In January, at our institute, in the lecture “Dragons in Chinese Culture and Cosmology”, Sinology studies teacher and PhD student, junior assistant Balys Astrauskas, introduced the meaning and significance of dragon in fields such as culture, religion, government and cosmology.
Firstly, the lecturer talked about differences between the “western” dragon and the eastern-Chinese dragon. The western dragon is associated with evil. According to bible, this dragon is identified with Satan. The western dragon has many heads and he breathes fire. Finally, the hero has to kill the dragon by cutting his head off. On the other hand, the Chinese dragon is associated with goodness, natural forces, such as water, rain and wind. It was believed that thunder is the dragon’s roar. Additionally, this dragon protects people from bad spirits.
The lecturer introduced the structure of the Chinese dragon: its body is composed of 9 animals. One of them is a carp. The dragon has 117 carp scales. 36 scales - yīn 陰, 81 scales - yáng 陽. Moreover, the dragon has tiger’s paws, snail’s stomach and other animals’ body parts. According to this structure, it is believed that the dragon number is 9.
The lecture listeners were introduced to dragon’s character - lóng 龙 (simplified), 龍 (traditional). However, the earliest dragon character was different – it looked like a curled up snake with horns. The dragon character was changing all the time.
B. Astrauskas highlighted the importance of dragon in religion. He showed some pictures of temples, so the audience could visually see how people worship dragons. On top of the temple’s colorful roof, we can see not only a dragon but also other things, such as carp.
People worship dragon not only because of the protection. It can also bring rain for the farm, luck and wealth. That’s why dragon is known to have not only power but also wisdom. Our Lithuanian kite, was equated to the dragon because they both play the same role – they protect people from bad spirits.
The lecturer briefly introduced the most important deity – four sea dragon-king Sìhǎi lóngwáng 四海龍王. This deity has human’s body and dragon’s head. The dragon-king rules the lakes and seas in four directions of China.
The dragon is often portrayed with other animals: phoenix, tiger and elephant. Dragon and elephant represent a fight between two strong opponents. However, dragon and phoenix together express yīn yáng 陰陽 harmony. Dragon is yáng 陽, phoenix is yīn 陰.
It is important to note, that dragon is also the government symbol. The emperor’s throne is called dragon’s throne. Moreover, there are a lot of dragon ornaments in government institutions. The emperor’s worn yellow clothes are called dragon’s clothes. On top of these clothes, there are embroidered 9 dragons.
Lastly, the meaning of the dragon in Chinese mythology was mentioned. It’s believed that the world was created by Fuxi Fúxī 伏羲and Nuva Nǚ wā 女娲. The upper part of the body was like human’s and the lower part was like dragon’s.
We all know that according to Chinese zodiacs, there are 12 animal signs but during this lecture, it was highlighted that the dragon is the most perfect zodiac sign. The dragon has other zodiacs’ qualities. That’s why the dragon year is the most important year in China. There’s even a wish – for a child to grow up to be a dragon Wàng zǐ chéng lóng 望子成龍.
We hope that the lecture’s topic was interesting and the audience got to know interesting facts about dragons in Chinese culture and cosmology.
We wish you great success throughout the year of the dragon Lóng nián dàjí龍年大吉!
You can listen to the recording of the lecture on YouTube: https://youtu.be/BPHsvDWEEPo