What are the differences between Chinese dragons in different dynasties and regions?

The Zhang Guo Xing Jing cloud: "and have auxiliary wings, then the real dragon", that there are wings Fang is a real dragon. Such as the Western Zhou has a large number of body bearing wings dragon patterned vessels, and even the green dragon in the pre-Qin decoration also has wings, a green dragon is said to be the ancestor of the dragon. Feudal era, the dragon is a symbol of imperial power, the palace use objects also decorated with dragons.

From thousands of years ago, there is no credible history of the cultural era to Yin Shang, Western Zhou, and then to the Warring States pre-Qin, about the image of the dragon vessels, decorations have always been endless, winged, wingless, horned, horns, and even more Liangzhu culture of the beast body dragons, the Chahai site of the serpentine dragons, the image of which are also many different, so some scholars believe that the origin of the dragon, the source of many.

Western Han Dynasty (including the Wang Mang period) the image of the dragon body elongated, snake-like, body and tail are not divided, the end of the fins. The head resembles a crocodile, and the whole is long and thin. Divided into two kinds of winged, wingless. Some of the horns like a bull's horn, slender, slightly curved at the front end. The upper and lower jaws are equal in length, and the upper and lower lips are rolled up and down respectively. Divided into two kinds, with or without wings, the wings are bird-wing shaped. The legs are short and thick. The foot parts are of two kinds, animal and eagle foot, three toes.

And in the Eastern Han Dynasty, the dragon body is stout and tiger-like, with a distinct body and tail and individual fins. Horns resemble bull's horns. Under the horns are appearing protruding prongs, the tip of the front roll, there are also similar to antlers. And all have wings. The legs of the animal are long. The image of tiger is the main one, supplemented by other animal images.

Jian'an to Wei and Jin (Sixteen Kingdoms period) of the dragon body is more slender, like a tiger, body and tail is clear. The horns of the head are slightly similar to the antlers of a deer. Feather wings are divided into two kinds of with or without wings, the shape of the dragon with wings is still in the shape of a bird's wing. The legs are animal-like and long.

North and South Dynasty to Sui, the dragon body is long and slender, like a tiger, the body and tail is clear, neck and back of the flame ring. Dragon wings are still divided into two kinds of with or without, appearing band-shaped wings, bird wing shape still exists. The limbs float upwards, with long animal hair.

Tang and Song dynasties, the body is thick and plump, back to the snake body, body and tail are not divided, spine to the tail are scaled, the Song Dynasty, there is a circle of fins on the tail. Drawing on the characteristics of the lion image, round and plump, with a hyena at the back of the head. Tang Dynasty, forked antlers appeared, slightly similar to the first antlers survived. The upper lip is very long, the tip into a pointed shape, the lower lip is short and no longer rolled down. Dragon wings have been all for the band-shaped. Song time appeared four claws of the foot, hind limbs and tail often cross coiled.

"Dragon" in English is generally translated as "dragon", and Europe and the United States in Western culture, "dragon" and the traditional Chinese dragon in addition to appearance In addition to some similarities in appearance, the background and symbolism of the dragon in European, American, and Western cultures are very different, but in fact, it is not just that.

Before Christianity became popular, the Western "dragon" had been the national symbol of the Vikings, Celts and Saxons, no different from the Eastern dragon. As Christianity grew in power, the negative connotations of dragons and serpents were magnified, and they were depicted as evil "ancient serpents," "devils," and "satans" in the book of Revelation in the New Testament, and since then the Western dragon has often been associated with evil. Since then, the Western dragon has often been equated with evil.

The Western dragon

But the difference between the Western dragon and the Eastern dragon is not simply the difference between good and evil. As Chairman Mao and other great men have said, "Good and bad, good and evil, exist simultaneously in everything, just like the positive and negative sides of a coin. It is also often related to the judge's own position - this is the idea of dialectic. Although there is no definite and reliable evidence to prove that dragons are real in the objective world, it is clear that it is also in line with the dialectical method in the legends left by human beings.

Some Chinese scholars have proposed changing the English translation of "Chinese dragon" to "loong," which is close in pronunciation to the Chinese word, but this has not yet been widely recognized. Europeans and Americans used to call the Chinese dragon "Chinese dragon".