. The shape of the dragon then is extremely rich, but rather extremely weird. The dragon takes on an image of roughness, wildness, violence, and terror, showing a mysterious power, which not only reflects the cultural system in the ancient times but also embodies the cultural characteristics of tribal conquest and annexation war.

The dragons from the Warring States Period to the Tang Dynasty can be called the “Medieval Dragon.” In this period the dragon undergoes the biggest changes in the morphology. The Medieval Dragon begins to remove the reptilian characteristics, from creeping towards flying. The dragon’s body takes on the shape of ”S,” which is vigorous. No matter what changes the Medieval Dragon undergoes in the dragon posture or the dragon shapes, besides its circular shape, the dragon’s head is mostly struggling to uphold to make a roar or have a tendency of flying, which is quite different from the Ancient Dragon and the Modem Dragon.

After the Song Dynasty, the dragon forms its basic shape, which can be called “Modem Dragon," the main characteristic of which is winding, changeable and gorgeous. The Modem Dragon, though it still maintains a mighty majesty of a dragon, loses the fierce of a Medieval Dragon. Their horns become longer than that of Medieval Dragon, which takes on a forked shape, showing a laudable tolerant spirit. The palate becomes straight from a rolled shape. The mouth becomes deeper than it is before. The giant blooded mouth of an Ancient Dragon turns to be the foraging tools to meet the needs of survival. The dragon’s body is lengthened with long elegant beard and hair. Each part of the dragon’s body is quite coordinated with a beautiful posture and a romantic charm. At this time, the image of the dragon, which has the homes of a deer, the head of a camel, the eyes of a rabbit, the neck of a snake, the abdomen of a large cockle, which is emulated and followed by later generations.

Since the Chinese feudal emperors fabricate the divine right of emperors, the image of the dragon has become the best substitute for the feudal emperors. The feudal emperors become “the real dragon and the sons of heaven,” which are sent by God to rule the world. Thus, the emperor’s clothes are called “dragon robes.” The chair, which the feudal emperors sit, is called dragon chair”. The closed carriage, which the feudal emperors take for travel, is called the “dragon chariot." The emperor’s children are called “dragon tatsutane.” The feudal emperors” anger is called "dragon fury.”

The Dragon’s Classification

According to the old Chinese legend, Tianlong Dragon, the dragon in heaven, guards the heaven and pulls the carts in heaven. Shenlong Dragon, the Thor, is in charge of the weather. It has a human body and a dragon’s head with a drum-like belly. Fuzanglong Dragon, who guards the gold, silver, and jewelry in the underground world, is in charge of the volcano. Dilong Dragon, an earth dragon, which is in charge of rivers and lakes, takes the responsibility of opening the rivers. Yinglong Dragon is the dragon, who sprouts two wings after thousand of self-cultivating. It is said that Yinglong Dragon is a dragon of Huangdi, who is the alliance leader of the ancient Huaxia Tribal.

Yinglong Dragon follows Huangdi’s order to crusade against Chiyou, who is the alliance leader of Jiuh ethnic tribal in ancient times. Yinglong Dragon killed Chiyou and became a hero. Jiaolong Dragon, a flood dragon, who is a hornless dragon, is the overlord in the water, who is capable of invoking storms and floods. Panlong Dragon is the lake dragon, which is dormant in the ground without ascending to heaven. Huanglong Dragon, a yellow dragon, is a hornless dragon, which is often used to symbolize the feudal emperors. Feilong Dragon, a flying dragon, which has two wings, can fly in the sky. Qinglong Dragon, a blue dragon, which is one of four spirits” in Chinese culture, is in charge of the East.

The Legend of the Nine Sons of Dragons

The first son of the dragon, who is called Qiuniu, loves music and becomes a decoration for musical instruments, such as two-stringed bowed (Huqin).

The second son of the dragon, who is called Yazi, loves fighting. Yazi is often carved in many different knife rings and handles of swords.

The third son of the dragon, who is called Bi’an, shapes like a tiger. Bi’an, who is powerful, loves adventure. Therefore, it often appears In the ancient prison, door to deter prisoners. There is an allegation of a tiger prison, which is circulated among the people in the past. It is said that Bi’an, the third son of the dragon is a mythical animal, who can distinguish between the right and wrong and have the justice to be done.

The fourth son of the dragon, who is called Suanni, shapes like a lion and likes smoke and sitting. Suanni usually rests on the feet of an incense burner is swallowing and spitting the smoke.

The fifth son of the dragon, who is called Taotie, is greedy and lazy. Taotie likes delicious food and drink. Therefore, Tiaotie is often found in ancient cooking tripods and other devices. The design of Taotie, which is a ferocious beast with a head but without a body, can be found in The bronze vessels of Xia and Shang Dynasties. It is a gastrologist who is capable of tasting and appreciating the delicious delicacies.

The sixth son of the dragon, who is called Jiaotu, shapes like a snail mussel and has a gentle temperament Jiaotu, who is the guardian of going to school, praying for children and promotion, often appears on the door with a ring in mouth, guarding for the safety and keeping out of the villains.

The seventh son of the dragon, who is called Bixi, shapes like a turtle with teeth and possesses tremendous strength and likes bearing a heavy burden. Bixi, who is usually found to bear a heavy stone tablet in the palaces, is the guardian of long-live, luck and good fortune.

The eighth son, who is called Chiwen or Chiwci, likes looking up and down. Chiwen, who is usually found to stand on the roof of a building with a posture of opening the mouth to swallow the ridge is the mythical animal for guarding houses, expelling evils, invoking blessings and enjoying a good and prosperous life.

The ninth son, who is called Pixiu or Bixie, is violent by nature, especially swallowing gold and silver. Pixiu, who is a monster with a huge belly but without an anus, always takes but never gives. Therefore, Pixiu is the guardian of making money and bringing in wealth and treasure.

The Embodiment of the Dragon

China is the hometown of the Chinese dragon. The ethnic Chinese peoples are descendants of the Chinese dragon. The ethnic Chinese peoples always believe in the dragons, worship dragons, and offer sacrifices to dragons. They often place their beautiful ideas and wishes on the dragon and believe that the dragon will bring them good luck and give them happiness. The dragon is a symbol of divine and authority. The concept and the image of the dragon have penetrated every aspect of Chinese society.

In Chinese history, the dragon, as one of China's unique cultural phenomena, appears in such various fields as politics, economy, culture art and architecture. Chinese dragon culture is embodied everywhere, from the bricks in Qin Dynasty or the tiles in Han Dynasty to wood carvings or stone carvings, from ancient temples or the forest of towers to vessels or bells or ornamental columns, from the royal palace to folk living articles, from paintings or paper-cuts to folk legends. From the festivals or customs to the entertainment customs or festive activities, the dragon, which is the symbol of auspiciousness, often appears in front of people. The dragon’s image also appears in many arts, crafts, buildings, and other utensils. Various forms of Chinese character, “龙,” which means the dragon, also appear on many occasions as calligraphy work. The dragon is a symbol of auspiciousness, which represents the ideal and strength.

The image of the dragon can be seen as well in such grand celebrations as a dragon performance, dragon boat race, and so on. The dragon plays a very important role in Chinese politics, literature, art, customs and religious beliefs.