It seems that Xilong and Dragon are not the same species at all. Why are they all called dragons?

It seems that Xilong and Dragon are not the same species at all. Why are they all called dragons?

First, until the Renaissance, there was no accurate image of "dragon" in the West. The image of Xilong you see now is basically an artistic creation after modern times. In fact, if we look closely at the ancient paintings in various cultural classics, we will find that the so-called western dragon is actually very similar to the so-called oriental dragon.

Second, in fact, there is reason to suspect that the dragons in the west and the dragons in the east are in the same strain, and their sources are likely to come from the snake-like creatures appearing in the folklore of the eastern nationalities and the nationalities in the South Asian subcontinent (the oldest snake gods in the folklore of South and East Asian civilizations, such as Nu Wa, phase liu, Naga, Gong, etc. And the concept of gods has been passed down from mouth to mouth among the people before the birth of traditional religions. Most of the images of these beasts come from the worship of water sources, and their biological prototypes are all selected from snakes, because the bodies of snakes can best imitate rivers.

Third, all the concepts about dragons in the world are probably of the same origin, which may be the product of the unified but diverse concepts of ancient civilizations in the Hetao area of the Yellow River and the ancient civilizations in the South Asian subcontinent in the long but incoherent cultural collision. This may also explain the subtle differences between the classical "dragons" in various cultures. (Note: The difference does not refer to the difference of modern eastern and western dragons, but the difference of classical dragon images in different cultures, which is far less than that of western dragons and oriental dragons processed by modern art)

Fourthly, this difference can be reflected in the images of classical dragons in various cultures. Generally speaking, the farther away from the marginal world of the mainland civilization center, the older the classical dragon image in their culture. In the marginal civilization of ancient times, the classic dragon image circulating now will be closer to the prototype of this concept product, that is, snake. The popular saying is that in areas far from the core civilization of the mainland, the image of the classical dragon will be updated more slowly, and the old version will spread more widely and for a longer time, and the image will naturally solidify on the old version.