Topic 10. Chinese Dragon Culture

1
Topic 10. Chinese Dragon Culture

• I. European Dragons
• II. Chinese Dragons Origin and its Image
• III. Many Symbols of Dragon
• IV. Dragon and idioms

2
I. European Dragons

• European dragons
• They are legendary creatures in folklore and
  mythology
• Two implications
• Dragon is usually portrayed as evil in many
  countries
• Aggrasive and warlike
• In some countries it is portrayed as hero
• It is National symbol of Wels
• It is part of the national flag
• It is seen as a protector of Slovenia

3

• Features of European dragons
• Many modern stories represent dragons as
  extremely intelligent creatures
• They can talk, associated with powerful magic.
• In the modern period the dragon is typically
  depicted as
• a huge fire-breathing, scaly and horned
• dinosaur-like creature, with two big wings, four
  legs and a long muscular tail

4
(No Transcript)
5
(No Transcript)
6
(No Transcript)
7
II. Chinese Dragons Origin and its Image

• Origin of the concept of dragon
• Chinese dragons are legendary creatures in
  Chinese mythology and folklore
• History
• It originated with the Yellow Emperor( 2696 -
  2598 BC)
• Some scholars believe that it originated from
  totems of different tribes in China
• It was imagened as a giant with super-natural
  force
• Ancient people did not understand thunders,
  bolts, floods, storms and tsunamis
• It was thought the natural phenomenon were
  controlled by dragons

8

• The C-shaped jade dragon of Hongshan Culture
• It was unearthed in Liaoning, China
• It dated from about 4700 BC to 2900 BC
• Earliest totem

9
Changes of the shape of dragon
10
(No Transcript)
11
(No Transcript)
12
(No Transcript)
13

• Shape of dragon
• Dragon is composed of parts from some animals
• the horns of a deer
• The mouth of a alligator
• the body of a snake
• the scales of a fish
• the claws of an eagle
• the ears of an ox.

14
III. Many Symbols of Chinese Dragon

• Symbol of strong force
• Ruler of weather and sea water
• Many natural phenomenon were controlled by dragon
  
• Thunders, bolts, floods, storms and tsunamis
• According to mythologic story, it is called the
  kings of the sea dragons (???)
• There were four ???
• ????
• ????
• ????
• ????
• They lived in the dragon palaces under oceans
• They were worshiped by the people to beg rain
  fall, stop floods, etc

15

• Symbol of power and authority
• Chinese emperors thought they were the real
  dragons and the sons of the heaven(????)
• Dragon bed??
• Dragon chair??
• Dragon robe??
• Dragon body ?? ????
• Dragon son ??
• Also dragons can be seen on the buildings in the
  imperial palace.

16
(No Transcript)
17
(No Transcript)
18
(No Transcript)
19
(No Transcript)
20

• Symbol of Chinese nation
• All people in China, including the emperor,
  prostrated themselves before the image of a
  dragon with reverence and awe.
• This unreal animal became the spiritual
  sustenance
• Dragon is symbol of China
• ?????????,???????
• Dragon on the national flag of the last feudal
  dynasty, the Qing Dynasty. 

21
(No Transcript)
22

• The dragon is always used in the West as a
  national symbol of China
• Talking about two Asian powers, China and India
  rising up, it is always maintioned that dragon
  and elephant are competing
• Officially this usage is not common in China.
• In European-influenced cultures, the dragon has
  aggressive and warlike implication
• Chinese government avoid using it as a symbol of
  China
• West media use it in both goodwill and
  ill-intention

23

• Descendants of the dragon (????)
• It is the same as descendants of Yan and Huang
  (????)
• The earliest Emperors Yan Di and Huang Di were
  closely related to dragon
• The first legendary Emperor, Huang Di, was said
  to have been immortalized into a dragon that went
  to Heaven.
• The other legendary Emperor, Yan Di was born by
  his mother's telepathy with a mythic dragon.
• So the Chinese consider Huang Di and Yan Di as
  their ancestors, "the descendants of the
  dragon".

24

• Auspicious symbol
• Some Chinese mascots
• Magpie
• Bring good news to you

25

• Chinese unicorn
• The Chinese unicorn is named as Qilin(??) too.
  The Chinese unicorn is a lucky supernatural
  animal in Chinas ancient legend.
• It symbolizes peace and longevity in China.

26

• Red-crowned crane
• It is the symbol of long life. The people often
  paint red-crowned crane and tall pine together in
  China.

27

• Lion
• The lion is the most common in the Chinese lucky
  pattern.
• There are often two stone lions in front of the
  gate of palace and local authorities.
• The male lion is on the left, the female lion is
  on the right.
• The male lion symbolizes the power
• the female lion symbolizes future generations
  prosperously.

28

• Pi Xiu
• It bring the wealth to you. and it will protect
  its master wholeheartedly
• It can counteract evil force and bring the wealth
  and good luck to its master.
• It has the mouth, but no the anus. It regards
  jewel, gold and silver as food. it only eats
  money, and does not excrete.
• So the businessman often puts Pi Xiu in the
  company or home in China. It is said the richest
  man Li Jiacheng (???)in Hong Kong has 888 Pi Xiu.

29

• Dragon and phoenix (??)
• Dragon and phoenix is the auspicious animal in
  the Chinese legend.
• They symbolize auspicious, joyous and noble.
• The dragon and phoenix pattern is generally used
  in the Chinese wedding celebration.
• Both bridegroom and bride happy ????
• Dragon symbolizes male Phoenix symbolizes female
• They symbolize couple harmoniously, the marriage
  is happy.
• Son in law ????
• Pregnant with son and daughter ???
• Dragon Year auspicious

30
(No Transcript)
31
(No Transcript)
32
(No Transcript)
33
(No Transcript)
34
(No Transcript)
35

• Symbol of ability and success
• ????
• ?????,?????
• Dragon vs. worm ?

36
IV. Nine Dragons Wall(???)
37
(No Transcript)
38
(No Transcript)
39

• There are three nine-dragon walls in China
• The biggest and oldest one, located in Datong,
  Shanxi
• It was built in Liao Kingdom (9161125 A.D)
• The most sophisticated and beautiful one is the
  one in the Beihai (North Sea) Park in Beijing
• The third one is in front of the Ningyong Gate in
  the Forbidden City
• Shape of the dragons
• Each dragon is playing with a unique jewelry
  ball.
• The dragons were painted in different colors with
  three dimension, and were handcrafted with the
  highest level of workmanship.

40

• The Nine Dragon Wall in Bei Hai Park
• After hundreds of years the colors of the ceramic
  tiles remain brilliant.
• The wall was built in 1756.
• It is 21m long, about 15m high and 1.2m thick.
• It is faced with 424 7-color ceramic tiles.
• There is a giant dragon at the center of the wall
• It is flanked by four dragons on each side.
• In addition to these nine large dragons, the wall
  is covered from edge to edge with many smaller
  dragons.
• There are 635 dragons in all.

41
(No Transcript)
42
V. Dragon in Traditional Festivals

• The dragon also plays an important part in
  Chinese festivals, especially in Chinese N.Y.
• The Dragon Dance
• itself originated during the Han Dynasty and was
  started by the Chinese who had shown great belief
  and respect towards the dragon.
• It is believed to have begun as part of the
  farming and harvest culture, also with origins as
  a method of healing and preventing sickness.
• It was already a popular event during the Song
  Dynasty
• It had become a folk activity and like the lion
  dance, was most often seen in festive celebrations

43
(No Transcript)
44
(No Transcript)
45
(No Transcript)
46
(No Transcript)
47
(No Transcript)
48
(No Transcript)
49

• Dragon Dance has spread throughout China and to
  the whole world.
• It becomes a special performance of arts in the
  Chinese physical activities.
• It symbolizes the bringing of good luck and
  prosperity in the year to come.
• In the Qing Dynasty, the Dragon Dance team of the
  province of Foochow had been invited to perform
  in Peking and had been greatly praised and
  admired by the Qing Emperor, which earned great
  fame for the team
• Since then, dragon dance was getting more and
  more popular
• The dragon dance is a highlight of Chinese New
  Year celebrations
• It was held worldwide in Chinatowns around the
  world.

50

• The Dragon Boat Festival???
• This festival is celebrated on 5th of fifth lunar
  month
• It is also called Duanwu Festival ???
• The Chinese Dragon Boat Festival is a significant
  holiday celebrated in China
• It has a longest history.
• The Dragon Boat Festival is celebrated by boat
  races in the shape of dragons.
• Competing teams row their boats forward with a
  drumbeat, racing to reach the finish end
• It is almost purely dragon-related festival,
  which becomes popular international events now.

51

• The boating is traditional custom to attempt to
  commemorate patriotic poet Qu Yuan (??)
• He drowned on the fifth day of the fifth lunar
  month in 277 B.C.
• When people were seeing his drowning, they rowed
  boats to rescue he
• Later, on this day every year, dragon race was
  held
• Chinese citizens now throw bamboo leaves filled
  with cooked rice into the water so that the fish
  could eat the rice rather than Qu Yuans body.
• Today, to celebrate this festival, there are
  three things to do
• Dragon boat race
• Eat ??

52

• Qu Yuan
• It served as minister to the Chou Emperor during
  the Warring State period.
• He did much to fight against political corruption
  in the court-- thereby earning the envy and fear
  of other officials
• Therefore, when he urged the emperor to avoid
  conflict with the Qin Kingdom, the officials
  pressured the Emperor to have him removed from
  service.
• In exile, he traveled, taught and wrote for
  several years
• Hearing that the Zhou had been defeated by the
  Qin, he fell into despair and threw himself into
  a River.

53
VI. Dragon and idioms

• ????
• Lord Ye's Love of Dragons or Mr. Ye loves
  dragon
• It means that somebody would not really like
  something, but he orally always says he like it
  very, very much.
• Lord Ye says he loves dragons deeply.
• He had dragons everywhere in his home.
• He drew dragons on walls, sculptured dragons on
  pillars, put dragons on tables and everywhere
• He was thinking of dragons all the time.
• One day, his love of dragons moved a real dragon,
  so the dragon came to visit him.
• When he saw the real dragon, he was frightened to
  death.

54

• ????
• It is to describe somebodys Chinese calligraphy.
  Two meanings
• Caoshu (??) praise
• Kaishu (??) criticize or satirize

55

• ????
• Describe a occasion or a scene very active
• ???move, act and jump up and down quickly like
  dragon and phoenix
• ????
• Similar to above
• Describe persons with active energy
• ???????

56
Dragons in Thai social life?
57
(No Transcript)
58
(No Transcript)
59
(No Transcript)
60
(No Transcript)
61
(No Transcript)