Asian Dragon Symbolism

Dragon has for ever been a mysterious mythical creature which has been a part of life in eastern Asia. Originally it was adopted from the Chinese folk lore. Ancient dragon has been described and given a form of serpent with a scaly body except for the fact that unlike a serpent it has four legs and each foot has five claws.

Like China Europeans too have their dragons but they have different physical qualities and also in their meaning as European dragon has negative implications.

Dragon in China has come to stand for both good and bad as far as Chinese history is concerned. But the fact remains that the dragon has auspicious power when we see the art form or the myths that is related to Chinese dragon.

Anotherfascinating yet rarely known fact about the Chinese dragon is that it is often taken as the symbol of male which is yang in Chinese. There are a number of other beliefs that the Chinese dragon is meant to symbolize such as the bringer of rain and water in a country that is heavily dependant on agriculture. In general the Chinese had a tendency to ascribing various divine attributes to the dragon.

Did you know that Chinese dragon has a female counter part? Well it’s true and it is called phoenix. But the western people seem to assume that the Chinese have formally adopted Chinese dragon as official symbol. In fact this is totally incorrect.

You will find that in ancient Chinese history the dragon symbol was limited to be used only by emperors. It is well known that the common people were not allowed to use the Chinese dragon symbol during the rule of Yuan dynasty. Only during the Qing dynasty rule that the Chinese dragon was brought to be used on the national flag.

From a long time China has been trying very hard to convince the west that the Dragon has no real implication in modern day China as they feel that the western people believe that the Chinese dragon represents a war like condition. Therefore they have been hunting for something less threatening and have come up with giant panda as their official symbol.

The Chinese Dragon remains in the hearts of the Chinese people with deep respect to the extent that many Chinese feel themselves to be the offsprings of the Dragon for their ethnic identity. In fact you will notice that during the 1970s the nations had a tendency to identify themselves with some animals like Tibetans with monkeys and Mongols thought they descended from wolf.

The modern Chinese society is still using the Chinese Dragon a lot. The role of the Chinese dragon has changed from religious belief to that of decorative purpose. You will find posters, T-shirts, tattoos, advertisements etc. carrying Chinese Dragon symbol while you are walking around the streets in China.

Chinese dragon signs are considered to be auspicious and fortunate in Chinese culture. To read more on Chinese kanji characters click on the hyperlinks.

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