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Delving into dragon legends
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FEATURING a horse’s head, deer antlers, shrimp antennae, fish scales, a snake’s body, lizard legs, eagle talons and bull ears, the Chinese dragon is a powerful legendary creature. It can fly in the sky, swim in the ocean, summon wind and rain, change its size and become invisible. If you’re lucky, it might even answer your pleas for help.
Most Chinese people today are inclined to identify themselves as the descendants of the dragon, although its image could only be used by emperors in old times. It’s one of the 12 Chinese Zodiac symbols, and the only one not based on a real animal.
Many believe the Chinese dragon to be inspired by ancient people’s fears and reverence for supernatural forces in the universe. Others see the image of the Chinese dragon as the product of the unification of prehistoric tribes. As written in “Shi Ji” (“Historical Record”) by Sima Qian in the Han Dynasty (206-220 BC), after defeating the Yan Emperor and Chi You, the Yellow Emperor unified the Chinese lands and people, as well as allies of different tribes. This led to the birth to a new totem, in the form of the Chinese dragon.
At first, the veneration of the Chinese dragon was primarily a form of totem worship, but gradually developed into a complicated ritual system involving various related gods and mythical animals.
The longwang, or literally “Dragon King,” is the mythical god who governs all waters. The top dragon kings govern China’s four seas — namely the East, West, North and South Seas — while there are also less powerful dragon kings reigning over various rivers, creeks and even wells. They mostly appear with a dragon’s head and man’s body, but assume a more typical dragon shape when making clouds and bringing rains.
In seasons of disordered rainfalls, Chinese people will go to the local Dragon King Temple to pray for the God’s mercy. In some regions, there were also traditions of exposing the Dragon King’s statue to the burning sun until it rained.
Different legendary dragon types also came into being with different features. Jiao refers to a snake that has yet to become a dragon. It looks quite similar to other dragons, with a large body and sharp claws, yet with small or even invisible antlers. It usually dwells in deep fresh waters and is capable of bringing floods. It eats fish and some bad jiao also attack humans.
With proper Taoist practice, a jiao may gain its antlers and become a real dragon in 1,000 years, but this is not always the case.
A dragon with antlers yet no antenna is called qiulong. These are juvenile dragons that have not yet reached their full form.
Yinglong are much more powerful Chinese dragons with wings on their backs. Legend says that an yinglong helped the Yellow Emperor defeat Chi You, yet was unable to fly back to heaven again and settled instead in the mountains.
Longmai, or “dragon vessel,” is a fengshui term used to identify a particular type geographic context which resembles a hidden dragon. The Kunlun Mountain is one of the most well-known dragon vessels in China.
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