Why is the dragon the symbol of Chinese people?

The dragon, as a unique cultural cohesion and accumulation of Chinese people, has been rooted and hidden in the subconscious of each of us, not only people's daily life, life, death and old age are almost always branded with the dragon culture, but also the perspective of the dragon culture, the dragon culture of aesthetic awareness has penetrated into all areas of our society and culture, in all aspects.

The dragon, in China, is associated with everything in the world.

The dragon is a symbol of power, nobility and honor in traditional Chinese culture, as well as a sign of luck and success.

The reason why the dragon has this cultural symbolism, is with the legend and the myth of the dragon in the sky is flying in the clouds, the sea is chasing waves, on earth is calling the wind and rain of the incomparable magical powers have a lot to do, but more importantly, is because the dragon over the past thousands of years tend to become the exclusive patent of China's slaves, the highest rulers of the feudal society, is synonymous with the imperial power, therefore, the emperor compares himself to a true dragon son of heaven, the full of them! The body is called the dragon body, "wearing clothes called dragon robe, sitting in the chair called dragon chair, ride the car, boat called dragon carriage, dragon boat ...... In short, all things related to their life and living are crowned with the word dragon in order to show that the privilege of the high and mighty.

The history of the dragon linked to imperial power is also very long, starting from the time of the Yellow Emperor.

In the age of legends, the Yellow Emperor, who had the bloodline of a dragon, traveled around to gauge the people's sentiments. He asked people to mine the same of the first mountain, and then transported to the foot of Jing Mountain to cast tripods to commemorate his glorious victory in the battle against Thumbing You. After a period of time, the tripod finally finished casting, the Yellow Emperor held a special ceremony in Jing Mountain to celebrate the giant tripod casting. Invited out of the ceremony not only have all kinds of gods, but also the people of the eight sides, everyone wants to see the yellow emperor cast tripod in the end what is it like. The hour came, probably still the emperor himself unveiled, only to see a high over three, mouth as big as a tank of copper tripod glittering with dazzling golden light presented in the gods, before the people, the crowd slurping envy, go up to see, tripod body carved with a sturdy swimming dragon in an auspicious clouds, around the four sides of the ghosts and all kinds of birds and beasts, can be said to be a thousand forms, but also very good.

Just as the crowd of gods with a reverent mood to appreciate the giant tripod and the above pattern, suddenly the sky thick clouds, blocking the sun, the sky quickly darkened, everyone thought it was going to rain, cognizant of a golden light penetrate the thick clouds, a divine dragon clad in gold armor broke through the clouds, its tail and the lower half of the body to support the cloud, the head leaning on the tripod, the long dragon whiskers down the tripod feet hanging to the ground. Huang Di understood that this was the completion of his mission on earth, heaven sent the divine dragon to take him to heaven, he leaped, straddled the dragon's back, flew back to heaven. The people of the earth could not let go of the Yellow Emperor, such a virtuous and wise monarch back, they pulled the dragon's beard to prevent it from leaving, and as a result, a lot of dragon whiskers were pulled down, the Yellow Emperor and the dragon still left. It is said that the dragon's whiskers fell to the ground, then gave birth to a lot of small slender grass, people later called this grass dragon grass.

Most of the famous monarchs of the Legendary Era had an unspoken and unspoken relationship with the dragon. When Yao was on the throne, there was a great flood in the world, everywhere was flooded, in order to save the people, he ordered Jiu Ji replied, "Jiu Ji is the son of father. Jiu Ji replied, "Father is son, father is son". Jiu Ji stole the resting soil from the emperor, and used the way of blocking to cure the water, but his effort was not successful, he was killed by the angry emperor in Feishan Mountain, where Candle Dragon is the guardian god. Since the sunlight can't shine in Feishan Mountain, Jiu Ji replied that he is relying on the candle in the mouth of Candle Dragon to light up the water, thus Jiu Ji's body is not decayed for three years. Jiu Ji replied, "Father is father, father is son", he is father, father is son. Father is son, father is son, father is son, father is son, father is son, father is son, father is son, father is son, father is son, father is son, father is son, father is son, father is son, father is son, father is son, father is son, father is son, father is son, father is son. Jiu Ji replied, "Father is son, father is son." Jiu Ji replied, "Father is son, father is son." Jiu Ji is son, father is son.

Yu inherited his father's ambition, finally subdued the flood, and gained the admiration of all the people. Later, the aged Shun obeyed the people's opinion and ceded the throne to Yu, who became the founding monarch of the Xia Dynasty, which may be one of the historical bases for the emperor to be the son of the real dragon.

Another cultural symbolism of the dragon is to be outstanding and different from the ordinary. The dragon is a god, non-mundane people can be compared, so people often and those who have high aspirations, behavior is not vulgar, very capable of, out of the world and achievements of the people called the dragon. When Zhuge Liang Ge Kongming in Nanyang plowing Longmu has not yet out of the hut, self-comparison Guanzhong Le Yi, the number of Mr. Crouching Dragon, meaning the empty swan of the three aspirations and talent.

In the Chinese language, the dragon, the worm is relative, what is the worm, the snake. Snakes, also known as long insects, can be found everywhere, a variety of species, rare, not surprising, not expensive. Dragon and snake mixed that is to say good things and bad things mixed together, it is difficult to distinguish. This is a phenomenon from the biological explanation of the phenomenon - the prototype of the dragon, or the dragon's basic physiological livestock is a snake, the dragon and the snake is not to say that the brothers, at least is the same clan (snake's beautiful name is also a dragon), but once the dragon and the snake is separated from the snake, then the snake is not quiet a care, and even in order to show that they can not be said to be the same as the snake, but also on the snake to kill a lot of people. The most typical is the story of Liu Bang, the Han emperor, said Liu Bang's mother, Liu old woman dreamed of intercourse with the dragon, pregnant and gave birth to Liu Bang, who was young and ambitious, a wild walk on the road, encountered a python blocking the way, and immediately wielded the sword to chop the snake, belly to take the bile, which is rumored to be a beautiful story, and the people of the time thought that it was not vulgar. At the end of the Qin Dynasty, the world was in turmoil, and Liu Bang took the opportunity to raise an army in Peixian County, leveled the herd, and established the Han Empire, accomplishing 400 years of the two Han dynasties of Liu's empire.

The dragon does not also symbolize the outstanding and extraordinary, the ancient times of those sages and high priests also known as the dragon. Legend has it that Confucius went to meet Li Dan, the founder of Taoism, Laozi, and went back for three days without opening his mouth to speak a word, his disciples were very strange and asked him: How did Mr. Li Dan teach him when he met him? Confucius said, "I saw a dragon that changed infinitely in accordance with yin and yang, and my mouth was open, so I could not teach him! The meaning is that all words are superfluous, and Laozi is this dragon among men, a rare and great sage.

In addition, Zhuge Kongming was called Mr. Wolong when he was not yet a Taoist, and Cai Yong, a great doctor of the Eastern Han Dynasty, drank hundreds of pounds of wine and fell down by the roadside drunkenly, and was called the Drunken Dragon by everyone. So anyone who is virtuous, talented, or skilled in calligraphy and literature, or a clean official, or outstanding behavior, can be compared to the dragon.

As the saying goes, hoping for a dragon is not hoping that one's child will become a monster with a long head, according to the long scales on the dragon, the dragon sees the head and does not see the tail, but hoping that one's child will be able to have a good career, and in the future will be able to excel, and make a career. One of the new children's songs that have become popular in recent years is 〈〈100 points is a dragon〉〉, which has the same meaning. In addition, we often hear the radio, television, newspapers and magazines have what the singing world Dragon Tiger list and other news, what is the Dragon Tiger list? 〈〈New Tang Dynasty Book - Ouyang Zhan biography〉〉 said Ouyang Zhan in the scholar, and Han Yu, Li Guan, Wang Ya, Cui Qun and other world celebrities with a list, then called the Dragon and Tiger list, which means celebrities and superstars gathered here, where the dragon is reflected in the success of the people.

The dragon and phoenix pattern was widely spread after the Tang Dynasty. It not only symbolizes the authority of the emperor and the empress, but also can symbolize the beautiful union between all human couples, and also can symbolize the reconciliation of the yin and yang poles of spirit and matter in all the world. It can be said that the dragon and phoenix motifs are the most representative image symbols of the Chinese nation and are wonderful artistic images.

The dragon and phoenix of the oracle bone inscriptions, although no definite shape, why can you see that the dragon is the spirit of the insect that bends and stretches at the right time, and the phoenix is the spirit of the bird that has a long and beautiful tail. In the ancient bronze, the image of the dragon shows a hideous, mysterious and dignified overall effect. To the Han Dynasty, it took the heavy large surface, unrestrained and powerful arcs, delicate points, constituting a large structure, the main theme of the momentum, breaking through the boundaries of the mysterious and bizarre atmosphere. Tang, give it calm and gentle humanized character, the formation of rich and graceful, alive Yang vibrant style. Song and Yuan to the Ming and Qing dynasties, the winds of the beautiful, by the fine craftsmanship to the tedious pile, between the dragon and phoenix pattern but always maintain a simple, bright, concise, vivid style, with a strong sense of life.

In practical application, the dragon traditionally represents a kind of authority or power, divinity is increasing.

The parts of the dragon have specific symbols: the raised forehead indicates intelligence and wisdom; the antlers indicate the social and longevity; the cow's ear indicates the top of the list; the tiger's eye shows majesty; the devil's claw shows bravery; the sword's eyebrow symbolizes heroism; the lion's nose symbolizes the preciousness; the goldfish's tail symbolizes flexibility; the horse's teeth symbolize diligence and goodness, and so on. Tiananmen Square in front of the stone Huabiao cloud dragon, Shandong Qufu Confucius Temple of the disk cloud dragon stone pillar, the Forbidden City dragon bed are the historical mark of imperial power. The phoenix bird, on the other hand, is more secular and humanistic and less divine. Known as the phoenix in flight, this ideal spirit bird has traditionally been regarded as the embodiment of good fortune and happiness, and has also come to symbolize the beauty of love. The theme of the dragon and phoenix is more likely to be seen in court art, with the dragon denoting the emperor and the phoenix serving as a symbol of the female consort. Today, the motifs of the dragon and phoenix have been reunited with the enthusiasm of millions of people for artistic creation and have gained unlimited artistic life in the fields of architecture, sculpture, painting and arts and crafts.

The outstanding performance of drawing dragon pattern is the dragon robe of the Son of Heaven. Its color bright yellow, the leader of the club stone green piece of gold embroidery, embroidered text gold dragon nine, between the five-color cloud, before and after the collar of the dragon each, left and right and lapel at the line of dragons each, the sleeve end of the dragon each, the lower part of the eight treasures of the Lishui Train left and right open. Dragon robe for the supreme service, the production of fine, workmanship inspection. Such as the Qing dynasty dragon robe production, by the Qing dynasty at that time, such as the first stream of the Palace Museum engineer precision design, make a pattern, after the emperor personally recognized after the finalization of the emperor, before sending ZhiChi sent to Nanjing or Suzhou and Hangzhou fine supervision of manufacturing. Sometimes a robe material that costs 190 days. Its special robes, but also with peacock tail hair twisted line, full of flat, another fine line across the border, and then above the rice material with large pearl strings, embroidered with dragons and phoenixes or group of flowers. The cost of labor, the material of luxury, are appalling.

Anciently, there are also painted dragon dragon flag. Dragon flag from the Zhou Dynasty has begun to have, to the Song Dynasty dragon flag has 12 kinds of more, such as yellow dragon flag, green dragon flag, etc.. Although more types of dragon flag, but all the dragon flag pattern is generally similar, are all green yellow appendage, red flame between the colorful footsteps, and then painted on a variety of different forms of the dragon's image. Such as coiled dragon playing beads flag is a kind of dragon flag, painted on the top of the yellow dragon carrying the river map pattern, so also known as the yellow dragon negative map flag.

Sui-Sui-Yang Emperor in order to their own extravagant and pompous pleasure needs, but also built a dragon boat and dragon boat fleet. Its dragon boat construction and furnishings extremely luxurious examination. Named after the dragon dragon's tail inkstone, is the gem in the she inkstone, because of wuyuan's dragon's tail stone made, so the name. Its ink stone quality just and soft, moist YingJie, caressing like skin, mo not sound, color blue like jade, texture rosy, for ink stone worker according to the material to provide a wide range of room for the art. Inkstone workers according to the shape of the stone, color, pattern of the different, carefully designed, deliberately carved, and made the figure of the decorative symmetry, the knife method upright, transparent and exquisite square inkstone, round inkstone.

The use of dragons on the dress to decorate a long time ago, but in a fairly long time is only the special product of the royal relatives, and mostly for the emperor, the dragon son, the dragon grandson of the monopoly. Legend has it that the Yellow Emperor thought that the dragon's changes were infinite and powerful, and he liked the look of the dragon so much that he let his minister Shi Huang draw the image of the dragon on his clothes and paint them with five colors, which was the first dragon robe in Chinese history. Because the emperor claimed or was considered to be the true dragon son of heaven, so in his family, the dragon is indispensable identification: the emperor wore a dragon crown on his head - a hat edged with a double-dragon motif; dressed in a dragon robe - front and back of the chest there is a fierce dragon coiled into a ball, mingled with the clouds; the waist to tie the Dragon Belt - the belt with the dragon as the main motif, wearing a dragon and phoenix jade pendant ...... These we have seen with our own eyes in museums, in imperial tombs, and in folk art. As for the emperor with things, but also more related to the dragon: dragon case, dragon chair, dragon bed, dragon boat, dragon carriage, etc., the emperor is not comfortable called the dragon body insecure, the emperor is angry called the dragon face angry, even the emperor straight step is also unique wound, called the dragon walk tiger step.

Since it is the patent of the royal family, other people naturally can not easily dye. The reign of Emperor Yingzong of the Ming Dynasty gave away such an interesting incident, so that later there is a dragon robe, python robe points. Zhengde years, the king of Annam to Beijing tribute, Ming Yingzong see points sincere and commendable, a happy said to give a dragon robe to him, dragon robe symbolizes the mountains, can not be easily given away? But the king's land without drama, said the words, splashing out of the water, and can not collect Shun back to support, how to do it? Ministers discussed a long time sex, only to come up with a best-of-both-worlds workaround - the dragon on the dragon robe minus a claw, into four claws, three claws forward, a claw fou after the surface of the culm and the dragon robe a few different resignation, in fact, has not been a dragon, five claws for the dragon, four claws for the python. Annan led an impostor, happy to go home.

After the emperor and anti python robe to give the closest, most capable ministers to show reward, wearing a python robe of the important ministers are not proud; and then later, even the palace lackeys, guards also wore a python robe, python robes have been despised, so the audience on the stage playing miscellaneous, playing the flag, shouting people commonly known as the dragon set, meaning that there is no real skill, just to fill the baked only.

Interestingly, the general public in opposition to the royal power at the same time, but also pay close attention to deprive the dragon of the Royal Patent, according to historical records, to the end of the Tang Dynasty and the Five Dynasties period, the popular uprising on the warped flag, wearing a homemade dragon robes; to the Sung Dynasty, and the Song Dynasty, and the two Song Dynasty, the Liao, Xia, Jin, and later the Mongolian Yuan, absorbed the Chinese culture of the Central Plains, the chiefs of the dress is also more to dragon embellishment; more interesting is in the "Water Margin", the "Water Margin", the "Water Margin", the "Water Margin", the "Water Margin", the "Water Margin" and the "Water Margin". Interestingly in the "Water Margin" there is a green hero name Shi Jin, muddy name of nine dragons, rumor has it that his body with ink lines tattooed with nine dragons. Most people who collage have the subconscious to show off this part of their body, so tattooing dragons is also part of their clothes.

In ancient Chinese myths and legends, the Yellow Emperor and the Yan Emperor are both dragon children. The descendants of the Yellow Emperor are naturally the descendants of the dragon. Minority myths and legends, there are also a lot of ancestors are the content of the dragon, the most typical is after the Han Dynasty on the prevalence of mourning people's ancestry story:

Once upon a time, in the mourning of the mountains living in the lower part of a young girl named Sha Yi, a time to the river to wash the clothes, saw a fish swimming around, he was a playful, flow into the river to catch it, accidentally by the son of the upper reaches of the drift down a piece of wood bumped, go back! She became pregnant soon afterward, and later gave birth to 10 sons in one birth. The children grew up under her care, and on this day, when she took them to the river to play in the water, she suddenly saw a dragon jumping out of the water and asked her, "Are they the children you gave birth to for me? Shah One nodded and told the children to come over and meet their father. The children were scared by the dragon's strange appearance, but only the youngest child was not afraid of it, but also curious to touch its horns, pull its beard, and finally sat on the back of the dragon, the dragon liked him very much, and put out his tongue to lick. Sha Yi mistakenly think that the dragon wants to eat him, anxious to call the child on the back of the dragon, mournful Jinyuan language back sound close to nine, sitting sound close to the dragon, the dragon thought it was the child's name, called him nine Lung. Later, JiuLong ten brothers married the back of the mountain of ten sisters as a wife, multiply, since a clan, *** push JiuLong did the patriarch.

The Chinese are "descendants of the dragon", dragon culture is very developed, there are also a variety of interpretations of the dragon. The said Wen said: "dragon, scale insects of the long, can ghost can be bright, can be small, can be big, can be long, can be short, the spring equinox and ascend to the sky, the fall equinox and into the river." "Guangya" cloud: "have scales said scaly dragon, have wings said Yinglong, have horns said gnarled dragon, no horns said chi dragon." Song Luo wish "Er Ya wing - interpretation of the dragon": "horns like deer, head like camel, eyes like rabbit, neck like snake, belly like mirage, scales like fish, claws like eagle, palm like tiger, ears like cattle" .

The Chinese word "dragon" was translated from Japanese, from the English word "dragon", and then from the Latin word "draco". In this paper, the scope of "West" in the Chinese-Western comparison mainly refers to European countries, especially in Northern and Western Europe, and they have many interpretations of the meaning of "dragon", the most important of which are as follows: a kind of python or a huge serpent; mythological beasts, a kind of huge reptile, usually structured like a dragon. A reptile, often structured like snakes and crocodiles, with hard claws and scaly skin, often with wings, sometimes spitting fire, a combination of reptile and mammal. Ancient and medieval depictions of dragons include the guardian of the golden apple orchard, the mount of the goddess of the moon, and slain by dragon slayers such as Beowulf and St. George ...... A third explanation comes from the Bible, where, in Latin and Greek translations of the Old Testament, two of the great beasts of the sea and of the land (Leviathan and Behemoth) may be related to dragons. The "ancient serpent" referred to in the New Testament is Satan. While most people in modern times are influenced by the third interpretation and believe that the dragon is the embodiment of evil, this article focuses on the second interpretation as the original meaning of the dragon.

When faced with the vastness of Eastern and Western cultures, we wish we could see their fundamental similarities and differences. However, upon closer inspection, we realize that the Chinese "dragon" and the Western "dragon" are almost entirely different animals: the word "dragon" and the Chinese word "dragon" refer to different animals. The word "dragon" and the Chinese word "龙" refer to different things - just like the forced translation of "phoenix" and "phoenix". However, it can not be denied that "dragon" and "dragon" and have some **** the same characteristics: both are not really prove the legend of the thing; body are very large; both can fly; appearance is very similar. The same is imagined full of legendary animals, but also in the culture of the long preserved, this is not just a coincidence.

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In the vast history of the Chinese people, the image we call "dragon" appeared very early. From the Western Zhou Dynasty onwards, the mature dragon pattern has already appeared, and from the Han Dynasty onwards, it has been deified and processed step by step, and gradually fixed its image, and after the Yuan Dynasty, it has even determined the standard image, and become the symbol of the Chinese nation. Different scholars have different views about its origin. The famous scholar Wen Yiduo explored the original form of the dragon in the 1940s. He believed that the main part and the basic form of the dragon was the snake, and then there was a group of people who took this big snake as their totem, and merged and absorbed many other kinds of totem groups, and the big snake accepted the feet of beasts, the head of horses, the tail of hyenas, the horns of deer, the claws of dogs, and the scales and whiskers of fish....... Then it became the dragon that we know now! ; Wei Juxian first proposed that the original form of the dragon was the crocodile in his work published in 1934; Liu Chenghuai believed that the basic forms of the dragon's backbone were the snake, the lizard, and the horse; in the opinion of Zhu Tianshun, the dragon originated from the lightning bolt; and He Xin believed that the initial dragon form was nothing more than an abstract swirling cloud pattern. And later gradually tends to be specific, biological, and unfolding and close to the image of amphibians and reptiles in the real biological world; Hu Changjian that the rainbow is the most direct prototype of the dragon, because the rainbow has a beautiful, concrete visualization of the figurative; Sun Shoudao believes that the dragon originated in primitive societies, and that one of the original sources of the image of the dragon head when the head of the pig, and that the origin of the dragon and the birth of the dragon, when the origin of the dragon and the primitive agriculture is closely related.

There is still no definite conclusion about the origin of the dragon, but we can see that no matter what the origin of the dragon is, it has played a pivotal role in the long history and culture of the Chinese nation, so I think it is more important to explore why it has formed such an important role.

In terms of the evolution of cultural meaning, dragon worship has gone through several stages, from sacred beasts, water gods, symbols of authoritarian imperial power to symbols of national culture.

During the pre-Qin period, the dragon was a divine beast. The earliest known shape of the dragon is a pair of clamshell dragons and tigers found in the tombs of Yangshao culture area in Xishuipo, Puyang, Henan Province. At this time the image of the dragon is very simple, hornless, long body, curved tail, scales. During the Shang Dynasty, very mature typical dragon motifs had already appeared on bronzes, jades and other artifacts. At this time, the dragon appeared as a divine and human mount or an auspicious beast.

The Book of Rites - The Book of Rites and Games states that "'Dragon, Lin, Feng and Turtle' are called the four spirits."

The Hetu said, "Gold gives birth to the Yellow Dragon at the age of a thousand years, green gold gives birth to the Green Dragon at the age of a thousand years, and basal gold gives birth to the Xuan Dragon at the age of a thousand years."

Zuo Zhuan - Zhaogong twenty-ninth year ":" Therefore, Emperor Shun's world has stored dragons, and there is Xia, Kongjia disturbed in the emperor, the emperor gave the ride on the dragon, the river and the Han each two, each male and female."

The sixty-four hexagrams of the Zhouyi, with Qian as the first, and the whole of the lines of Qian Gua are talking about the "dragon", to the dragon's changes in the metaphor of the life and philosophy of the universe.

"Bamboo Book Chronicle" also said, belonging to the system of Fuxi's so-called long dragon's, submerged dragon's, the Jurong's, the descending dragon's, the dragon's, the water dragon's, the Qinglong's, the red dragon's, the white dragon's ...... and so on.

"Mountains and Seas Classic", often appear dragon god with human face, bird body and dragon head, horse body and dragon head and other monsters, appear alone the dragon is usually as a god and man's mount, such as "South Zhu Rong, the animal body and human face, ride two dragons." "The field of Dale, Xia Houqi here hummingbird nine generations, riding two dragons, cloud cover three layers." "In the west, Matsuo, with a snake in his left ear, rides two dragons."

In Chu Rhetoric, dragons are also imagined as divine beasts driven by gods and men, "Driving a flying dragon Ruoxi's northward march," and "Shise Ruoxi is shallow, and flying dragons are fluttering."

Beginning in the Han Dynasty, the rise of Confucianism, due to the "son does not speak of strange power to confuse the gods", the dragon's mythological image has been compromised, the dragon in the literature at this time is mostly used to seek rain. The dragon is born from water, and is closely related to water, so it is natural for it to be associated with water. Xunzi - the first chapter of persuasion, said: "accumulation of water into the abyss, the dragon is born." The Chu Rhetoric - Oath of Respect also wrote: "The divine dragon loses its water and lives on land, and is cut down by the ants." In "Chu Rhetoric - Heavenly Questions," it was written, "The river and the sea should be dragons, so what is the end of the dragon and what is the severity of the dragon?" Wang Yi's note: "It may be said that when Yu ruled over the flood, a divine dragon drew the ground with its tail and guided the water to the point where it should be decided, and thus ruled over the flood. Guo Pu's note: "In later times, the dragon was used to cause rain, and this is the general meaning of the term."

The most important of all is that it is the Dragon's tail that draws (the ground) the water's path, and thus governs.

The most explicit account of the five-color dragon is the "Shennong book to seek rain": "spring and summer rain day and not rain, A and B life for the green dragon, and for the fire dragon, the eastern children dance; ......" "Spring and Autumn flourish dew - seeking rain" also recorded the historical fact of using the five-color dragon to seek rain: "to A B day for the big pale dragon one, eight feet long, in the center, and for the small dragon seven, each four feet long, in the east. On the day of C and D, there is a large red dragon, seven feet long, in the center, and six small dragons, each three feet by five feet, in the south. On the day of E-Hi, the Great Yellow Dragon is five feet long, in the center, and the Small Dragon is four feet long, each two feet long, in the south. The day of Gengxin is the Great White Dragon, nine feet long, in the center, and the Small Dragon, eight, each four feet long, in the west. And by the day of Nongkai is the great black dragon one, six fathoms long, in the center, and the small dragon five, each three fathoms long, in the north."

The origin of dragons and emperors should be counted from the Yellow Emperor. The Classic of Mountains and Seas" is also recorded: "Chiyu made soldiers to attack the Yellow Emperor, the Yellow Emperor was ordered to attack the Jizhou wild dragon, should be stored in the water, Chiyu please wind and rain division, longitudinal storm. Yellow Emperor is the world's female said 'drought'. Rain stops, so kill Chi You." The dragon helped the yellow emperor defeated Chi You, credit, but at this time only as the yellow emperor's assistant appeared, and did not link with the yellow emperor himself.

Shanhaijing Guo Pu cites "Jiu Ji" as "Jiu Ji is the father of the son, who is the son of the father, and the son of the father, who is the son of the father, who is the son of the father. Jiu Ji replied, "Father is father, son is son". Jiu Ji replied, "Father is son", "Father is son", "Father is son". Jiu Ji replied, "Jiu Ji is the father of father, father of son." Jiu Ji is the father of father, father of son, father of son. In ancient Chinese mathematical science, the appearance of the dragon often signifies the coming of an adult or a saint. Zhouyi says: "Jiu Er, see the dragon in the field, good to see adults. Elephant said: see the dragon in the field, Germany lost universal. Nine five, flying dragon in the sky, good to see adults. Elephant said: flying dragon in the sky, big man-made also." Zhuangzi - Outer - Tian Yun 14" tells the story of Confucius to see Laozi, here Confucius compared Laozi to the "dragon": "Confucius see Laozi return, three days do not talk. His disciples asked him, 'What rules will Confucius follow when he sees Laozi?' Confucius said, 'I am seeing the dragon. The dragon, combined and into a body, scattered and into a chapter, multiplied by the cloud gas and raise the yin and yang. I open my mouth and can not mouth (left "mouth" right upper "force" right center "force" right lower "moon" sound xié). How can I regulate Laozi?'"

Because of his humble origins, Liu Bang, Emperor Gaozu of Han Dynasty, made up a story that Liu Bang's mother gave birth to Liu Bang because of the dragon's entanglement, and therefore Liu Bang was the reincarnation of a true dragon as the Son of Heaven. From then on, successive emperors followed suit and became more closely associated with the dragon. The Historical Records of the Grand Historian (史记-封禅书) says, "The Yellow Emperor got the earth virtue, and the Yellow Dragon saw the earthworm. Xia get wood virtue, the green dragon stops in the suburbs, grass and trees smooth and luxuriant ...... former Qin Wengong out hunting, won the black dragon, this its water virtue of Switzerland."

The traditional thinking of the Chinese people that non-true dragon son of heaven can not call the emperor, and the dragon has become the emperor's patent. The emperor's body is the dragon body, the emperor's face for the dragon face, the emperor's residence is called "dragon court", the emperor's clothing called "dragon crown", "dragon clothes", the emperor's thoughts and emotions are also known as the "dragon heart". The Emperor's thoughts and emotions are also called "Dragon's Heart". If the subjects use the dragon as a decorative pattern of objects and clothing, then there is a "transgression" of the crime, will invite death. Dragon robe symbolizes the emperor ascended the throne ......

The significance of the development of the dragon so far, and the royal connection has not been very close, the long process of development has been given a lot of cultural meanings, mainly the longest of the insects, God of protection, God of the water, the symbol of auspiciousness, the symbol of the authoritarian regime, the symbol of the national culture, etc. These cultural meanings are not a moment in time. These cultural meanings are not formed at one time and place, but gradually enriched. Some cultural connotations have disappeared and some still exist today.

The dragon's grandeur and majesty, robustness and strength, and the flying movement without static, is the representative image of the masculine beauty of the Chinese nation. This imagery is often found on traditional Chinese palaces and altar and temple buildings. Beijing Tiananmen Square roof has a ridge, four hanging ridge, four preserved ridge, the ridge ends and hanging, preserved ridge end *** have ten colorful glazed dragon-head-shaped ornaments, known as the "dragon kiss", known as the "nine ridge seal ten dragons"; Tiananmen Square columns, full of "golden dragon and the square columns," the "golden dragon and the square columns," and "dragon". Full of "Golden Dragon and Seal" painting; Jinshui River, and towering to a pair of gorgeous upright Chinese white jade Huabiao, the Huabiao column carved to soar in the clouds at the time of the dragon, circling and curving, very rich in beauty. Beijing Forbidden City, seen everywhere is the dragon and elephant. Hall of Supreme Harmony for the emperor to sit on the carved dragon throne, the temple has six coiled dragon gold columns, about three zhang high, the column thickness of two people embraced. Hall of the Golden Dragon Algae well can be said to be unrivaled in the world, all the ceiling of the temple are painted with dragon patterns. The three halls of the Forbidden City, especially in front of the Hall of Imperial Harmony carved dragon stone steps are exquisite. Nine dragons wall is famous all over the world, it is made of two hundred and seventy pieces of colored glaze put together by the nine dragons, clouds, seawater and rock formations, the main body of the dragon pattern of strong ups and downs, there is a vibration of the wall want to fly the trend. In the Temple of Heaven Prayer Hall, thirteen mausoleums of the Changling Pride Hall of the building, there are also many art especially good dragon modeling. Beihai has nine dragons wall and five dragons Pavilion, the West Mountain has the Dragon King Hall, Summer Palace has the Dragon King Temple, even the Yonghegong Palace of the Buddha's niche is also carved with dragons. As for the Confucius Temple in Qufu, there is also a unique stone pillar with coiled dragons. Chinese traditional architecture on the dragon art, first of all, is a political, ethical and right to symbolize, but as an artistic image, it also break free from the general political and ethical concepts of the domain, to the aesthetic.

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Legends around the world often tell of a winged god who separated heaven and earth from chaos and created the world. They are all very self-sacrificing, and their bodies are transformed into earth, mountains, rivers, and even humans, which also illustrates the worship of mastery of the power of nature, and at the same time reveals the people's reverence for creativity. Similarly, every civilization on every continent has had myths about dragon-like creatures since the beginning of written history.

No matter how different the image of the dragon-like creature may be from one nation to another, it is always associated with lizards, crocodiles, or snakes. And often associated with land, sky, water and fire.

The first description of the dragon in Western culture was in the Animal Fables Collection: the dragon has feathers on its head and a small mouth from which it breathes through stomata and from which it spits out its tongue; its teeth and tail are powerful; it kills its enemies by blowing rather than by slapping, and its tail curls up to kill everything. There is a picture in the book of it killing an elephant with its tail, comparing it to the devil, to whom it is thought to be very similar.

Contemporary scholars in the West have summarized the images of dragons in myths and legends, and have come to the following conclusions: dragons are thermostats, usually with wings, and have hollow bones to reduce the weight of their bodies. A dragon's bones are stronger and lighter than reinforced concrete. The dragon's muscular system is the most fascinating and complex. The force of its bite averages two tons per cubic centimeter, meaning it can easily chew through steel. On land, its limbs can carry powerful loads, while in the air it can carry only half of its body weight. The dragon's entire body is covered with sword-engine, glowing scales, with the exception of his neck and belly. Perhaps this is because he often had to dig holes in the ground, but not all dragon experts agree with this view. To protect his more vulnerable belly, the dragon often wore gem-encrusted belly armor. The dragon's saliva was very sticky and he used to dab gems on his neck and belly for protection and decoration. The scales are pentagonal, in the shape of teardrops, with two long sides and two short sides, with the shortest piece attached to the skin. The dragon can make them all stand upright when it wants to dress itself. A dragon's wings evolved from an animal's upper arm, and thus consist of a thumb and four elongated fingers, which are then joined by a septum like a bat's. The wings are not attached to the shoulders, as some biological drawings show, but to the lower back, at the base of the thighs. If the wings were on top, the dragon would fly vertically upwards, which would be detrimental to speed and less maneuverable. If the wings are on the bottom, the dragon can fly horizontally, and the head and tail can be better oriented, allowing for greater maneuverability. Dragons can be roughly divided into three colors, the blue family: from dark blue to silver to mother of pearl. Red family: from reddish bronze to crimson to reddish black. The green family: includes green, yellow, light green, gold and even dark brown. A dragon is usually not a single color; its scales will always have several colors within a color family, as well as a metallic sheen, making them difficult to identify. If a dragon's scales darken in color and become opaque, it must be sick. The dragon's use of fire-breathing as a weapon is not magic, but has a scientific explanation. When we eat our bodies produce a gas called methane (CH4) through digestion. Unlike humans, dragons save this gas in their other lungs. It is later mixed with a small amount of phosphorus (P4), which ignites on contact with the air, creating a flame. Some dragons spew out frost, and the explanation for this also relies on the food that the dragon digests. The food enters the stomach mainly to provide nutrients, the rest also undergoes some chemical reactions to produce a gas, nitrogen (N2). Nitrogen is naturally compressed in the lungs, and when the dragon wants to freeze an object, the nitrogen compressed into liquid form is released into the air in the lungs, and then quickly decompressed, absorbing a large amount of heat from the environment, which brings the gas in its breath down to about -50 degrees Celsius, which would seriously injure or kill an average animal. Creatures have acid in their stomachs to help digest their food, and dragons that can spit acid have a special organ that produces a powerful acid, and when a dragon exhales its prey will be hurt by the acid, even with the best shield. A dragon's reproductive system is inside its body, and it is impossible to determine whether a dragon is male or female by looking at it only from the outside. Dragons lay eggs like reptiles and birds, and the eggshells start out very hard and then slowly soften, from which the baby dragon breaks out. The mating process is interesting, as the two dragons are flying high in the sky, when suddenly they grab each other, retract their wings, and begin to do a free-fall, before landing with their wings open a hundred feet above the ground. Dragons love speed and adventure, so the mating process is full of this fun. Dragons generally prefer to live alone and they are not very numerous. Dragons are art lovers? /ca>