最新Differences Between Chinese and Western Dragon Culture名

Differences Between Chinese and Western Dragon Culture

Abstract

The dragon is a spirit symbol of Chinese people.There are some different cultural connotations between Chinese dragon and Western dragon.The Chinese dragon is a symbol of propitious omens and good fortune.And it also stands for the supreme imperial power,while Western dragon is the incarnation of evil and greedy.Because of cultural differences,western people are different from Chinese people in understanding and using dragon images.Therefore,a good grasp of its historical and cultural connotations allows people to truly understand the meaning of another culture in cross-cultural communication.

Key words:dragon, Loong, cultural differences, origin, mythology, symbolic meaning,

Introduction

The dragon is a mascot in Chinese national culture and it is a cultural symbol of Chinese nation.In China, dragon culture has a long history. It is very profound and also a reflection of Chinese identity. Chinese people claim to be the descendent of dragon.In acient China, only empire could wear dragon robe(a kind of cloth with dragon images on it),and if something was named by Loong【1】(In Chinese,it means dragon),that means it is definitely very noble or expensive,such as Dragon Well Tea(Longjing tea),Longyan and so on. In Chinese Zodiac, there is also a dragon and it is the only animal that does not exist in real life. But in the west,the dragon is a symbol of evil, the incarnation of Satan. In western mythology, there are many stories about dragon.In these stories,human warriors always want to defeat a dragon in order to get the treasures in the dragon lair or save the beautiful princess who was grabed by the dragon. Even today, in western movies,the dragon is described as a kind of huge monster which is similar to Godzilla. And in the Role-Playing Games, the dragon is often designed as a boss that is ready to be defeated by the players to help them upgrade.Therefore, understanding the differences between Chinese and Western dragon culture helps us understand the different cultural backgrounds and know more implied meanings of the dragon.

Ⅰ.Origin

The Chinese dragon comes from an ancient totem. In ancient times, our ancestors could not make a reasonable explanation about most natural phenomenons. So with the totem, they hoped they can have the power of lightning and storm, the magnificence of mountains, the flexibility of a fish and the vigorousness of birds. Therefore, the dragon gradually became a nine Unlikeness( a creature which has deer horn, cow's ears,camel’s head, rabbit eyes, snake's neck, fish scales, tiger's sole and eagle claw).This composite structure means the dragon is the king of animals and the Almighty God of the world. In our ances tors’ minds, dragon can change into anything,

can be small or huge, can be short or long, can pe deeply in the water, can fly above all the clouds. In Ci Hai, it says that Loong is a miraculous animal with scals and palpus in the ancient legends that controls the weather and water. It also says that Loong, with horn and claw, can mount the clouds and ride the mist, summon wind and call for rain and change unpredictably. Every part of Loong has special symbolic meanings. And all of the meanings is auspicious.

But in Western people’s concepts, dragon stands for evil. In Encyclopedia, it says dragon, a legendary reptilian monster similar in form to a crocodile and usually represented as having wings, huge claws, and a fiery breath.【2】It is a magic creature in Western legend which has formidable magic power. And Western people think that there are many kinds of dragons. Dragons can have a variable number of legs: none, two, four, or more when it comes to early European literature. In China, we say the Loong has nine sons and each son is different. Yet, in west, they can say the dragon has hundreds of sons and each of them is also different. Some dragons live in the deep sea; some sleep in the volcano; some remains dormant in the swamp and some hide themselves in caves. Nowadays, we often use the word “dragon” when we refer Western dragon. However, in ancient times, people did not use “dragon”.Semitics founded Judaism and at that time, some people believed that Seraphim in the Judaism is the embodiment of the dragon with justice power. In Western culture, Seraphim is closest to Loong for its nature and characteristics. Seraphim is not only similar to Loong in its stature, function and significance, but also close to Chinese local dragon in the origin. Chinese dragon likes a huge snake while Western dragon came from the word “Seraph” in the ancient Hebrew language. From the Holy Bible, we can find that dragon is snake. In Revelation, it refers that the great was hurled down——that ancient serpent called the devil,or Satan,who leads the whole astray.The Old Testament mentions many times that dragon comes from Greece, and it is often described as a huge sea monster or a viper. Since Mesopotamia legend, dragon was treated as symbol of Devil.Therefore, people at that time lived near Mesopotamia Plain accepted this idea and passed it until today. So the Christian and Jews treat dragon as a evil creature.

Ⅱ.Mythologies

In ancient China, there are many mythologies about dragon. For example, in Journey to the West, Tang Seng rides a white horse named white dragon horse. In the book, the white dragon horse is the third son of dragon king in the west sea, but he offended the rules. So Guanyin pulished him by changing him into a horse to protect Tang Seng to west. From the book, we can learn that the ancient Chinese people believes dragon is a god who controls the weather and water. "The Chronological Record of Historians," written by Sima Qian of the Western Han Dynasty, was the world's earliest biographical work of literature, covering a history of 3,000 years. Its contents rang from the legendary Huang Di, or Yellow Emperor, to Emperor Wudi of the Han Dynasty. 【3】In this book, Sima Qian saied our Chinese nation’s forefather Huang Di is the incarnation of Yellow Dragon, which is the dragon king. It belongs to earth in Five Elements and earth is in the middle of Five Elements, so Yellow Dragon

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