Hey everyone,
Welcome to Mythology Explained.
In today’s video we’re going to be discussing
Chinese dragons. More specifically, their powers and abilities, their appearance, their hierarchy,
and their associations with the full-spectrum of ancient Chinese society, from peasant to emperor.
Let’s get into it.
Where dragons and fire have become synonymous in western culture,
Chinese dragons break from this tradition, instead being associated with wind and water. Unlike
dragons in other cultures, who were often depicted as destructive and as avaricious wealth-hoarders,
Chinese dragons were incarnations of strength, intelligence and luck, attributes that would be
bestowed on those worthy of them. Those venerated and wielding power - royalty, especially emperors,
epitomizing this - were compared to dragons. Those incompetent and unimportant were held
in contempt through comparisons to lesser creatures, such as worms.
Dragons were among the four smartest creatures in ancient Chinese culture. The other three were
the unicorn, the phoenix, and the tortoise. This deep intelligence was one of the reasons
emperors and dragons were so closely associated; strength, power, and good-fortune were others.
Dragons possessed many amazing abilities. They could shapeshift,
vanish and materialize, and grow or shrink in size. Where their real power lay, though,
was in their affinity for water. A dragon’s power encompassed a wide-variety of weather phenomena
centering on air and water, including floods, typhoons, rivers, rain, swift winds, hailstorms,
and tornadoes. large bodies of water, great rivers, and cloud-covered skies,
were their abodes. When they flew, lightning flashed and thunder boomed.
The chinese dragon was an amalgamation of many animal parts.
The historian R Dawson gives the following description:
“As chief among the animals the dragon was supposed to be composed of outstanding features of
other animals. The traditional description gives it the horns of a stag, the forehead of a camel,
the eyes of a demon, the neck of a snake, the belly of a sea-monster,
the scales of a carp, the claws of an eagle, the pads of a tiger, and the ears of an ox.”
There are other descriptions, too. One has the Chinese dragon similarly synthesized
but by using different animals. This description includes the antlers of a deer,
the eyes of a rabbit, the belly of a frog, and the body of a snake.
An interesting theory hypothesized by the Chinese scholar Wen Yiduo postulates
that dragons personified the unification of china. Each tribe had its own sacred animal,
so by being a creature that combined these many sacred animals, the dragon became the symbol of
a united imperial china. However, it should be said that the dragon was imbued with great
importance before the tribes were unified, a fact that doesn’t fit well with Wen Yiduo’s theory.
It should be said that there were different types of dragons. For example,
some have a more turtle-like form, while others have a more fish-like form.
Regardless, the serpentine dragon seems to have been the most popular type.
As well, the most powerful dragons were all depicted as the serpentine variety.
In folk-tales, Lung-wang was the dragon king. All other dragons were subordinate to him,
even the four dragons said to preside over the four seas. Ao Kuang ruled the Eastern sea, Ao K’in
the southern sea, Ao Jun the western sea, and Ao Shun the Northern sea. Though dragons
possessed great strength, deep wisdom, and were ubiquitously honored, ultimately, they all bowed
to the Jade Emperor, the supreme deity in Chinese mythology. All dragons humbled themselves before
the jade emperor in the third month of the year, which was the month that saw the heaviest rains.
In ancient China, the vast majority of people were peasant farmers. As such, the way these
lower-caste folk honored dragons was the most prevalent in ancient China. Farmers honored
dragons, garnering favor to bless crops with rain so as to ensure bountiful harvests. Dragon
dances in rural, agrarian communities were common rituals of prayer that beseeched the generosity
of dragons, and all manner of iconography was used to enhance the potency of these rituals.
The emperor - called the son of heaven, was the most important person in China, and the dragon was
the most important creature in Chinese mythology; so naturally, it was these two who would be most
closely associated. This connection went so far as to have the emperor as a living manifestation of
the dragon aspect. To broadcast this connection and the many auspicious expressions inherent in
it, silk robes intricately emblazoned with dragons were the emperor’s garb of choice. The throne was
ornately carved with dragons, and the palace was adorned with dragon decorations of every kind.
The dragon had five claws per foot when depicted in connection with the emperor.
Those depicted in connection with nobility and other royal members only had four claws.
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Until next time
Remember
“Be not afraid of going slowly, be afraid only of standing still.”