How many claws does a dragon have?

The dragon in China mythology has three claws, four claws and five claws.

Before the Yuan Dynasty, the dragon spine had three claws, sometimes the first two feet had three claws, and the last two feet had four claws.

The Zhou Dynasty was "an emperor with five claws, a vassal with four claws and a doctor with three claws".

The image of the dragon contains many animal elements, and many people only discuss its origin according to a certain feature, so there are many opinions about the prototype of the dragon. One of the most influential is that the prototype of the dragon is a snake.

The original prototype of dragon totem is snake totem. After the clan of cattle totem and deer totem was destroyed, horns or antlers were added to the head of the snake, plus the head of a pig or horse, the legs of a tiger or crocodile, the claws of an eagle, the scales of a fish and the tail of a flower. After a long period of development, the image of China Dragon Totem is made up of many totems.

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A nation's culture is the carrier of national spirit, and the humanistic spirit of ancient China people can also be seen from the colorful dragon culture.

The long-standing dragon culture is inseparable from the innovative spirit of the ancient people in China. Dragon culture has gone through several stages of development, and each stage of development is mainly completed through internal innovation. Observing the different dragon art forms in different historical periods, from having no horns to having horns, from having no wings to having wings, and from having no feet to having feet, we can see that the image of the dragon is formed through continuous innovation.

The image of dragon was formed by ancient China people who combined the advantages and disadvantages of animals, birds, aquatic animals and reptiles. The comprehensiveness of dragon culture is also manifested in the long-term development process. Dragon constantly absorbs foreign excellent artistic elements, thus making its image more complete. For example, in the Tang and Song Dynasties, the dragon absorbed the image of a lion in Indian Buddhism, with a round and plump head, a collar at the back of the head and a lion-like nose, which increased the dragon's sense of dignity.