The Chinese Dragon

Throughout Chinese history, the dragon has symbolized power, strength, and good luck. Chinese dragons typically have power over rainfall, typhoons, and floods. Additionally, the dragon also symbolizes imperial power, as Liu Bang’s (the founder of the Han dynasty) mother dreamt of a dragon before he was conceived. Today, excellent and outstanding people are compared to dragons, for their unending achievements and successes.

From its original roots, the Chinese dragon has become a mythical creature. The dragon has 117 scales; 81 are of yang (positive) essence, while 36 are of yin (negative) essence. This is because Buddhists believe that though dragons are wise and just, they can also destroy through the means of floods. It was proposed that the worst floods were due to the influence of dragons. 

There is one comment

  1. Pratim Chowdhary

    This article gave a good description of what the Chinese dragon meant, and it was easy to follow and understand. From this article I learned that the Chinese dragon was related to the yin yang, a connection that I would have never made if I didn’t read this article.

Comments are closed.