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Chinese Long and western dragon

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Chinese Long and western dragonI. Introduction China is an old civilization with 5,000 years of splendid traditional culture. Chinese culture is universally acknowledged as the oldest continuous culture in the world. Though in history China was more than once under the rule of border ethn...

Chinese Long and western dragon
I. Introduction China is an old civilization with 5,000 years of splendid traditional culture. Chinese culture is universally acknowledged as the oldest continuous culture in the world. Though in history China was more than once under the rule of border ethnic minorities, the essential qualities of Chinese culture remained unchanged. Chinese culture is unique in that it flourished while absorbing the cultures of those ethnic minorities. With the development of globe, economy and cultures of different countries in the world have also developed, of course, including China. The communication of economy and cultures between China and the western countries becomes more and more, in which, they absorb the essences of different cultures of each other. For example, there are many Chinese people who become to celebrate the Lover’s Day, Christmas Day, and so on. These festivals belonged to the western culture at the beginning. Similarly, nowadays, there are many people of the western countries who also celebrate the Spring Festival, the most important festival of China. However, with the communication of different cultures, a phenomenon appears at the same time. What’s the phenomenon? It’s that there are more and more people who start to address Chinese Long as dragon, including Chinese. In fact, with the development of the whole world, as Chinese people, not only should we absorb other cultures’ essence s, but we should persist in and encourage our own particular, unique culture. In the traditional Chinese culture, Long is the symbol of Chinese culture, is also the symbol of Chinese spirit, and even is an important complex of nation. Long is the Chinese totem. As Chinese people, as “龙的传人”(long de chuan ren, descendents of Long ), what should we do, addressing Long as dragon or Long, throwing away or developing and expecting our traditional, unique culture—the culture of Chinese Long ? II. Differences of Chinese Long and western dragon As Chinese people, as the descendents of Long, what should we do, addressing 1 Long as dragon or Long, throwing away or developing and expecting our traditional, unique culture—the culture of Chinese Long ? We can search the answer from the differences between the Chinese Long and the western dragon. 2.1 Differences in understanding We all know that people are used to being acquainted with something from its definitions, so we could look into the differences between Long and dragon in their definitions, firstly. 2.1.1 Definition and symbolization of Chinese Long The origin of Chinese Long can date back to 8,000 years ago. Long is a fictional animal but has the most influence and impact on the Chinese. 《尔雅翼.释鱼》说:“龙,角似鹿,头似驼,眼似兔,项似蛇,腹似蜇,鳞似鱼,爪似鹰,掌似虎,耳似牛。头上有物如博山,名尺木,龙无尺木不能升天。”(Zhang Xiaoheng, 2007 : 34 ) Long, its antenna just like antler, head likes camel’s, eyes like rabbit’s, neck like s snake’s, abdomen likes hibernate’s, squamae like fish’s, unguises like eagle’s, paws like tiger’s, ears like catt le’s. And there is a fin on its head, without which Long can not fly into sky. At the remote ages, Long was the totem that the Han people had worshipped. In their eyes, Long was the god, holy and sacred, and was able to command the rain and wind, to ride on the mists and cloud. So Long had long been considered as the ancestor of the Han Nationality and Han people were proud of being the descendents of Long. From ancient times on, Long has been thought as the symbol of luck. Why? It is said in the legend that there is a “东海龙王” (dong hai long wang, the King of the East Sea and the g od of rain in Chinese mythology), who has a “龙宫” (long gong, Palace of the Long) called “水晶宫” (shui jing gong, the Crystal Palace). The King Long is said to have a son called “龙太子”(ling tai zi), also called “苍龙”(cang long, the Green Long) and a daughter called “龙女”(long nü), and “玉龙” (yu long, the Jade Long), too. As the King Long is believed living under the sea and being able to exercise magic powers to summon wind and rain, people usually pray Him for rain and water when weather has for long been dry. But when a flood occurs, people will also pray Him to stop the disaster. So Long is the symbol of luck. While the King Long is supposed to dominate the Water World, his son the Green Long is magic enough to make fire, and his daughter the Jade Long is able to make the coming of beautiful snow. Besides the symbol of luck, Long has often been thought as the symbol of power. Emperors durin g ancient times called themselves “真龙天子”(The True Long; the son of Heaven), and they were imaged as Long and were constantly worshipped. So legend goes that, after his death, an emperor will become immortal and ride on a Long towards Heaven. In Chinese language, an emperor is often the association of Long. For example, “龙颜”(long yan, facial features of emperor), “龙体”(long ti, the emperor’s health), “龙床”(long chuang, the emperor’s bed), “龙袍” (long pao, yellow gown embroidered with Long for an emperor), etc. 2.1.2 Definition and symbolization of western dragon To western culture, the dragon is said to be a large fierce animal with two huge unguis, wings and a long tail, whose whole body is covered by squamae and whose face just like crocodile’s. It is always considered as a evil symbol, and it can swim, fly as well as breathe out fire. At ancient times, the dragon was a symbol of evil, a sinister, hellish and ferocious monster that destroyed the life of human and therefore must be destroyed. Several stories of saints or heroes deal with struggles against the dragons, keeper or holder of treasure and beautiful princess, which in most cases are slain in the end. It is said the earliest story about the western “dragon”can be searched in the ancient Greek mythology. The dragon was also a symbol of evil. In a word, the dragon is a fierce monster, and is greatly harmful to humankind. It must be destroyed. The western people always consider the dragon as a evil symbol, and consider the hero who kills, destroys the dragon as a saint, and who is worshipped by human beings. 2.1.3 Luck vs Evil Chinese Long and western dragon are absolutely different, which we know clearly. From one angle of images of Chinese Long and western dragon, we can know that Long and dragon can also fly, however, Long has not wings but “尺木” (a fin on Long’s head). Besides, it is said that Long is made up of the parts of hundred kinds of animals, it is the king of all animals. However, it is said that the dragon’s face just likes crocodile’s, it can swim, fly and breathe out fire. It is the animal that is good at destroying everything with its huge unguis, long tail and the fire it breathes out. It is devil incarnation. From another angle of symbols of Chinese Long and western dragon, we can know that Long is symbol of luck and power, but dragon is a evil symbol. We can see from legends that Chinese Long can summon wind and rain for people who usually pray Him for water when weather has for long been dry, and Long is the favorite animal of emperors who usually image themselves as Long, for Long is immortal, holy and sacred. Nevertheless, western dragon is just a animal that destroys with breathing out fire and must be destroyed. It is the symbol of evil, and is the incarnation of Judas and Satan. One is a lucky animal, Chinese Long, which is worshipped by people; another is a evil symbol, western dragon, which must be killed by human. Long and dragon are two absolutely different animals and symbols. As Chinese, the descendants of Long, we should address Long as Long, and develop and expand our traditional, unique Chinese culture—the culture of Chinese Long. 2.2 Differences in cultural embodiments Generally speaking, in different cultures, the same thing would have different meanings, let alone two absolutely different things. So let’s search for the differences between Chinese Long and western dragon in different cultural embodiments together. 2.2.1 Embodiments of Chinese Long in folkway culture Since China had been under the rule of feudalism for thousands of years, “power”and “monopoly” were the first priorities for the whole state. At that time, Long was also monopolized by emperors, just because Long was the symbol of power. However, from ancient times to now, Long is always considered as a god and a lucky symbol in the folkway culture, for Long can bring harvest and wealth, health and happiness. All of people worship the god—Long. All of these we can see from the embodiments of Long in folkway culture. Based on the folklore, we all know that Long is a god who can summon wind and rain for people. When the weather is not suitable for farming on the land, people always pray the King Long for the good weather, which can bring the harvest of crops. In traditional Chinese festivals, there are the festivals to thank or sacrifice the King Long for the help to people. For example, the 2nd day on the 2nd lunar month, is the traditional Chinese festival called “龙抬头” (long tai tou). The meaning of this festival is that Long, the god of wind and rain, always raises its head to begin to wok on the day, the 2nd day of the 2nd lunar month; that is to say, Long would revive on the second day of the second lunar month, and would start its jobs to control the wind and rain. It is said that every year, rain will be more from this day on. So, for the harvest, on this day morning, every family gets water from river or wells, and then carries two buckets of water on a shoulder pole from river or wells to home, carrying lanterns. When they get home, they will be used to starting to lamp, burn incense, and sacrifice the King Long. Besides, they would eat nodule, oil pastry and popcorn during the whole day. The way of celebrating the festival is called “引田龙”, that is to say, people attract the King Long to come to farmland to bring the crops’ harvest by carrying water and lanterns. All of people believe that the crops will be healthier and stronger by the way of celebrating the festival. Besides the festivals to thank or sacrifice the King Long, there are many festivals to celebrate health or happiness by using the ways refer to Long, which just because Long is the symbol of luck. For example, “元宵节” (Yuanxiaojie, the Lantern Festival) was also called “上元节”(Shangyuanjie, the first full moon in a new year).The celebration of happy reunion is usually on the evening of the 15th evening of the 1st lunar month in a year. “舞龙”(wu long, all kinds of dances with Long—a kind of artistic work is made of paper and bamboo), becomes a major display to celebrate the happy reunion, together with many other activities, such as “观灯”(guan deng, lantern display), “猜灯谜”(cai deng mi, riddle-guess in lantern), “放焰火”(fang yan huo, fireworks display) and “吃元宵” (chi yuan xiao, eat sweet glutinous dumplings), etc. And “端午节”(Duan wujie), the 5th day of the 5th lunar month is the traditional Chinese festival. “龙舟赛”(long zhou sai, boat races, the appearance of boat likes the figure of Long) is hold on the river as a major display to commemorate the great poet—“屈原” (Qu Yuan), a famous Chinese poet who is believed to have died by jumping into the river on the 5th day of the 5th lunar month. Long is not only the symbol of luck, but the totem of Chinese people. In addition to festivals, we can see Long in the many important custom, the traditional and unique Chinese custom. For example, in ancient China, people, in order to keep in memory their year of birth, used to name after “十二生肖”(shi er sheng xiao, 12 Symbols Animals) as a way to match the “十二地支” (shi er di zhi, 12 Earthly Branches). The twelve animals are: rat, ox, tiger, hare, Long, snake, horse, sheep, monkey, cock, dog and hog. Besides Long, a fictional animal and a mascot that people believe in, others are all common animals that exist in real world. From the West Han Dynasty to Southern and Northern Dynasties, and even to now, 12 Symbolic Animals has been much loved and popularly used. What’s more, people believe that they may have come originally from ancients’ worship to earlier totems. 2.2.2 Embodiments of western dragon in legends As to the embodiments of western dragon, we can introduce some legends in the river of western culture. In which, we can find that dragon is a evil symbol, is a fierce monster that must be destroyed by a brave hero, and is the symbol of Judas and Satan. It is said the earliest story about dragon can trace back to the story of the ancient Greek mythology. As ancient Greek times, the son of Zeus, Heraches was saint who slain 12 demons, including the Nine-Head dragon, Hydra. Hydra was a fierce dragon and often ate the whole herd of livestock as well as destroyed the farmland of herdsmen. Hydra could bring disaster to people. It was difficult to slay the dragon, because the dragon’s head would regrow doubly after being cut by Heraches. At the end, Heraches cut the nine heads of the dragon with hot sword, and slain it. Then Heraches laid the blood of Hydra on his sword, afterward, the sword became divine. The most notable story about slaying dragon perhaps is Beowulf, an Anglo-Saxon epic around the year of 700 AD. Beowulf, nephew of the king of the Geats, heard that Hrothgar, a Danish King, was in great trouble. The kingdom of the king was harassed by a monster called Grendel. He at once sailed there, grappled with the monster, and wounded it fatally. Then, came Grendel’s mother, a she-monster, in revenge of her son. Beowulf followed her to her under-water cave and killed her with a giant award. With these honors had won, he returned to his homeland and reigned as its king for 50 years. Then a fire-breathing dragon came out of its den and killed many people. Though old now, Beowulf still killed it sing-handedly. But he, too, was fatally wound and later died. Besides, it is also said that the dragon is the symbol of Judas and Satan, because Judas and Satan are the betrayers in the Bible. In Bible Stories, Judas is one of the Twelve, he betrayed Judas to the chief priests. Because of this, Pilate handed Jesus over to be crucified. And in Paradise Lost, Milton’s masterpiece, Satan is a symbol of evil. Paradise Lost, the story is taken from the Old Testament: Satan and other angels rebelled against God, but they were defeated and driven from Heaven into Hell. Even amidst the furnace of Hell, Satan was determined to fight back. He assumed the shape of a snake and came to the Garden of Eden, a paradise where Adam and Eve lived. God, after knowing Satan’s plot, sent the Archangel Raphael to warn Adam and Eve of Satan. However, Satan still succeeded in seducing Eve to eat the fruit from the Tree of knowledge, which had been totally forbidden by God. As a result, Adam and Eve were exiled by God from the paradise and thereafter lived a life full of hardship. 2.2.3 Happiness vs Sadness From the embodiments of Chinese Long in folkway culture and western dragon in fairy tale, we can see that Chinese Long is always a good symbol. People consider Long as the god of wind and rain, often pray Him to bring nice weather so as to get harvest, health, and wealth, And Long symbolizes a happy reunion, because people always hold Long dance on important festival—the Lantern Festival, a symbol of happy reunion festival. Besides, Long also symbolizes a complex affection, and in people’s minds, Long is a holy and sacred animal, so people like to commemorate the great people with the ways related to Long . For example, “龙舟赛” of “端午节” is often held on the river to commemorate the great poet. In fact, Long also symbolizes important memory, for example, which year you were born in, and so on. However, we can see western dragon from the western legends, dragon is usually a wicked symbol, and it often brings sadness to people. In Beowulf, the poem conveys a hope that the righteous will triumph over the evil, dragon symbolizes the evil and makes people be in trouble. And in Paradise Lost, the only generally acknowledged epic in English literature since Beowulf and is taken from the Bible, the theme of the epic is man’s disobedience and the loss of Paradise, with its prime cause—Satan who rebels against God’s authority and tyranny, dragon symbolizes Satan. All of symbols of dragon are wicked. One is a symbol of auspicious, Chinese Long, which can bring happiness to people; another is a symbol of evil, western dragon, which can bring sadness to people. We get the same conclusion that Long and dragon are two absolutely different animals and symbols. We can be sure that as Chinese, as the descendants of Long, we should address Long as Long and give full scope to our traditional, unique Chinese culture—the culture of Chinese Long. 2.3 Differences in ideology & origin Actually, the differences between Chinese culture and western culture as well as the differences between Chinese Long and western dragon are caused by the different social ideologies. Well, what are the differences between Chinese social ideology and western social ideology? Let’s seek the answer together. 2.3.1 The culture of Chinese Long We should develop and expand the culture of Chinese Long, well, what’s the culture? The answer is that Chinese people are descendants of Long, the Chinese totem is Long and Chinese people all have faith in the Belief that Unification and Harmony of Chinese Long. As Chinese, we often call ourselves as the descendants of Long, but who can tell the reasons. It is said that in Chinese mythologies, the earliest ancestors of Chinese nation are all symbols of Long. 庞进说: 伏羲为龙种, 女娲具龙性, 黄帝黄龙体, 炎帝乃龙子, 夏禹是虬龙: 这便构成了普天下所有的炎黄子孙, 华夏儿女都称自己是龙的传人, 龙的子孙的“根据”。(zhang , 2007:294) That tells us that 伏羲(fu xi, one of the earliest Chinese ancestors) is the son of Long; 女娲(nv wa, one of the earliest Chinese ancestors) has the character of Long; 黄帝(huang di, one of the first leaders of Chinese nation) has the body of Long, that is to say, huang di is the incarnation of Long; 炎帝(yan di), the same as huang di, is the incarnation of Long; 禹(yv, one leader of Xia Dynasty), is called qiu Long, that means small Long, which is the reason why Chinese people call ourselves the descendants of Long. The earliest ancestors of Chinese nation are all descendants of Long, so the whole Chinese nation are the descendants of Long. Long is the origin of all Chinese. As Chinese, we all know that the totem of Chinese nation is Long, but who can tell the reasons again. Totem is a complex cultural symbol in early time of China, which relates to social system, religious belief and national worship. Totem has a great influence on the culture in later ages. Generally speaking, totem has four essential factors: firstly, totem must be a natural object, which is considered as a protective god of nation; secondly, the natural object must have blood relationship with the nation; thirdly, the natural object must be the honor of the whole nation; fourthly, the natural object is the symbol of the whole nation. Long is a holy animal, is a natural object and even has higher status than natural object. In ancient times, Han nationality considered Long as the god of wind and rain, the protective god, and considered themselves as the descendants of Long. Long is the symbol of luck, happiness, health and wealth, which is just the symbol of the whole nationality. So the Chinese nation considers and only considers Long as the totem of whole nation from ancient times to now. Because we are Chinese, the descendants of Long, and we consider Long as the totem of us, so we should develop and expand the culture of Long and give full scope to the Belief that Unification and Harmony of Chinese Long. 中国龙的合谐理念体现在四个方面:一是天人合一的宇宙观;二是仁者爱人的互主体观;三是阴阳交合的发展观(或叫变易观);四是兼容并包的文化观(zhang , 2007:306)。That tells us that the Belief of Unification and Harmony of Chinese Long which embodies four aspects on Chinese culture: firstly, the viewpoint of universe on unification of nature and human; secondly, the viewpoint of mutuality on harmony of human; thirdly, the viewpoint of development on connection (unification) of Yin and Y ang (the two opposing principles in nature. Yin, feminine and negative; Y ang, masculine and positive); fourthly, the viewpoint of culture on absorption (harmony) of all kinds of culture. The emphasis of the concept is unification and harmony, which is the ideology of the whole Chinese nation. 2.3.2 The culture about western dragon From westerners’ point of view, the Bible is unique and its content and moral are even the source of the ideology of western people. The Bible has the immeasurable influence on the thoughts of westerners and the western culture in later ages. In Bible, the God created all things out of Himself, including evil. There was evil in Heaven. Pride, Lust, Wrath, and Avarice were there. The westerners often say that a person was born with all sins. During the whole life of them, they must do more kind and must suffer from more so as to wash away their sins. This is the Saying of Original Sin. We can see from what have discussed, dragon is a evil symbol, and dragon also symbolizes all sins: Pride, Lust, Wrath, and Avarice. Dragon is always the symbol of sinister objects, is the symbol of all the sins that people must fight against and wash away. For example, in Beowulf, the fire-breathing dragon, the symbol of the forces of the natural world, was slain by Beowulf in the end of this poem. Thematically, this poem shows how the primitive people fight against the forces of the natural world under a wise and mighty leader. And in Paradise Lost, the theme of the epic is man’s disobedience and the loss of Paradise, with its prime cause—Satan who rebels against God’s authority and tyranny. Westerners always consider dragon as the symbol of Satan, for dragon always makes human be in trouble. Human must destroy dragon and destroy everything is evil, just for washing away the sins which turns up when human is born, and for defeating the forces of the natural world. From western ideology term, we can find the main idea of the ideology in the essence of the Renaissance, Humanism. It emphasizes the dignity of human beings and the importance of the present life. Humanists voiced their beliefs that man was the center of the universe and man did not only have the right to enjoy the beauty of the present life, but had the ability to perfect himself and to perform wonders. 2.3.3 Unification & Harmony vs Humanism Through the discussions between the culture of Chinese Long and the culture about western dragon, we can get the idea that Chinese Long and western dragon come from different ideologies and they have the different significances. Chinese Long, as the totem and the ancestor of Chinese nation, is venerated by all people of Chinese nation. So, the culture of Long is the main idea of the ideology of Chinese nation, which emphasizes on unification between Yin and Y ang, as well as the differences of all objects in the world; and emphasizes on harmony between people and nature, as well as people and people. In other words, the culture of Long embodies the significances of Taoism and Confucianism that is unification and harmony. However, western dragon is always the symbol of evil, the symbol of wicked objects, and the symbol of sinister forces or sinister people. In people’s minds, dragon must be destroyed, but the human beings are sacred. Renaissance of Europe which began in the 14th century and continued to the mid-17th century that just emphasized the significance—Humanism. Humanism states that man is godly, that man is able to find truth, goodness and beauty, and that man is in control of the present life rather than being controlled by God. Briefly, humanism puts man at the center of their beliefs and takes man to be the measure of every thing while the former asceticism puts God at the center of their beliefs and takes personal salvation to be the most important thing on the earth for man (Hu zongfeng , 2002;11). One is symbol of unification and harmony, Chinese Long, which embodies the significances of Confucianism and Taoism; another is symbol of sinister forces, western dragon, which must be destroyed by human beings. In legends, dragon is always slain by human, from which we can see the significance of Renaissance—Humanism. The third times, we can get the conclusion that Long and dragon are two absolutely different animals and symbols. Two different animals symbolize two different ideologies and belong to two different origins. So, as Chinese, as the descendants of Long, we should have more confidence to address Long as Long, and we should encourage our traditional, unique Chinese culture—the culture of Chinese Long. Ⅲ. Conclusion As to the question that which we should address Long, dragon or Long; and which we should do, throwing away or developing and expanding our traditional, unique Chinese culture—the culture of Chinese Long, I’m sure that we can search the answer from the differences of Chinese Long and western dragon in understanding, in embodiments, and in ideologies as well as origins, which we has discussed. Firstly, we can draw a conclusion from the differences in definitions and symbolizations of Chinese Long and western dragon. The conclusion is that Chinese Long is a lucky symbol and is always worshipped by Chinese nation, but western dragon is a evil symbol and is considered to must be destroyed by human beings of western world. Secondly, we can reach a conclusion from the differences in embodiments of Chinese Long and western dragon on folkway culture and legends. The viewpoint is that Chinese Long is a auspicious symbol and it often brings happiness to people, however, western dragon is a wicked symbol and it always brings sadness to people. Thirdly, we can get a conclusion from the differences of Chinese Long and western dragon on the aspect of ideology and origin. The conclusion is that Chinese Long embodies the significances of Confucianism and Taoism, that is unification and harmony while western dragon can elicit the significance of Renaissance, that is Humanism. All in all, we can generalize a conclusion from the whole argumentative writing, which is that Chinese Long and western dragon are absolutely different fictitious animals. They symbolize different concepts, embody different cultures and even embody different symbols of ideologies of different national cultures. Although, as the development of globe, the chances of communicating between different cultures become more and more, we should persist in the traditional and unique Chinese culture as a Chinese, and we should even give full scope to the uniqueness of Chinese culture—the culture of Chinese Long, just because we are the descendants of Long. In a word, Long is the symbol of unification, as well as the symbol of harmony, luck, happiness, health, and so on. With the chances of cultural communication becoming more and more, not only should we develop and expand our unique culture, but should also let the people all over the world know that the Chinese people are descendants of Long not descendants of dragon wherever you are, that the Chinese totem is Long not dragon, and that the Chinese people all have faith in the Belief that Unification and Harmony of Chinese Long—the culture of Chinese Long.
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