Dragon is the totem and symbol of the Chinese nation. Dragon culture has a long and long history of 8,000 years, and is a prominent symbol of Chinese culture. There are about three hundred dragon events recorded in the official history of China throughout the ages, and other types of literature are even more enormous. The image of the dragon has penetrated into all corners of society, and the influence of the dragon has spread to all levels of culture in a colorful way. Dragon decorations, carved dragons, dragon kisses in buildings, dragon dances at the Lantern Festival (dragon lantern dances, dragon lantern juggling), the second day of February when dragons raise their heads to eat dragon noodles, dragon boat races at the Dragon Boat Festival, dragon paintings, dragon calligraphy, dragon poetry, dragon songs and so on are popular folk cultures for a long time. The dragon has become a kind of cultural cohesion and accumulation. It is worth noting that the correct English translation of dragon is “loong”, which is different from the European Dragon (centipede, devil) construction, is a different species.
For thousands of years, the dragon has permeated all aspects of Chinese society, becoming a cultural cohesion and accumulation. The dragon has become the symbol of China, the symbol of the Chinese nation and the symbol of Chinese culture. For every descendant of the Yellow Emperor, the image of the dragon is a symbol, a mood, a kind of flesh and blood emotion! “Children and grandchildren of the dragon”, “descendants of the dragon” these titles, often make us excited, excited, proud. In addition to spreading and inheriting the culture of the dragon on the Chinese land, it has also been brought to the world by the overseas Chinese, and in the Chinese settlements or Chinatowns in various countries of the world, the most numerous and eye-catching ornaments are still dragons. As a result, the “heir to the dragon” and the “land of the dragon” have gained worldwide recognition.
Since the Yanhuang period, the dragon has been used as a totem, and the worship of the divine animal dragon has a long history in China, and dragon culture is one of the sources of Chinese culture. As early as 5,000 to 6,000 years ago, during the Neolithic period of the Hongshan culture, people carved various “C” shaped jade dragons, jade pig dragons, etc. as ceremonial objects to worship heaven, earth, mountains and rivers. According to records, during the Yan Huang era, the dragon became the common totem of all the tribal alliances of the Chinese nation. Later, the Xia Dynasty took the yellow dragon as its totem, and the dragon culture was more widely spread during the Shang and Zhou Dynasties, and the image of the dragon often appeared in all kinds of exquisite bronzes and jades.
After the Qin and Han Dynasties, the dragon became the symbol of the emperor. Successive emperors have called themselves “the true dragon son of heaven”, but also the word dragon used in the emperor to use things, such as the emperor will wear clothes called dragon robe, the emperor sat in the chair called dragon chair, the emperor slept in the bed called dragon bed.
In the minds of the ancients, the dragon is a mysterious treasure, it is not easy to see, even if the manifestation of the head is not visible, or only see only scales and claws. The appearance of the dragon, is a sign of peace in the world, so the dragon is regarded as the world’s greatest good luck.
Although the mysterious and unpredictable, changeable dragon is rare to see, but since ancient times people on the image of the dragon described very clearly. Han Dynasty scholar Wang Chong pointed out that the dragon from the head to the shoulder, from the shoulder to the waist, from the waist to the tail, the length of the three parts are equal; the dragon’s horns like a deer, head like a camel, eyes like a rabbit, neck like a snake, belly like a mirage, scales like a fish, claws like an eagle, palm like a tiger, ears like a cow. The dragon can walk, can fly, can swim, can raise clouds and rain; the dragon can also show can hide, can be huge can be fine, can be long can be short. Spring equinox fly up to the sky, the fall equinox dive in the abyss.
Since the dragon’s population flourished, and fierce and horrible, other animals and humans may be attacked at any time, then, due to dreams or conditioned reflex generalization and similar associations, naturally arise. Therefore, “Three Kings” said: “Emperor Shennong’s, ginger, mother said female, Jiao’s female, the consort of ShaoDian, sense of the dragon and gave birth to Emperor Yan.” Huai Nan Zi? Tanya Meditation” said: “In the ancient times, the four poles waste, nine continents cracked, the sky does not cover, the earth is not weekly load, the fire is not extinguished, the water is not resting, beasts eat Zhuanmin, birds of prey seize the old and weak, so Nuwa refining five-color stone to make up for the heavens, break the ao enough to set up the four poles, kill the Black Dragon to Ji Ji, the accumulation of ash to stop the smoke and water.” The high temperatures of the late Holocene ice age led to major fires in the primeval forests, which were “unquenchable,” as well as sea invasions for thousands of years, which were “unquenchable,” due to the melting of the glaciers and the rising of the sea surface. Human beings are in deep water and hot times, just the dragon this kind of animal prosperity and dominance in the waters of the times, “kill the black dragon in order to JiJiZhou” has become the human survival of the desire to compete and the necessary measures. Therefore, there is still the legend that the year of the dragon is unlucky and plagued with disasters.
