1. Offers protection and good luck
2, Can fly, swim, change into other animals, can bring rainfall, ward off evil spirits
3. Symbolizes the yang, or male, principal, and by extension, the emperor
4. Parts: Snake body, deer horns, bull ears, hawk claws, fish scales
5. Many pictures oforiental dragons show a flaming pearl under their chin. The pearl isassociated with wealth, good luck, and prosperity.
6. Clawed dragons represent the emperor. The Chinese five-claweddragon, adopted by the first Ming emperor for his personal use, wasused as decoration on the beams, pillars, and on the doors on Imperialarchitecture.
| Architecture and Religion Sculpted dragons and demon-like creatures from myths and legends werepopular architectural features on the roofs of wealthy people’s housesand temples. These creatures had different magical properties; adragon, for instance, was believed to prevent house fires... Dragon The dragon is associated with the east, the direction of sunrise and,in general, positive actions. Some ancient Chinese held dragonprocessions or festivals, welcoming the dragons and their life-givingrains each spring. People also painted dragons with four claws on thedoors of temples and on the walls surrounding villages and towns toinvite the rains and to keep these places safe from harm. The Chinese emperors had their own pattern, dragons with five claws oneach leg. It became a crime for anyone but the emperor to wear an imageof a dragon with five claws. These imperial dragons were painted on theroyal palaces, embroidered on the royal family’s robes, and used todecorate the royal plates, porcelain vases, and other household items. Dragons were also described as male and female. Male dragons had twowavy horns on the top of their heads, whiskers around the nostrils, anda luminous pearl imbedded in their chins or necks. Female dragons hadno horns but were said to wear necklaces of huge and priceless pearls. A common decorative motif shows two dragons guarding celestial orbs... Buddhists made a distinction between the evil mountain dragons, whichmade trouble for the people, and water dragons, which were consideredbeneficial. As time went on, myths about dragons became more and more complicated.Later writers counted 10 different kinds. Each had its own specializedtask. The earth dragon, ti-lung, ruled over the streams andrivers. The spiritual dragon, shen-lung, had the power to determine howmuch rain and wind to bring and was worshipped regularly on the firstand 15th day of each month. Dragon BattlesSpring thunderstorms be- lieved to be caused by theawakening of dragons from their winter slumbers. Dragon battles were ahighly anticipated annual event... |
| Excerpts Some individuals suffer from themisconception that the Chinese Dragon is a symbol of evil. Thiserroneous belief stems from the mythology of the western world wherethe dragon was thought to abduct maidens, wreak havoc on the populace,steal gold and destroy villages. In the mediaeval context the Westerndragon was often the symbol of Satan incarnate. This is not so in thedragons of the orient. In fact it is just the opposite. The dragons ofChina and Japan are almost exclusively benevolent mythologicalcreatures. ... it has the following nine characteristics. Its head is like acamels, its horns like a deer's, its eyes like a hare's, its ears likea bull's, its neck like an iguana's, its belly like a frog's, itsscales like those of a carp, its paws like a tiger's, and its clawslike an eagle's. It has nine times nine scales, it being the extreme ofa lucky number. On each side of the dragons mouth are whiskers, under its chin orfloating just out of reach is a bright pearl, on the top of its headthe 'poh shan' or foot rule, without which it cannot ascend to heaven.The scales of the dragon's throat are reversed. When exhaling itsbreath changes into clouds from which can come either fire or rain. The luminous ball or pearl often depicted under the dragon's chin orseen to be spinning in the air, pursued by one or two dragons isthought to be a symbolic representation of the 'sacred pearl' of wisdomor yang energy. The dragon's pearl can also be thought of as a symbol for universal Qithe progenitor of all energy and creation. The dragons seem to bedepicted in attitudes of pursuit. He is seen to be reaching out eagerlyto clutch at the elusive object, mouth open in anticipation and eyesbulging with anticipation of achieving the prize afforded by clutchingthe pearl. |
| Excerpts In Chinese art, dragons are typically portrayed as long, scaled, serpentine creatures with four legs. In yin and yang terminology, a dragon is yang and complements a yin fenghuang ("Chinese phoenix"). Chinese dragons traditionally symbolize potent and auspicious powers,particularly control over water, rainfall, hurricane, and floods. Thedragon is also a symbol of power, strength, and good luck for peoplewho are worthy of it. With this, the Emperor of China usually used thedragon as a symbol of his imperial power and strength. In the Qin Dynasty, the 5-clawed foot dragon was assigned to representthe Emperor while the 4-clawed and 3-clawed dragons were assigned tothe commoners. Ancient Chinese referred to unearthed dinosaur bones as dragon bonesand documented them as such. For example, Chang Qu in 300 BC documentsthe discovery of "dragon bones" in Sichuan. ... the early dragon depicted a species of crocodile, specifically,Crocodylus porosus, the saltwater crocodile, which is the largestliving reptile, and once ranged into China during ancient times. Thecrocodile is known to be able to accurately sense changes in airpressure, and be able to sense coming rain. This may have been theorigin of the dragon's mythical attributes in controlling the weather,especially the rain. The Dragon is one of the 12 animals in the Chinese zodiac which is used to designate years in the Chinese calendar. |
| Roof figures also served amundane function. They sealed the nail heads that were used to securethe tiles to the roof ridge. Large wooden nails were used in ancienttimes. At first they added ceramic tile to the head of the nail,gradually, the nail head became an elaborate ceramic figure. The endsof the ridge required more nails and without some sort of covering, theroof would begin to leak quite quickly. - Marilyn Shea, China: The Palace Museum (online Jan. 2014) |
| Let us first discuss dragons,for if one were to be asked to name one thing which symbolises theForbidden City, the most likely answer would be the Dragon. But eventhis is different. It is not the fierce dragon that fills the legendsof mediaeval England, which has to be slain by a legendary hero. Butthere are no legends about ferocious Chinese dragons (at least untilthe Buddhists introduced the concept of bad dragons). It may look likea serpent, but it is gentle, mild, and kindly and not at allaggressive; and it plays with pearls. It has remarkable eyesight, andthe Chinese believed it could distinguish a blade of grass at a hundredmiles. It also developed whiskers on each side of its mouth, and a beard under its chin. In the Yuan dynasty, the dragon initially had three claws. However, afour-clawed dragon started to increase in imperial popularity. It was,however, the first Ming emperor in his enthusiasm for eliminatinganything that was Yuan, who introduced the five-clawed dragon. Hefirmly adopted the dragon as the emblem of imperial power, and soon thefive-clawed dragon became the standard emblem for the emperor and anindicator of imperial favour, with four and three-clawed dragons beingrelegated for use by those of lower rank. - ChinaCulture.org (online Jan. 2014) |
