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There are few cultures who can lay claim to a richer, more detailed ideal of the dragon that the Chinese. Unlike modern Europe their dragons are benevolent, wise and, in many cases have
evolved to become revered as gods. They show both great strength and wisdom in their tales as
well as foolishness and anger.

It is impossible to understand the dragon as a global creature without first absorbing as much information about the Chinese Dragon as is possible. Much of the history has been recorded in various forms and therefore often the ancient Chinese dragon is less elusive than that of other cultures.

As always we begin our journey by allowing ourselves a mental image of the creature we are studying. To do this we must go as far back in time as we are able and read the stories and descriptions told then. Wang Fu, during the Han dynasty (206BC - 220AD) tells of a dragon having the horns of a stag, the head of a camel, the eyes of a demon, the neck of a snake, the belly of a clam, the scales of a carp, the talons of an eagle, the feet of a tiger and the ears of an ox. Its voice was said to sound similar to the sweet jingling of bells. The dragon was said to have a total of 117 scales, and of these scales 81 of them were imbued with Yang energy, the active, dominant, masculine force. The remaining 36 scales are imbued with Yin energy, the passive, accepting, feminine force.

We can already see that although the dragon is mainly Yang, that there is a significant proportion
of the opposite Yin energy within them as well. This implies to me that it is not merely a creature
which has a predetermined nature but a creature with personality and opposites. This shows throughout the many tales told about the dragon. Where as some tales show the dragon in a good light, often portraying them as wise or fearsome warriors, others show the dragon as being stupid
or weak.

On the dragons head is the Chi 'ih muh lump that enables it to fly. A male dragon can apparently be told apart from the female by its undulating horn which is at its thickest on the upper part. The dragon is also said to have three jointed parts. The first is from head to shoulders, the second is
from shoulders to breast and the final part from breast to tale.

And so armed with a general idea of the Chinese Dragons appearance we can now delve deeper
into the myths and cultural affects of one of the most revered and talked about creatures in China.

Dragons Influence
The dragon's influence is immediately obvious in locations all over china. Many buildings and items found in the home will have a dragon within its history.

In the Forbidden city there are several animal symbols such as the crane , lion, turtle and various other beasts. One symbol, however, dominates the forbidden city. That of the dragon. It is said to
be the symbol for many things including authority, fertility, goodness, strength and it is the benevolent bringer of wealth and good fortune. As mentioned earlier the emperor wore dragon robes, sat in the dragon throne and even slept in the dragon bed. The people of China would often refer to themselves as the children of the dragon, such was the dragons influence.

One of the white marble passageways which bisect the steps of the Forbidden City is also elaborately adorned with dragons.

One of the dragons at the Forbidden City

There is also an apartment complex in Repulse Bay, Hong Kong that was built near a mountain. It was built with a hole in the centre to allow the dragon that is supposed to dwell in the mountain an unobstructed view of the ocean. This indicates that even in modern times there are those who seek the dragons good will.

The apartments at repulse bay. The hole is seen clearly on the right hand side of the photo.

Another show of the dragons influence in China are the great processions held in its honor,
originally as a bid for more rain. Of course, these processions still occur today. They are commonly held on January the 15th and June the 15th, marking the winter and summer solstice. Then of
course there
is the Chinese dragon dance held on the new year, which is done for prosperity and luck.

June is the time of the dragon boat race. This famous race is usually held on the fifth day of the
fifth moon which normally occurs in June but can occur outside of the month. It actually began as a commemoration of a minister of state, Chii Tuan, roughly in 450BC. He committed suicide,
probably by drowning, because the festival begins with a ceremonious search for his body in the water. Some learned men such as Visser, De groot sand frazer believe this festival is yet another
bid to call forth rain.

There are a great many boats in the festival which would partake in in the races. The boats used
can reach up to one hundred feet long but are only wide enough to fit two people side by side. This
shape seems to be designed to look like the water snake. This boat is then propelled by oars.

One of the famous dragon boats

The Chinese dragon well, as can be gauged by its name, is said to have dragon origins. It is said that when a one thousand year old yellow dragon enters a deep place a yellow spring will gush
forth. I have read that there are dragon wells as far as ireland and Scotland. Whether there is a connection here is hard to tell.

There are many holy mountains in China, many of which shelter dragons or have a relation to the creatures in some way. one such place, the Kunlun Mountains was where Ao Guang, one of the
four dragon kings, studied the holy Daoist teachings with Li Ying. (a mythological heroes father.)

Chinese dragons are also heavily tied in with Feng-Shui. Feng-Shui is still very commonly used
when putting up buildings. For example, a grave should have a tiger on its right and a dragon on its left according to Feng-Shui.

An in depth look at the Chinese Dragon
And so we can see that dragons can be seen in locations all over China. Their legends are
gracefully interweaved with Chinese culture and their way of life that there is a host of information available to sift through. Of course this leaves us with a problem. With so much information, some
of it often conflicting, it is hard to work out exactly how the dragon became such a huge part of Chinese history. I have done my best with the resources available to me to achieve a moderate understanding of the events which lead to the dragons existence. Though i have no doubt that i
have not even touched the tip of the iceberg.

The dragon was often portrayed as a being of water and rain. There were also three other protective beasts revered by the Chinese. They were the Tortoise, the Phoenix and the unicorn. The tiger was an enemy to the dragon and was associated with mountains, woods and sometimes death Another opposite to the dragon was the Phoenix but for different reasons. Where the dragon represented the masculine Yang energy, the Phoenix symbolised the feminine Yin energy and was associated with the empress.. Because the dragon is seen as the lord of rain it bears at least some resemblance to the Indian god Indra.

There are other rough connections from India. For instance the wind god Vaya rode on a gazzelle and was eventually fused with Indra who was the slayer of the water dragon Vritra. And so there are several connections but still we need to delve deeper in Chinese mythology to understand the dragon.

The sea god Ea of Babylonia had many forms, one of which was named, by some, as "The Goat Fish". Given that the Chinese dragon was also a sea god and had many connections with the stag
(it was sometimes known as "The Celestial Stag" The two may well have a connection.

I read that professor Sayce said, in connection to this, "Ea was called the antelope of the deep, the antelope, the creator, the lusty antelope." This can lead us to believe that as well as ties with goats Ea may well have had ties with stags or gazelles. The Chinese dragon had also had a tie with the stag, hence its horns.

The Babylonians also believed that Ea bought the gift of culture to the ancient Sumerians at the seaport of Eridu. This again bears some similarities to Chinese myth as it is said that it was a half horse, half dragon that gave the first emperor, Fu Hsi, the art of calligraphy by the Lo River. As well as this Ea was known to be the first slayer of Tiamat, a Babylonian dragon, before Marduk rose to take his place. The legend goes that Ea supplanted the dragon and became a dragon himself.

In fact not too long ago several stone slabs were found, abundant with inscriptions, buried in Shantung. Experts say the slabs date back to the third century BC. One of these slabs shows a drawing that apparently represents Fu Hsi with a woman assumed to be his consort. Both are fully dressed from the waist up, but their lower halves are serpent like, their tails intertwined.

The Shi i ki helpfully describes how a snake becomes a dragon. "A water snake after 500 years changes into a Kiao, a Kiao after 1000 years changes into a Lung, a Lung after 500 years changes into a Kioh Lung." And so through this we can see the gradual stages of growth a dragon must go through to reach its final form.

The dragon had many responsibilities. It would bring rain and thunder to a drought fearing land, it could flood rivers, it could control the oceans and its tides and it is a symbol of the emperor
himself. Once again we find a similarity with the Egyptians. The Egyptian Pharaoh was an avatar of Osiris or Horus and the Chinese Emperor was an incarnation or avatar of the dragon. With this in mind our creature of study could almost be considered a water god.

The Chinese dragons is also as closely connected to water as the serpent form of Osiris with the
nile in Egypt

It was imperial dragons that represented the "Sun of heaven", the emperor of China. Of course this
is based on a legend. According to myth, the legendary emperor Yu, founder of the Xia dynasty had originally appeared in the form of a winged dragon who emerged from his fathers body when it was cut open. After this, each subsequent emperor was said to be a reincarnation of Yu. To have
reached a status of such significant importance the dragon is unarguably perceived as a highly regarded creature.

During winter, the Chinese dry season, it is said that the dragons would sleep to preserve their bodies and energy. When the spring arrived the dragons would spring forth from their long slumber and engage each other in combat. Because of this there is no need for anyone to play the role of Horus, Marduk or Indra to force the dragons to bring benefits to mankind as it was this fight of the dragons that, were things to go well, would end up as beneficial to the people. The fight itself was said to bring heavy rain and thunder to the dry lands. But if the dragons were to fight for too long
then the rivers would overflow and flood, potentially killing many people.

It was also said that no mortal should witness these magnificent battles. It is this train of thinking that allows us to glimpse a similarity between China and Gaelic Scotland.

A Chinese metrical verse says

"When they fight, the dragons do not look at us;
Why should we look at them when they are fighting?
If we do not seek the dragons,
They also will not seek us."

In Gaelic Scotland the serpent associated with the goddess bride is said to sleep all winter and awaken on the 1st of February. This day is therefore known as Brides day. A verse regarding this is very similar to the one i just mentioned.

"To-day is the day of the bride,
The serpent shall come from his hole,
I will not molest the serpent,
And the serpent will not molest me."

The similarities between the two verses may well just be coincidence. Or it may well be a trade between beliefs across the globe distorted by time and events.

Another thing said about the Chinese dragon fights is that fireballs and pearls would fall to the
ground through out the fights duration. Also if the blue and yellow dragon defeat all the others then good things will will follow for those that use the land to survive.

The dragon gods were supposed to have been hatched from beautiful stones. the color of these stones revealed the nature of the spirits that resided within them. When a dragon hatched from its stone or "Dragon Egg" it was believed that lightning would flash and thunder and darkness could soon follow.

Once the dragon hatched it was said that the newborn was no bigger than a worm or small serpent but once born it would grow quickly.

There are five types of dragon each associated with a different season.

• To the east was the blue (or green) dragon associated with Spring.
• To the west was the white deity associated with Autumn.
• To the north, the black dragon associated with Winter. (A time of drought)
• At the south were two gods, the red and the yellow dragon. The red would rule during most
  of the summer and the yellow only during the last month.

These dragons were known, not only as lords of the seasons but also as life givers and curers of diseases.

The Shu king, a famous historical classic, tells of dragon bones came from Tsin land. These bones would grant medicinal qualities. It went on to say the five colored ones were the most sought after. Apparently the curative function would depend on the color of the bones dragon. Each color corresponded to a different organ.

• Blue - Liver and Gall
• White - Lungs and small intestines
• Red - Heart and large intestines
• Black - Kidneys and bladder
• yellow - Spleen and stomach

Once again, with enough research we can find similarities with Egypt. You see, in Egypt the god of the North had charge of the small viscera (The internal organs of the body, normally those within
the chest.), the god of the south had charge of the stomach and large intestines, the god of the
west of liver and gall and finally the god of the east had charge of the heart and lungs. It is therefore not impossible that the traders might have carried their stocks of medical curatives to and from China. Notice also in the Chinese legend that they mention the bones come from a another land. perhaps this means a land across the sea? There is no real way of knowing but it does bear some thought.

The dragons had many responsibilities. So far we have discovered they were revered (and
sometimes feared) as gods of water, the seasons and the four points of the compass. As well as
all of these it was sometimes said that they were "Light Gods" connected with the sun and moon, day and night. A reference to this can be found in the Yih Lin which says there is a black dragon in
China which could vomit light. Also the mountain dragon of Mount Chung is often referred to as
"The enlightener of darkness"

"When it opens its eyes it is day, when it shuts its eyes it is night. Blowing he makes winter, exhaling he makes summer. The wind is its breath."

After another bout of searching i found yet another, possibly vague, similarity to the Egyptian
deities. The Chinese dragons natural spirit is said to be in its eyes as it is deaf. According to
legend iron can blind a dragon hence the dragons fearing the metal. In Egypt the eye of Horus is blinded by Set, who is often thought to be associated with the metal iron.

I have mentioned the myths of other countries because if we are to trace the origins of the Chinese dragon we must look to those other countries which may have had some influence over China. For instance, Babylonian influence radiated over a large area for several centuries. This influence
seems to have carried over to India at times and as is more commonly known, India seemed to
have a cultural influence over China.

In fact John Leyland noticed this and wrote, in the magazine of art, volume 14, the following paragraph.

"It is in China, that the dragon reaches its highest pinnacle as an object of
reverence...for it is markedly an object of propitiation, and festivals are held in its
honour. yet its connections with the root-ideas of the Hindoos is never lost, for it is a
monster of mists and waters, and is painted issuing from cloud...There is evidence
also of human sacrifice to the monster, for Hie un Tsang relates that one Wat-Youen,
on the failue of a river, immolated himself in propitiation of the dragon; and at the
dragon boat festivals it is now believed that the boats intimidate the monster. Such
ideas were probably carried to China and japan with Buddhism, for Buddha himself
was a dragon slayer --- a destroyer of savage demonism and cruel magic."

Many of the ideas concerning dragons are prevelant in Polynesia. It is not likely that Polynesia's legends or their beliefs connected with the serpent, a creature unknown to the islanders at first
hand, were derived from China and so we must assume that either the similarities between the cultures legends are merely coincidence, or that they were both influenced by the same place.

The Chinese call the dragon, Lung because it is deaf. Chinese mythology recognise's several species of the genus Lung. the most renowned and respected are these...

The Tien Lung, or celestial dragon. then there is the Li from the sea and the Kiau from the marshes. It is said that the Tien Lung is the imperial dragon, The dragon of the emperor and has therefore
been the Chinese emblem, borne on its triangular flag and other symbols of power up until the establishment of the current republic.

It seems that only since the Ching period (1644 - 1911AD) that dragons uniformly had five claws. This was said by Chester Holcomb in his catalogue. However, Mr Ripley insists that the 5 toed form was introduced by the Ming rulers (1368 - 1644AD).

At first these dragons only seemed to adorn royal robes and furnishings. During the Han dynasty
the dragons became more common as decoration for pottery and other household items.

The second of these great dragons was the Shen-Lung or spiritual dragon. This dragon calls forth
the rain clouds and sprinkles water on the farmers fields hence its image being used on household alters. It tends to be worshipped when long droughts threaten the lands.

There is a paper written by C.S. Wake from which a certain paragraph seems to be apt here.

"The serpent-superstition is intimately connected with ancestor-worship, probably originating among uncultured tribes who, struck by the noiseless movement and the activity of the serpent, combined with its peculiar gaze and marvellous power of fascination, viewed it as a spirit-embodiment. As such it would appear to have the superior wisdom and power ascribed to the denizens of the spirit world, and from this would originate also the ascription to it of the power over life and health, and over the moisture on which these benefits are dependant. Among ancestor-worshipping peoples, however, the serpent would be viewed as a good being who busied himself with the interests of the tribe to which he had once belonged. When the simple idea of a spirit-ancestor was transformed into that of a Great Spirit, the father of the race, the attributes of the serpent would be enlarged. The common ancestor would be relegated to the heavens, and that which was necessary to the life and well-being of his people would be supposed to be under his care. hence the Great Serpent was thought to have power over the rains and the hurricane, which the latter of which it was probably often identified.

The last of the great dragons that i will mention is Li-Lung, the dragon of the earth and its waters. This dragon is usually described as having a human like face and a lions body and is said to be yellow. This dragon bears many resemblances to the Babylonian god Ea and Marduk and their seagoat as i mentioned earlier.

Being the earth dragon Li is supposed to live underground, capable of causing earthquakes with its gigantic frame. The Li is even supposed to be responsible for a great landslide which partly damned the Yangtse river and formed the dread rapids in the gorge above Ichang called, aptly enough, The Dragon Gate.The Li is tasked with guarding many precious stones and minerals underground.

Dragon Legends
there are many dragon legends in China. I'm afraid i could not possibly name them all nor do i
believe one person would ever be able to hear of them all. Never the less i will detail some of the tales told in China which involve the dragon to a degree.

Son Goku
According to the book "Journey to the West" written by Wu Cheng 'en in the 16th century, there
was a troubled hero named Son Goku, soon to become the Monkey God. During his endeavors he tricked the dragon king and stole a magic wand that would grow to huge sizes or shrink at the wielders request.

Nezha and Ao Guang
There is a tale which tells of Ao Guang, the dragon king, in the legend of Nezha, told roughly
around the time of the supplanting of the Shang dynasty by the Zhou dynasty. It tells of a Chinese hero named Nezha who was born with two accoutrements: A golden bracelet on his right wrist and
a piece of red damask silk on his stomach that glowed with a golden light.

One day, Nezha was out with a servant, at seven years of age. He stopped at a river bank to
moisten his silken cloth with the intention of wiping his brow with it. The cloth however, was the sky stirring damask and so was enough to send shock waves towards the eastern sea itself. Ao Guang the dragon king, sent a guard to find out what had upset the calm waters. Unfortunately nezha took offence to this envoy and killed the guard with the magic bracelet. When the officer failed to come back Ao Guang sent one of his own sons to find out what had occurred.

Nezha killed the prince too, cutting out a tendon to use as a string belt. Enraged at this the dragon king went to Li Ying (Nezha's father) in his fortress to demand retribution for his dead son. Nezha ended up reluctantly apologising to Ao Guang and offered to return the princes sinew. Not satisfied the dragon king went to the Jade Emperor to seek justice. But under the advice of a sage Nezha waylaid Ao Guang and threatened to kill the sea monarch if he went to the jade Emperor.

Forced to retreat, lest he share the same fate as his son, Ao Guang said to Li Ying that he would
go to the jade Emperor with the other three dragon kings of the other seas. Nezha, meanwhile had accidentally killed one of the servants of the goddess, Shi Ji Niang-niang and so fled with her in
tow. Nezha's master did manage to slay the goddess but when the troubled hero returned home he found the four dragon kings carrying off his parents. To save them nezha offered to take his own
life. The lords of the sea agreed and so Nezha disemboweled himself with a sword.

Huang Di
Huang Di was one of two rulers of the universe. He fought with his brother, the other ruler, and managed to achieve victory. After the battle Huang Di drive in a victory procession to make
sacrifices on a holy mountain, Taishan. His ivory Chariot was pulled by a team of elephants and
was guarded by six flying dragons on each side.

Dragons were often associated with the chariots of war in Chinese mythology. In the war between
the cruel god of water, Gong Gong and the god of fire, Zhu Rong, Gong Gong lead his attack on a chariot pulled by two dragons.

There is was a book written in 557AD by Wang Kia that tells of an emperor named Muh from the Chow dynasty. It says he once "grove around the world in a carriage drawn by eight winged dragon-horses"

And yet another legend tells of Xi He, the wife of the god Di Jun. She had ten sons and every day, while it was still dark, she would take one of her sons in her chariot which was pulled by a dragon. The sons were in fact suns and she would take them to where they could walk across the sky.

White Dragon temple
A story from the 5th century BC tells of how a girl gave shelter to a homeless old man on a dark
and stormy night. Through unknown means she became pregnant. When she gave birth, her
offspring was not a child but a formless lump of flesh which she threw into a nearby lake. The discarded package became a white dragon, which shocked the girl so much she died. Her
memory, however, was kept alive in future years at the White Dragon temple in the Jiangsu
province.

Confucius
One legend says that when the famous Confucius was born, two Azure dragons came from the sky to his mothers house. Similarly a dragon appeared in a red vapour just before the birth of Hiao Wu,
a famous man from the Han dynasty.

Chang Lung
Then there is the tale of Chang Lung. He was a successful magistrate in the reign Chung Tsung684AD. He was respected by all, including his sons and wife for his piety. His sons one day noticed he spent longer hours in the temple each night and decided to question him on it. Chang Lung confessed that he was metamorphosing into a dragon protector but another dragon was challenging him. He asked his sons to help him and they agreed saying they would recognise him
by a red ribbon he would wear. That night the sons went to the temple armed with bows. As the two dragons fought they managed to shoot down the rival dragon. From that day Chang became the protector of the community. In AD707 the temple was apparently dedicated to Chang Lung and
then enlarged in 894 and 1091AD.

The Foolish Dragon
The myths also have also shown dragons as being foolish as this particular tale describes. It tells
of an ocean dragon whose wife was very sick. He asked her what she would like to eat, in order to feel better. After some persuading she admitted she would like a monkeys heart. Not wanting her
to suffer the dragon made his way to the shore where he spied a monkey in a tree. To get the monkey down the dragon offered to carry it to a land where fruit grew on every branch. The monkey climbed down from its perch and got onto the dragons back and the dragon dived down into the ocean depth. Panic stricken the monkey asked where they were going to which the dragon apologetically told him of his wife's request. The monkey told the dragon that it had in fact left its heart at the top of the tree and that they would need to go for it. The foolish dragon agreed and
once they reached the shore the monkey climbed quickly back into the safety of the tree tops. The lucky monkey thought to itself "What simpletons the dragons must be to fall for a story like that"

The story seems to me to have a morale. The Chinese history has been rich with wise men, interesting proverbs and words of wisdom and this story could quite easily be one of them. To me it means that although the dragon is mighty and revered, even the mighty can be foolish and outsmarted. However this may not have been its meaning at all.

References

• China and Japan, Myths and Legends - Donald A. Mackenzie
• Dragons and Dragon Lore - Ernest Ingersoll
• Dragons and Dynastys, An Introduction to Chinese Mythology - Yuan Ke
• Dragon Lore - Ah De Kirk
• Land of the Dragon, Chinese Myths - Timelife Books
• The Encyclopedia of eastern mythology - Rachel Storm
• The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Myths and Legends - Arthur Cotterell
• www.ninedragonbayauzhang.com