The eternal attraction of a Chinese dragon
No creature, real or mythical, has exercised such a hold on the imagination over centuries, yet its origins are shrouded in mystery, Zhao Xu reports.
It is just as interesting to know that Dong Zhongshu (179-104 BC), a prominent thinker and influential politician during the Western Han Dynasty (206 BC-AD 24), once wrote about invoking dragons during drought, by making clay figurines and having young boys pace and dance among them. Dong, who acted as a trusted counselor to the powerful Western Han Emperor Wudi, was responsible for putting Confucianism on the pedestal, once and for all, by making it the official ideology for all the Chinese imperial states that followed.
Sending out envoys on a westward journey that was to give rise to the ancient Silk Road, Emperor Wudi also redrew the map for China, partly by driving back invading forces from the northern steppes, military campaigns deemed to have taken his armies, at one point, to Lake Baikal in southern Siberia. Some scholars believe that was the place referred to as "the North Sea" by ancient Chinese texts, which talked about "the Four Seas" being guarded by mighty dragons. (The other three correspond with what is today called the South China Sea, East China Sea and Qinghai Lake in Qinghai province, western China.)
Mythology, after all, may not be as removed from history as most people tend to think.
When it comes to habits and traits, the Chinese dragon, dwelling either in the clouds or at the bottom of lakes, seems to have little in common with its Western counterpart, which occupies lairs or caves. While fire-breathing Western dragons are often portrayed in classic literature as a destructive force, the water-spraying Chinese dragons are mostly venerated for being a savior and enabler capable of bringing an abundant yield of crops or simply good fortune.
