The Chinese DragonThe Chinese dragon is a mythical creature. Long a potent symbol of auspicious power in Chinese folklore and art, it is the embodiment of the concept of yang and associated with the weather and water as the bringer of rain. The dragon is sometimes in the West as a national emblem of China. However, this usage within both the People's Republic of China and the Republic of China on Taiwan is extremely rare, both because the dragon has monarchist connotations which run counter to recent Chinese ideologies and because the dragon has aggressive, warlike connotations which Chinese governments dislike. It is for the latter reason that the giant panda is far more often used within China as a national emblem than the Chinese dragon. European DragonIn European mythology, a dragon is a serpent-like legendary creature. The Latin word draco, as in the constellation Draco, comes directly from Greek drakones. The Dragon is sometimes known by the Nordic word, ormr (Old English wyrm means serpent — draca means dragon). Though a winged creature, the dragon is generally to be found in its chthonic lair, a cave that identifies it as an ancient creature of earth, like the mythic serpent, that was a source of knowledge even in Eden. |
 |
