Why the Dragon is Central to Chinese Culture | Monstrum
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- Опубліковано 27 вер 2024
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The Chinese dragon is one of the world’s most globally recognized monsters. Playing a major role throughout Chinese history, they were both creators and destroyers and controlled the elements. They've influenced everything from politics to religion-what is it about the Chinese Dragon that makes it such a central figure in Chinese culture?
The world is full of monsters, myths, and legends and Monstrum isn’t afraid to take a closer look. The show, hosted by Emily Zarka, Ph.D., takes us on a journey to discover a new monster in each new episode. Monstrum looks at humans' unique drive to create and shape monster mythology through oral storytelling, literature, and film and digs deep into the history of those mythologies.
Written and Hosted by: Dr. Emily Zarka
Director: David Schulte
Executive Producer: Amanda Fox
Producer: Thomas Fernandes
Editor/Animator: P.W. Shelton
Assistant Editor: Jordyn Buckland
Illustrator: Samuel Allen
Executive in Charge (PBS): Maribel Lopez
Director of Programming (PBS): Gabrielle Ewing
Additional Footage: Shutterstock
Music: APM Music
Produced by Spotzen for PBS Digital Studios.
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BIBLIOGRAPHY
Allan, Sarah. “The Taotie Motif in Early Chinese Ritual Bronzes.” The Zoomorphic Imagination in Chinese Art and Culture Eds. Jerome Silbergeld, and Eugene Y. Wang. University of Hawai’I Press, 2016: pp. 21-66.
Hodge, Bob, and Kam Louie. The Politics of Chinese Language and Culture the Art of Reading Dragons. Routledge, 1998.
Ho, Judy Chungwa. “Representing the Twelve Calendrical Animals as Beastly, Human, and Hybrid Beings in Medieval China.” The Zoomorphic Imagination in Chinese Art and Culture Eds. Jerome Silbergeld, and Eugene Y. Wang. University of Hawai’I Press, 2016: pp. 95-136.
Irwin, J. O’Malley. “Fossils of the Chinese Dragon.” The Far Eastern Review. Dec. 1915, Vol. XII, Issue 7, pg. 247.
Purtle, Jennifer. “The Pictorial Form of a Zoomorphic Ecology: Dragons and Their Painters in Song and Southern China.” The Zoomorphic Imagination in Chinese Art and Culture Eds. Jerome Silbergeld, and Eugene Y. Wang. University of Hawai’I Press, 2016: 253-288.
Sax, Boria. Imaginary Animals: The Monstrous, the Wondrous and the Human. Reaktion Books, Limited, 2013.
Schipper, Mineke., et al. China’s Creation and Origin Myths Cross-Cultural Explorations in Oral and Written Traditions. Brill, 2011.
Sri Ranjan, Dharma Keerthi, and Zhou Chang. “The Chinese Dragon Concept as a Spiritual Force of the Masses.” Sabaramuwa University Journal, vol. 9, no. 1, Dec. 2010, pp. 65-80.
Strassberg, Richard E. Chinese Bestiary. University of California Press, 2002.
Zhang, Qiong. “From ‘Dragonology’ to Meteorology: Aristotelian Natural Philosophy and the Beginning of the Decline of the Dragon in China.” Early Science and Medicine, vol. 14, no. 1-3, BRILL, 2009, pp. 340-68.
For information on the efforts to preserve and share Chinese folklore and cultural heritage, go to the China Folklore Network: www.chinafolklore.org/
You should check out the kappa, kitsune, and the Japanese dragon.
Could you guys do other types of dragons from Asia? Maybe a compilation or long video playlist type thing for dragons?
This video is amazing! It will help me so much when I write my own children's story. Thanks so much, Dr. D.! ✍🏾📕🤩
I was born in the year 2000.22.2 year of the metal dragon last month was my birthday 22.22.22 not a coincedence 😉
Loved this episode. Can you also please make an episode about the following mythological creatures?
The Phoenix / The Fenghuang
The Batibat / Bangungot
The Unicorn
The Hippogryff
The Moon Rabbit
Thanks in advance!
My grandmother was born in Saigon in 1923 (when Vietnam, Laos and Cambodge were a french colony). We had to pass in front of her open door at night to go to the bathroom and were terrified of the dragon we heard growling at night in her room (you know the one she took with her from Vietnam). One day I was old enough to understand that she was just the loudest snorer.
Lmao outta here
when my brother and i were very young our bedroom was down a long hall from my parents' bedroom. one night we heard a loud noise and thought a bear got into the house. so we carefully went down the long hall towards our parents' room to tell them there was a bear in the house. it was dad snoring.
How kind if your grandmother to cover for the dragon by saying she snored.
a friend of mine who's grandma is japanese grew up thinking she was a fox spirit. he and his siblings would spy on her trying to see her tails. They get her fox charms to this day.
😂
My favourite tale of the dragon is a proverb 叶公好龙（Mr Ye loves the Dragon): Mr Ye was obsessed with dragons and his clothes and furnitures etc were full of dragons. The dragons heard about this man and were very interested in him. They decided to show up in front of Mr Ye to give him a surprise. But when the man saw the actual dragon he scared the sh*t out of him. The proverb means someone shows interested in something but not actually having a passion or real interest in it.
Are you a dragon?
It could also mean that what you think never ends up being the same as reality
这是个成语故事
Never meet your heroes 😂
@@user-ju9fv2om6oYes,but probably most 成语 is come from tale
Dragon is never described as a ‘monster’ in traditional Chinese culture. It’s always divine.
There is nothing called "Chinese dragon" because dragons do not exist in Chinese mythology. That thing is called Long. Long and dragons are totally different creatures and they have different cultural backgrounds and meaning.
@@yanyanz3011looks like a duck talks like a duck
Non sense. 😂
@@yanyanz3011You can promote the subtle characteristics of the Japanese dragon, Korean dragon, and Vietnamese dragon, but why reject the place name of the dragon's birth? It would get mad😂😂
@@yanyanz3011Read Wikipedia, don't be foolish
The Chinese text "Journey to the West" even shows that dragons live under the sea, build cities, and even imitate human society: rulers, nobles, and peasants. The same tropes are followed by the Korean dragons "ryon" and Japanese dragons, either known as tatsu, ryu, or wani.
龙不只是生活水里还上山里，山洞中
Japanese dragon Kaido
@@sohammondal406 日本龙多？拜托日本有多少东西是我们中国唐朝引进过去的你知道？日本好多妖怪都是我们中国的，只是日本喜欢放在自己的动漫里然后就潜移默化的成他们了的，韩国，日本都喜欢偷我们的文化
Japan had giants snakes before the Chinese dragon entered Japan.
@@ijansksnakes are not dragons tho lol
The depiction of dragons reflects the relationship between ancient Chinese and the environment a lot, especially water. Like ancient Egyptian and the Nile river, China have rivers affected by seasons, which would cause flooding. As a farming-based society, access to water and land is very important, so you can imagine how much impact those major rivers have.
@Adora Tsang it is very much a thing though? Myths involving dragons exist before written history and the Legends of Mountains and Seas were finalized during Han dynasty which is 202 BC-220 AD. There’s also antiques from Shang dynasty depicting dragons which is from 1600 BC-1046 BC not to mention the robes of emperors with dragons from every dynasty. Even if you can change official historical records and folklores from every book you can’t change engravings and embroideries on items buried in tombs
I've read that in some parts of what we now know as China, the dragon's "whiskers" were analogous to the whiskers of river catfish - an example of the reverence for river water to an agrarian society. And perhaps that visual detail spread to and remained in the art of other regions that weren't directly engaged in flood-based farming (?)
@Adora Tsang did you not watch the video? xD dragons were prominent even in the Journey to the West written in the Ming dynasty about the Tang dynasty. most importantly the heirloom seal of the realm that represents the mandate of heaven (the most important/powerful artifact in Chinese history) has dragons carved on it, and that was from the first imperial dynasty of China.
Except the ancestors of the ethnic (Sino-Tibetan) Han Chinese originate from the Huang He river in the far north. They weren't closely associated with water at all. They didn't have paddy technology, instead they planted dry-land millet and built half-sunken houses to protect against winter.
Paddy technology and rice domestication developed among the Yangtze civilizations during the late stone age (Neolithic). And these civilizations were not Chinese. They were the Hmong-Mien of the upper Yangtze and the pre-Austronesians of the Yangtze and Min river deltas (and Taiwan). As well as the Kra-Dai of the Pearl river delta, and the Mon-Khmer of the Mekong river delta.
They were cousins/ancestors of the Taiwanese Indigenous People, Southeast Asians, Pacific Islanders, and Malagasy.
The Chinese called these people the "Baiyue" (literally "Hundred Barbarians"), and like modern Southeast Asians, their cultures were built around water. They were expert boatbuilders (Austronesians were the first humans to invent deep water maritime sailing ships, which was how they colonized Oceania and Madagascar), practiced wet (paddy) agriculture, built moats around their villages, practiced aquaculture, had tattoos, built houses raised on stilts, domesticated the water buffalo, duck, and chicken, and most importantly, they believed in supernatural water serpents.
The Chinese didn't conquer the Yangtze civilizations until around 500 BC during the Warring States period (the Yangtze civilzation was called "Yue" in Chinese records back then). They didn't reach the shores of the South China Sea until 200 BC during the southward expansion of the Han Dynasty.
It was only during this period that water/snake-like dragons (as opposed to the chimera dragons of the ancient Chinese) became prominent in Chinese mythology, making it likely they acquired it from the Baiyue.
They assimilated the technology of the Baiyue, including rice and riverine boats. But even then, since they pretty much exterminated the Baiyue, the absorption was incomplete. They didn't learn how to build bluewater ships until the Song Dynasty (~900 AD), and they did it by copying the ship designs of the (Austronesian) Srivijayan Empire of Indonesia.
China was NOT a water-centric civilization.
@@AngryKittens I didn’t say Chinese culture is water-centric, just farming based. I also didn’t mention paddy field, the point is that farming requires being close to water, and the river overflow (which happens to a few major rivers) causes flooding which impacts people’s livelihood. Dragons are associated with rivers, which is why there’s a complex relationship between ancient Chinese and dragons and why they’re both worshipped and feared.
I know many people relate Chinese mythology with Dragon, but don't forget Phoenix as well! Many terms in Chinese associate Dragon AND Phoenix together as if they were complementary to each other
I love 凤凰 more
Well not a phoenix a fenghuang.
Yes, yin & yang, man & woman 😂
@@astrowolvezfeng 和 huang 不是同一種，雄為鳳，雌為凰
There is nothing called "Chinese dragon" because dragons do not exist in Chinese mythology. That thing is called Long. Long and dragons are totally different creatures and they have different cultural backgrounds and meaning.
Same as Phoenix, there is no Phoenix in Chinese mythology, that similar creature is called Fenghuang.
I always love learning about other cultures and their mythologies 🥰
7:03 Huangdi was not belong to the Han dynasty, actually from a long long ago, in mythological period. The story is that thousands of years ago, Huangdi defeated Yandi and became the first king of China in mythology. Because he was claimed to be the direct ancestor of Han ethnic, you might be confused with that.
Yes, the Han dynasty lasted from 202BCE to 220CE, while Huangdi was from a time period earlier than 2070BCE, with a 2000+years time gap
He ruled from 2697-2597 or 2698-2598 BC. The cult of yellow emperor is still going on today.
She made some mistakes indeed. Eg, she failed to identify the dragon’s 9 sons. Anyway, it's not bad for some foreigners to have a basic understanding of traditional Chinese cultures.
@@dongxuzhou4661 Right, at least she shown enough respect to Chinese traditional culture. Unlike some nerds in other channels lol
The word "dragon" also appears in the title of quite a lot of martial arts movies (e.g. Enter the Dragon).
Yeah and also japanese stuff like Dragon Ball
The Chinese still say that we are the "descendants of dragons/ nagas," very different from the West who vilified these magnificent water elementals. It's a symbol of prestige & power, without any negative connotations with "Satan" or any of that fictional bullshiet LOL.
@@Jumpoable seethe atheist
For Bruce Lee movies, yes, because dragon is literally his name. His stage name in Chinese/Cantonese is李小龍(Lee Siu-long), and "long" means dragon.
Also a bonus fact, Jackie Chan also has dragon in his name as his stage name in Chinese/Cantonese is 成龍
sounds like porn.
With dragon myths coming from literally all over the world, I always figured dinosaur fossils played a part in that, so it was cool to see an instance of that playing a role in supporting the legend of dragons.
Dinosaurs were invented to hide the dragon bones. Dragons are real.
Yes, I had heard that ancient cultures interpreted the various dinosaur bones as being ‘ the dragon’ remains.
It is so great to hear about Chinese dragon mythologies on this channel. Dragon culture is so imbedded in Chinese people’s life that we rarely think much about it. It’s fascinating to hear the stories told in English, where familiar Chinese terms became a foreign and really got me look at the mythologies in a new way. Some stories are even new for me! I’m going to look those up and learn more about my own culture!
在比那個動物最利害，想不出來就亂編一個上天能飛，入水能游，進地能鑚什麼都能的叫龍吧！🤣
I was told that "dragon" was the name given by the West to the Chinese "Long" ; that the "Long " is a "Long" and not a dragon.
@@limang-yong8673 this is a valid point. It may lose something in the translation. So often things seem to become recategorized in translation. Dragon in medieval times meant a viscous monster very much of the devil, and early translations or categorizations may have reflected that as a way to demonize and subjugate such traditions. I feel in the west these days we look at dragon as an ambiguous category to put all our lizard like beings from the old stories. There are also some wiccan and pagan folks that worship or revere elemental dragons these days. We may have the Long's good reputation to thank for that.
@@limang-yong8673 I completely agree. It's but one of many misnomers, that we have sadly accepted in the vast majority as truth.
There is nothing called "Chinese dragon" because dragons do not exist in Chinese mythology. That thing is called Long. Long and dragons are totally different creatures and they have different cultural backgrounds and meaning.
I remember reading somewhere that, at certain geological sites in China, the unique combinations of minerals in the area means that it's sometimes possible to find crystals growing on fossils, which may be an explanation for why Chinese dragons are so often depicted with a pearl in their throat or chin.
其实还有一种说法是，龙的喉咙连接着大海，张开嘴就能看见大海
The creature of the dragon was conjured up by the ancient Chinese impressed by the powerful visuals of touching down tornadoes with their accompanying clouds, winds, rain and electricity. The dragon therefore symbolizes one of the four primal forces of nature. It was designated as the eastern deity governing the ecosystem of water, winds, clouds, thunder and rain
SMASHING THAT LIKE BUTTON SO FAST. Please do more Chinese mythical animals!
YES! Qilin! Qilin!
Phoenix please!
@@TurquoiseInk Yes!
They are not mythical. They are real. The King of the dragons is referred to in the Bible and worshiped all over the world.
@@theNfl_Esq Honestly, I doubt they're actually real. But it's possible, as bascially anything are.
There's something about chinese people finding dinosaur bones and taking them to be a physical, hold-in-your-hands remnant of a dragon that somehow gives me goosebumps. How monumental a find was that for them? Man.
China has a LOT of dinosaur fossils (still digging them up today) & the ancient Chinese totally dug up dinosaur (& other prehistoric animal) bones, but a lot of superstitious folk ground them up & consumed them (Hello! Consuming "dragon bones" would obviously give you magical powers, or at least give you a few more years of living LOL)
@@Jumpoable Ah, reminds me of the "let's grind up mummy powder for health and proffit!" era of colonialism. At least the dino bones are... you know... obviously not human? It's a small consolation. (My 7 year-old only knows China as "the place that had LOTS of dinos" because of her fossil atlas, it's hilarious)
@@nekkidnora I wonder what horrible diseases those ppl who put mummy powder in their tea developed...
At least I think dinosaur bones are fossilised enough so it's just mineral... extra calcium I guess.
Some traditional Chinese medicinal shops (on the kookier side) still use "dragon powder" in their concoctions.
Your 7-year-old is wise beyond his years.
dead dragon bones, they probably grinded it into powder and drank it thinking that it would give them everlasting life.
i remember my mom telling me that the gold dragon was banned because it was a symbol of royalty. anyone of royalty can have gold dragon or gold coloured dyes on their clothes and if you wear them without being one, youre essentially impersonating royalty which is a capital offense and pretty much a death penalty back then.
Not golden, but yellow. A specific type of bright yellow.
Yellow(黄) and Emperor (皇) in Chinese are spelled as Huang.
The funny thing is tho we Chinese think we are descendants of the Dragon but the Dragon never told us to do anything. Like to sacrifice a bull annually or circumcision or genocide the canaanites. It just chills. Floating in the space.
Don't forget Feng shui. A philosophy that says that the whole world is a huge dragon and the fortunes of you and your family is tied to what part of the dragon your house is built on.
Awesome timing! I happen to be reading the Shan Hai Jing at the moment ... plenty of dragons there! But on top of fossils, there is one particular animal I'd point to (namely because it looks ... well, it pretty much looks like a dragon) is a dragon snakehead fish (AKA Gollum snakehead). Anyway, great video! Totally have a crush on you Dr.Zarka! 😂 Keep on making awesome videos!
Wow, Shan Hai Jing.. something even most Chinese people don't read, cuz it is pretty old and complex book.
Shanhaijing is a fantastic book in ancient China. There are incredible animals and plants in it. No one knows who wrote this book. It's amazing
其实是有这么一条龙的
鱼化龙 是一种龙头鱼身的龙，亦是一种“龙鱼互变”的形式，这种形式我国古代早已有之。《说苑》中就有“昔日白龙下清冷之渊化为鱼”的记载，《长安谣》说的“东海大鱼化为龙”和民间流传的鲤鱼跳过龙门，均讲述了龙鱼互变的关系。这种造型早在商代晚期便在玉雕中出现，并在历代得到发展。
@@ccc-py9ih是的，不过恐怕过不了多久韩国人就会说是他们的😂😂
There is nothing called "Chinese dragon" because dragons do not exist in Chinese mythology. That thing is called Long. Long and dragons are totally different creatures and they have different cultural backgrounds and meaning.
"Eyes of a hare" "eyes of a blood thirsty demon" same difference in my book.
a creature so foul, so cruel
@@oldcowbb LOL bunnies have beautifully eerie red eyes, true.
I was born year of the dragon, Earth dragon to be precise. I loved watching this and learning from it. Dragons are at the top of my favorite mythical creatures. ❤🐉
I’m also an Earth Dragon (born in Early 1989) and I was wondering who else in the comments is a Dragon too!! 🐉 🌙 ✨😍🥰
Please cover Kumārasambhava the origin story that covers how Shiva and Parvati got married, the burning of kama and sati, lastly birth of the anime war God who is similar to nezha
The Shang-chi Dragon lacked the signature moustache
LOL maybe it was a lady Long/Lung.
YEEESSSS DRAGONS 👏 I love China’s deep connection to dragons. Its wonderful and I learned some new things I hadn’t known about Chinese dragons. I wish Africa had a deep connection to dragons like this :( all it has is Ayida (rainbow serpent), sometimes Damballah who was paired with Ayida, and Bida. There’s also Thakane's dragon but she killed it. Anyone know if there’s some hidden dragons in East, West, Central and South African mythology that haven’t been uncovered yet because African culture isn’t as mainstream as everything else?
Would love to know more about African concepts of "dragons". I wonder why that is? I'm sure there are snakes/ crocodiles in Africa.
@Jon Khoo LOL um kay.
Bro/Sis, Africa had hella giants and Anunnaki, aka literal gods. Enlil was the god the old testament is based on, in my opinion. Africa had crazy monsters and Egypt is like the most lit place in the world...also the most looted. Be proud of that. I think Chinese built upon/destroyed all the ancient, crazy sh*t that we'd perceive as supernatural nowadays. South Asia are descendants of the Naga. India...man that place is crazy and full of literal proof of ancient technologies. I actually wish China had more to show in this department of crazy history. Be proud, Africa is litty asf. But yeah Dragons are cool. And I am Chinese btw, envious of African history. Btw I think the legendary Atlantis was in Mauritania, Africa. Which was a hub for peoples of the world, not just Africans.
There is nothing called "Chinese dragon" because dragons do not exist in Chinese mythology. That thing is called Long. Long and dragons are totally different creatures and they have different cultural backgrounds and meaning.
@@dunzhen that’s cool and all, but I heavily prefer to learn about dragon lore. I know Africa has cool stuff besides that but it’s severely lacking in the dragon department :(
I’m glad you appreciate the culture though! That’s great!!
I'd love to understand the symbolism behind the dragon dances in Chinese New Year parades.
They are auspicious creatures, with vast psychic abilities, symbolising power & prestige. To dance as a dragon is to ward off evil spirits during CNY.
Dragon boat racing is even more apparent, it's an ancient shamanic rain ritual (& it always rains during Dragon Boat Festival)
Very informative , as Chinese, I have personally studied Chinese dragon for over 20 years . for my understanding , the dragon warship was much older than the current Chinese metholgy about dragon . The dragon appears in the Chinese history over 8000 years , but the oldest record in book is about 3000 years .
The dragon is North Light , where our ancientors used to live in Siberia . They witnessed the North light and made it as dragon metholgy 8000 years ago , the dragon in our metholgy for long time , even after Chinese people moved to South and never had a chance to see north light any more .
That's amazing! Do you have any names for the North Light Dragon? I'd love to learn more about it.
Our ancestors didn’t live in Siberia. Our ancestors are from yellow river and Yangtze River.
@@user-qwertyuiopasdfghj If you dont agree with me , that's fine . Yellow river and Yangtze River history were crowed of gene C and D people 20k years ago . NO gene people came from North Serbia.
我没找到关于北极光龙的信息不过我找到了一个应该差不多的龙叫【烛龙】你应该会感兴趣的
烛龙是中国古代神话中的钟山山神，身长千里，通体赤红，居住于章尾山，烛龙有一子名为“鼓”，被处死于钟山之东。《山海经》中称烛龙能够向天神请求雨水，即所谓“风雨是谒”、“能请致风雨” 。
@@MissyMona实际上烛龙作为四大神龙之一，地位最高也仅仅是等同太阳，见于元初《说郛》“烛龙即日之名”，在这一等同太阳的说法里烛龙还是《山海经》里噎鸣、石夷、鹓等神人的下属，烛龙睁眼闭眼变换昼夜都是身不由己，听命于噎鸣等神，远不及青龙、应龙于古籍创世五亿天地、一怒而灭世。即使呼吸都受控于折丹、因因乎等神。
除却烛龙等同太阳的说法外，烛龙还有执炬、衔烛、衔火精，分别照亮幽都、无日之国的版本。在这些版本里烛龙的能力全部来自于炬、烛、火精，所照明范围也仅限幽都或无日之国，同时烛龙又成了无名神人、应龙的从属，就连烛龙赖以逞威的“炬”也都源于无名神人所赐。据汉代王逸于《楚辞章句》中考证无日之国即“幽都”，唐代王勃也曾称“烛龙避尧日于幽都”。
烛龙除了躲避尧日，还有见星则惧的记载。《景星赋》载“癸丑之秋，有星丽天……烛龙不敢张炬”。
烛龙不仅在《后汉书》：“征烛龙令执炬兮，过钟山而中休” 奉无名神人之令执炬，还有更多职责，南朝王融称：“仙者驾御所至，烛龙为之引导”，甚至还有《使琉球录》记闻曰“仙瀛……长照烛龙膏”，认为仙岛瀛洲用烛龙的脂膏照明。
《山海经》记载：“钟山之神，名曰烛阴，视为昼，瞑为夜，吹为冬，呼为夏，不饮，不食，不 息，息为风。身长千里。在无之东。其为物，人面，蛇身，赤色，居钟山下。”
I believe one of the pilgrims in Journey to the West is a young dragon who takes on the form of a horse for the monk Tripitaka. Speaking of Journey to the West, how about an episode about Sun Wukong, the monkey king!
The 8- headed "dragon" Susanoo killed was more like a snake. It was called Yamata no orochi. It's name translates to something along the lines of "8 headed giant snake/serpent" and it was more or less the Japanese equivalent to the hydra. Unlike the hydra it couldn't re- grow it's heads once they were severed though.
Are you a dragon?
need the 9th head to get extra after that
其实日本不少妖怪也是从中国传过去的
Japan is just a copycat.
@@Stealingcultureisadisgrace.Yamata no Orochi is native to Japan. It is not a dragon per se but more like a snake. Before the introduction of dragons from China the Japanese already believed in giant snakes.
Came in time, since I'm writing a story including a dragon character inspired by these beauties!
(Her character traits are somewhat similar to theirs: Being a powerful Guardian, Restoring balance, and her being a wise character who stands for peace. She also lives at a sea coast but occasionally returns to her home Realm, where other powerful creatures live too. Her personality is complex and foreign to others, she's in between caring and playful, to serious and aggressive. She also spreads wisdom to her child, who's not really a dragon, and she can turn invisible too)
Where can I read the story?
I'm very interested in all the myths and legends you've presented. Is there any way you could look up on the history of the Boogeyman and how it all started.
It's said that the reason Japanese dragons only have three toes instead of five is because when the dragons flew to Japan from China some toes fell off.
I've also heard that the story flows both ways: when the dragon comes to Japan, it loses some of its toes, thus we have the three-toed Japanese dragon. Then, when it crosses the sea to travel back to China, it regrows them, so when the dragon is in China, it always has five toes.
LAAAAWL that is hilarious. Most probably it was because only the Chinese emperor was allowed to have 5-taloned dragon as his emblem. All of Japan, Korea & Vietnam's royalty as well as temples were only allowed to depict dragons with 4 toes or less.
@@Jumpoable yes, Imperial China forced their "vassal" kingdoms to only use 4 taloned dragons for their kings.
and 3 taloned dragons for crown princes.
However !!! If you visit Korean Palaces, they do have 7 taloned dragons carved above the thrones in the Throne Halls. And even 8 taloned dragon on the ceiling of Temple of Heaven in Seoul.
@@davidjacobs8558 LOL those rebels! Well at certain periods certain salty Korean & Vietnamese rules did call themselves "emperor" within their own realms. Just don't let the Chinese ambassadors find out!
@@Jumpoable well... I would say Envoys, rather than Ambassadors. Ambassadors suggest a premanent station in foreign nation. But, usually, Chinese Envoys did not have a permanent office in vassal kingdoms. Their visit usually lasted no more than a month, and they stayed in guest housings provided by the hosting kingdoms, sometimes quarters in the palace and other tiems outside of palace.
The Chinese dragon is primarily a mix of totems from different tribes that were absorbed and assimilated during ancient times. The Yellow emperor, before fighting his enemy chi you 蚩尤, for control of the yellow river region, had previously defeated and absorbed the tribe of the fire emperor 炎帝. This is perhaps where the image of the dragon started to take shape and became the symbol for the Chinese.
Also, there is speculation that the tribe defeated by the yellow emperor，chi you 蚩尤 , were quite advanced and they made contact with Sumerians when they travelled East during their exile. The myth of Gilgamesh and enkidu may very well explain the relationship between chi you 蚩尤 and the Sumerian king at the time. But it’s all speculation and there isn’t real evidence from that time period to support this.
This year is the year of the dragon 4719 !
One of the best depictions I got of Dragons was from a cartoon, Avatar - The Last Air Bender. But there have been a lot of other depictions in so many other forms of media and literature. There was also the Disney's American Dragon.
As a kid I thought the serpent was essentially a water dragon, and that their were dragons of each element.
I love those shows
@@ileilanambingaamtheleader1154 I was so happy when I found Avatar on Netflix, my fam get to rewatch the whole series whenever we want to. As for American Dragon, I wish they'd put on Netflix, I really want to rewatch the series.
@@laylasolon5576 i'm pretty sure it's online on certain websites
I love Chinese mythology! Thanks, Dr. Z! Another great video!
As someone who's ethnically Chinese, I'm glad the Chinese dragon 🐉 is being explained here.
Back in 🇹🇼 Taiwan, mythologies weren't really taught to us in school (or at least not the one I went to as I went to private school) so it's good to learn more about it from Storied.
No, Taiwan is Taiwan. China is China. Chinese dragon belongs to China and has absolutely nothing to do with Taiwan. Your totem is a frog.
Ofc DPP is trying to throw away the Chinese identity completely
hmm yeahh.. also the yogad dragon and tilapia face mix..
ahhh
This really does make me wonder how/why we call these two separate things dragons in the first place. Other than being powerful, arcane elemental beasts (and even the word beast feels inappropriate for the eastern fashion of dragon) they have nearly nothing in common, they are only both called dragons because we've all agreed that they are despite them having nothing to say they're at all linked. The presence of wings, their role in stories, their ability to control the weather, their ability to breathe a weapon of one element or another. One kind of dragon has these things and the other doesn't. It makes me wonder whatever they might have in common.
From what I remember, a Westerner who came to China called them dragons because to him, that was what they most closely resembled. The name then stuck and they've been called dragons in English ever since.
Literally the only thing linking all creatures westerners call "dragons" is the fact that the main body plan is that of a snake. So basically the formula to create a dragon is "snake + another animal".
it's just different languages work differently. like baozi is considered as dumpling by English speakers, but many Chinese would argue that only jiaozi can be called dumpling, ignore the fact that the concept of "dumpling" is different from jiaozi. the word Long also contains some non-dragon creatures, like dinosaurs or chameleons.
@@hirokokueh3541 Why isn't baozi considered as dumpling and only jiaozi?
In Nepal both baozi and jiaozi are considered as mo:mo:s (dumplings). The only purpose the shapes themselves serve is to notify the customer of the meat content. The baozi will normally only have water buffalo and chicken meat but its generally buffalo. Jiaozi normally only has chicken meat and never buffalo meat but also vegetarian.
@@bravomike4734 because the word "jiaozi" in Chinese can only be referring to this specific kind of food, other dumplings like baozi, dango, and wonton are not considered as jiaozi.
and many Chinese users who learned English only in school were told that dumpling means jiaozi, they have never learned about what dumpling really means.
History deserves to be remembered
龙的传人-descendents of the dragon sums it all. I am so proud as a Han descent. The longest continuous civilization.
Dragons (dinosaurs) are impressive creatures, and the proof of their existence from their bones (fossils) have had a significant influence on many societies, cultures, history, literature, mythology, legends, stories, and religions. It is not surprising that the bones were imagined to be from relatively recent living beings. Bones of giants/gods (?) have been found in some ancient Greek temples, and have been identified as dinosaur bones.
Bhutan should have gotten an honorable mention, the Asian dragon hold great importance there as well, more specifically the thunder dragon. their flag still feature the dragon and the country is called the land of thunder dragon
Leaning about other cultures and myths in other countries just help us understand & just admitting the fasnation plus I love 🐉 lol
Similar to Chinese and Japanese dragons, those of India are usually pictured as giant, wingless serpents. The most famous Indian dragon is Critra, meaning "enclosure." It has three heads, and its body is wrapped around the world. We from south India also call in a "Vyali".
“Dragons of enormous size and variety infest northern India,” concluded Apollonius of Tyana who traveled through the southern foothills of the Himalayas in the first century AD. “The countryside is full of them and no mountain ridge was without one.” Locals regaled visitors with fantastic tales of dragon hunting, using magic to lure them out of the earth in order to pry out the gems embedded in the dragons’ skulls.
Trophies of these quests were displayed in Paraka at the foot of a great mountain, “where a great many skulls of dragons were enshrined.” Ancient Paraka has never been identified, but linguistic clues suggest it was the ancient name for Peshawar. In later times a famous Buddhist holy place near Peshawar was known as “the shrine of the thousand heads.”
Apollonius traveled through the pass at Peshawar and southeast on a route that skirted the Siwalik Hills below the Himalayas. The barren foothills of the Siwalik range boast vast and rich fossil beds with rich remains of long-extinct bizarre creatures. On these eroding slopes and marshes from Kashmir to the banks of the Ganges, people in antiquity would have observed hosts of strange skeletons emerging from the earth: enormous crocodiles (20 feet long); tortoises the size of a Mini Cooper; shovel‑tusked gomphotheres, stegodons, and Elephas hysudricus with its bulging brow; chalicotheres and anthracotheres; the large giraffe Giraffokeryx; and the truly colossal Sivatherium (named after the Hindu god Siva), a moose‑like giraffe as big as an elephant and carrying massive antlers. It seems safe to guess that the “dragon” heads exhibited at Paraka included the skulls of some of these strange creatures from the Siwalik Hills.
Several details in the ancient descriptions catch the eye of a paleontologist. The dragons of the high ridges were said to be larger than dragons of the marshes, which had sharp twisted tusks. The marsh dragons fought elephants to the death; to find their entwined bodies was a great discovery. The dragons of the ridges were frightening: they had long necks and very prominent brows over deep, staring eye sockets. Huge crests grew on their heads, of moderate size on the young but reaching towering proportions on the adults. Men set out to hunt these creatures for the precious jewels-iridescent, “flashing out every hue”-inside their skulls.
There is no creatures similar to Chinese dragons in India. Theirs is a snake-like creature of different origin known as Naga. Naga is the Sanskrit word for cobra.
Chinese dragons have protruding eyes, mane, horns, ears, extended snorts, fluffy tail. etc. It has a scaly body, four powerful legs with talons, so it is completely different.
The Japanese adopted the Chinese Song dynasty dragons and some Japanese temples owned such paintings of dragons that is about a thousands old. Some were consider as national treasures.
@@jacku8304 Nope... you are wrong .. we have the dragons in many south indian temples.. it's called a "Vyali" or I Tamil and Malayalam a "Yazhi" .. they are different from Nagas!!! And I'm talking about ancient temples built almost 3000 years back!!!!
@@peaceloveandenlightenment3790 There are hundreds of artifacts such as prints, paintings, porcelain, bricks, clay, bronze statues of Chinese dragons in most top museums in the world. Can you advised which museum have an example of Indian dragons that is similar to the Chinese dragons in description that I mentioned ?.
@@jacku8304 artifacts? there are thousands of amcient temples in South India that have carvings aging more than 3000 years back!!!
Try searching for Padmanabhaswamy temple... and then temples built by cholas and many many other!!!!
I love Monstrum! When I see Eastern Dragon's bodies, I always think of the curves in a river.
What a wealth of information. It would be quite wonderful to have it shared in a slower paced and celebratory manner instead of being so rushed.
Question: have you done a video going into specifics of European Dragons and their role in folklore? If not I'd love to learn about what kind of weird legends and stories there are about them
We have! Check it out: ua-cam.com/video/VsZVKCQHdlo/v-deo.html -*Dr.Z*
Dinosaurs discovered by Chinese paleontologists frequently get the -long suffix, which means dragon
Yes, just the the -saur(us) suffix from Greek, which means lizard.
This video made me think of a thought I had when I was little. I've known for years that Long were associated with rainstorms and thunderstorms and tornados and the like, but before I ever learned that, I envisioned a kind of personification of a hurricane. No prize for guessing the shape it took.
1:11 Disney Shang chi dragon is not accurate representation of chinese dragon.
That looks more like a western serpent, Chinese dragon have front facing eyes, long whiskers, huge upright horn, longer body with spikes along its back instead of hair.
I am so happy this series exists, thank you!!! 🐉
The video ended too quick. I wish she'd made it drag-on a little longer.
有种研究，龙应该是鳄鱼的演变，中国北方在古代气候更热，有鳄鱼大象犀牛等热带动物。而龙就是当时人们对鳄鱼的称呼。在古代的典籍中，有很多描述人们看见龙，或者有龙打架的场景。似乎那时候龙是一个存在于现实世界中很常见的物种。而随着气候的变化，鳄鱼在北方消失，逐渐被神化，形象也慢慢演变，成了后来所谓的龙。
Great video, I love learning about other cultures and beliefs!
Please do a video about a creature from Sami mythology/northen Scandinavian folklore! I would LOVE a video about Stalo/Stallo!
You're telling me Jake Long from American Dragon was trying to hide the fact he was a dragon... WHEN HIS LAST NAME MEANT "DRAGON"!?!?!????
lol
When getting high off opium, the Chinese calls it “chasing the dragon”
7:00 the first emperor of the Han Dynasty was not the Yellow Emperor. Emperor (皇帝）and the Yellow Emperor (黃帝, 黃=yellow) are pronounced the same in mandarin; however, the former is a general term coined for rulers since the Qin Dynasty (the dynasty before Han Dynasty), while the latter is a person from very, very, very ancient times. Btw, the first emperor of the Han Dynasty was 劉邦, who was said to be born after his mom had a dream about a dragon (or sth like that).
In Europe we see heroes slaying dragons and in China and Japan we see heroes ascending from them
Yup, none of that satanic association to the powerful, majestic Long/ Lung.
I had two dreams about dragons trough my life and the two of them were very vivid I still remember them. Both of the dragons were totally different and the meaning of the dreams represented separate stages in my life, but since the video is about the Chinese dragons I want to ask what a white, bony, ghost looking, long like snake, swimming in a river dragon may represent? It had a long mustaches, but no wings.
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@@山上徹也-h4e , I don't understand your comment!? What do you mean?
@@ixoraroxi I mean, you may meet a good Chinese in your life. I'm sorry my Russian is not well
@@山上徹也-h4e I am not Russian and I know a few Chinese people. I used to live in Vancouver for 18 years...:) anyway, I do understand Russian too. My point of asking was, what I'm going to do with a good Chinese person!?:)))) good in a what way? If he or she likes to cook, then we are going to have fun 👍 😜
P.S. your English is not good either, are you from Hubei province, or Korea?
They're supposed to appear when person is dying but they can be a guardian spirit for someone powerful
As a dragon, and the imperial sign, my birth year is marked by ME HAVING TO HELP EVERYBODY ELSE. Because, noblesse oblige. 🙄
OMG me too. Thank YOU for the reminder. With great power there must also come -- great responsibility.
is there potential to go more into depth with some of these? I feel like this is barely even scratching the surface of the mythology? perhaps a longer video or a series based on each of them.
There are celestial creatures in the Hindu myths called Nagas, which are said to large serpentine creatures that live in the great depths of the oceans and land. Nagas can take up any form,but preferably they take up human form to coexist with humans. Interestingly, Naga can also mean a person who is secretive in conduct/ manipulative or a serpent in Sanskrit. These nagas guard the riches and ancient civilizations buried under the ground, so the ancient Hindus always served a small bowl of milk to serpents if they found anthills near their field , thereby assuring some form of insurance of safety and a bountiful harvest in return. The Nagas are the ancestors of all serpentine creatures( not crocs or lizards) and they are believed to descend from Adishesh or the world serpent. Later, Buddhism borrowed these Hindu myths and they became more prominent in Buddhist art, apart from Hindu temples.
I would urge the monstrum team to do a video on a mythical Character called Yali which has been carved historically in Ancient Hindu Temples over.
We chinese around the world we call ourselves 龍的傳人 The descendants of Dragon, for example when my kids ask what is Chinese, I tell them we are 龍的傳人，like when I did something so bad which brought shame to my family when I was a kid, my dad or most dad will scold us disown some child saying 你为我们华人和家族带来羞耻，你要记得你是龍的傳人你知道嗎？ means [ You bring shame and dishonor to our people and family, you must remember you are the descendants of Dragon], I'm not BSing trust me, this is not something came out of Anime,
Trust me, if my dad say this SH it to me, I know this time I really fu k up.
It's kinda cool. Seeing yourselves as descendants of mythical beast is definitely a thing to be flexed
@@prasanth2601 it's hard imprinted in every Chinese I guess, it's a duty and also burden, it's like we always have to choice to sacrifice one for a greater good, there's a phrase we always use, 牺牲小我，成全大我，means sacrifice little me[individual], for the better of Big me[ group]
@@innerspiritgenki Just wondering are Chinese folk religions a sub branch of Confucian values (or) Daoist principles?
@@prasanth2601 the main core of everything about Chinese traditional is Confusion, which is one word ［仁］Benevolence ，humane, kindness, Benevolence, And 2nd follow up with others. Confusion it's not only a philosophy but it's the core of every Chinese from individual to family and how to manage a country, micro to macro.
Religion is the 2ndary , which can be any religion we choose to believe.
I love that in eastern cultures the dragon is respected. In European cultures it’s always looked at as a monster. Dragons have always been my favorite mythical creature
I’m a dragon sign and a Leo (1952, August). Thanks for this documentary. It was so interesting and I’ll watch it again.
In China, dragon is never recognized as a monster, and it was positive image in Chinese opinion
but also viewed as dangerous, powerful, to be respected, feared, and can destroy.
Chinese dragons are some of my favorites ❤️❤️ my favorite is Peng the carp that turned into a dragon by sprouting wings
Then, we have many Mahayana Buddhist texts that says about a sermon given by Buddha, which was attended by huge mass including Gods, Angels, Dragons and Dragon kings, Demons and Humans. One sutra speaks that Buddha went under the sea to give teachings to the Dragon King, and when we look in Theravada Buddhist texts, it might be that the Naga(The Indian Serpent or Water Spirit) and not the Dragon. As all, Buddhist story fits in whatever tradition and culture it was introduced to.
Yes, they're not "monsters" in the European sense. Lung/Long/Nagas are another class of intelligent sentient beings, in charge of the water element, like devas or angels.
@@Jumpoable yes, I agree you statement. In fact, every beings in the realm of existence are sentient beings. :)
She said, "The dragon is a combination of many other animals and the list is 'LONG'' (Long is Chinese for dragon), nice. 😏 🐉
I might be in a minority here, but personally I have always thought it a mistake for English speakers to translate "long" as "dragon", as it creates a false equivalency.
Yeah, in the west the word dragon has always had a sinister connotation since it comes from the Greek "Drakon" (serpent) which itself came from the Proto-Indo-European "derk" (one who stares).
In politically turbulent times in ancient Greece, there would be mentions of dragons in the rhetoric as the mysterious "other" that is always watching, stalking, coveting.
When the Roman Empire was in power all references to dragons dropped off because of the empire attempts at suppressing and discouraging public discord.
Funnily enough when the Roman empire fell and feudalism took it's place, the dragon rhetoric came back again.
"Long" however have always had more of force of nature meaning (combination of common animals, creating clouds, occasionally even transforming from enlightenment like from koi climbing Impossible waterfalls or deer into Kirin.
In China around middle 2000's, a railway bridge is having problems on a particular spot, they can't drill down the earth. They consulted a monk and said he can provide the solution to calm the dragon living underneath and will die soon if he does. Anyway, he commissioned the post to have a design of nine dragons on metal. Now, it is the only of its kind in China. The monk died. Local officials say it's only a design and not to appease spirits.
Love the delivery of the Host(ess) for this episode.
6:50 The Yellow Emperor was from the (mythical) Xia dynasty, and I believe you meant from the Xia dynasty to the Qin dynasty (Han came right after Qin).
I was actually born in the year of the dragon it was the year 2000 and strangely enough i lived in the asain district and it is a bad neighborhood and one of the asain went to look at me after i got in a fight and he said your eyes are as of dragon so i got the nick name red dragon from them and any time i went to a Chinese restaurant in that neighborhood they wouldn't let us pay and when i asked why they just said its a honor to have a dragon to dine in then when Chinese newyear came around i would find tons of red envelopes and firecracker in a basket on my front porch didn't open the envelopes till a few years later and found out they were full of money ranging from 1-100 $ and i definitely enjoyed that and ov corse i went to wach the chinese newyear paraid it was kinda cool
Pretty good summary of Chinese "dragons." In most Chinese languages, 'long' is pronounced like English "loan" but with an [ng] at the end, not English "long" LOL.
The Chinese still say that we are the "descendants of dragons/ nagas," very different from the West who vilified these magnificent water elementals.
that's mostly mandarin, u describe
@@xXxSkyViperxXx I wrote "most Chinese languages" including Mandarin, yes, and Cantonese as well. In Hokkien/ Taiwanese it ranges from Liong to Ling/ Leng.
@@Jumpoable if only those two were most
Now Chinese government announce its English name to be "Loong"
>Long dragon
>named Long
Name checks out. 😂
Back in secondary school, my English teacher randomly picked us to do a 3 minute spontaneous presentation on any topic.. Luck would have it, he picked me.. Long story short, my mind went blank and only thing I could think of was dragons.. So I went on and on about dragons.. 😅
By the way, my name in Teochew dialect can be translated to "Cultured Dragon" .. 🐉
I can't tell you how stoked I am to see this topic. I can already tell this video is gonna be amazing!
I would LOVE to see this channel cover Japanese Shinto-based mythology and history! Divine beasts including dragons are also *a major part of that faith from my understanding.
After playing Capcom’s game Okami, and seeing their version/adaptation of Shinto lore and mythology surrounding the sun god/goddess Amaterasu, I became absolutely captivated by these tales, and began to dig into it more.
thank you for making this, awesome one!
we call ourselves the descendants of Dragon.
i hope i have some Dragon DNA in me..
Happy year of the Dragon!
Looking at paleontological finds in recent years from China, I’d say that those in the ancient past would have come across fossils and understood them as dragons.
I always felt that the Chinese dragon is my animal spirit
In fact, Chinese dragons should be called Loong, and Dragon is pronounced in Japanese. There are a large number of foreign languages in Japanese, among which words from Western languages generally directly refer to their original letters and are converted into Japanese pronunciation and written in Katakana. Therefore, the Western dragon was directly quoted and written as "ドラゴン" (doragon) in Katakana.
Dragon in Chinese culture sums up Chinese spirituality and beliefs beyond the material world, it shows their deapth of metaphysical beliefs!
Dinosaurs dead and fossilized. Some random human civilization found them around thousands of years ago and made up stories about dragons. It not just the chinese. Pretty much every advanced civilization found the same bones and made up their version of dragons. That's why dragons come in many different shapes and sizes around the world. It purely depends on what species of dinosaurs bones they found in their geological area.
People still see them…just because your tired regurgitated explanation is spat out by Westerners (I have heard your explanation since childhood) as I grew up and listened to first hand accounts of experiences I now know my limited experience doesn’t mean the fantastic did not or don’t exist..I don’t need to demean other people or cultures to feel superior..something more substantial is in the stories of dragons they certainly weren’t dinosaurs even Africans and Aborigines from Australia believe in the rainbow serpent a multi -colored version of dragons…
@@ycaceres3357 go home you're drunk
@@adolfhitler7394 I don’t drink or use drugs. ..but I am open to learning a lost ability for many and if you listen without judgment you will learn how amazing this world really is
Please do a video on Japanese and Celtic dragons. I’d love to learn the similarities and differences.
LOL the Japanese got their "dragon" concept from the Chinese. This video pretty much covers it. They called Tatsu or Mizuchi ("water spirit") in native Japanese, & Ryuu or Ryou in Sino-Japanese, from the word [Lung/Long] (Old Chinese would be [Liung/ Liong]). The only thing difference would be, only the Chinese emperor was allowed to have an emblem of a 5-taloned dragon, so Japan/ Korea/ Vietnam could only depict dragons with 4 talons or less.
Strange I didn't realize how much the Chinese dragon had in common with the Cherokee Uktena till this video but horned serpent archetype are as old and prevalent as werewolves and Vampires
It was remarkable to hear about the prehistoric fossils that resemble parts of dragons. Specially the long neck which was actually a tail! Love this video will go to the culture link.
My congratulations Dr. Z. The Chinese long is a very rich subject choosing what to keep and what to cut to fit 10 minutes must not have been an easy task. I hope you'll remember the river dragons when you cover river deities. Again, well done on the subject.
Wild. 117 has always appealed to me and I've had no idea why. It just glows.
Caveat: Southern and Southeastern China were not Han Chinese until 2000 years ago. The dragon/serpent cults in those regions were Southeast Asian (whom the Han called the "Baiyue"); and the origins of the Chinese dragon may be the result of assimilation of the Baiyue serpent cults by the Chinese when they invaded them (along with the dragon boat technology). Notice that dragons only really begin to become prominent in Han Chinese mythology in the Han Dynasty - from the time period when China finally subjugated and invaded the Baiyue tribes of southern China.
You can still see examples of the non-Han dragons in cultures all throughout Southeast Asia, from the Philippines (Bakunawa), Indonesia (Antaboga), Laos (Naga), Thailand (Phaya Nak), Malaysia (Gumum), Cambodia (neak); and even as far away as Polynesia (the mo'o and taniwha) and Madagascar (Tompondrano, "Lord of the Waters") (Polynesians and Malagasy are descendants of Austronesian seafarers from Southeast Asia). As well as in the ancient dragon carvings on native Southeast Asian ships. They are more accurately sea serpents or water snakes, and are usually associated with bodies of water, earthquakes, eclipses, storms, rain, and shapeshifting.
The Naga of South Asia (whom are curiously depicted as an actual people) may been derived from very early contacts with seafaring Southeast Asians.
I can listen to you all day
Dragons, language of the modes of experience that embody information constellates
Gong Xi Fa Cai to everyone reading this in 2024!
he also represent lion head which does connect to the water dragon touching the solid scale
UA-cam wants me to connect this back to what's happening in One Piece right now.
There are many kinds of dragons 1. Heavenly Dragons (Clouds or heaven) gives water in the form of rain 2. Earth Dragons (In Spirits Form mostly live in cages) deep forest or isolated mountain cages 3. The Water Dragons (Whose spirit form the sea)
0:53 Dragon represent a king who saved their lives in great flood and the One who introduced Agriculture as a food to mankind.
He was the one who introduced idol and temple worship.
He was the One being represented as Pineapple with Crown ( Ong Lai- Luck Come .King Come)
Significance of Pomello on altar to indicate floating in water/ Sea