See discussions, stats, and author profiles for this publication at: https://www.researchgate.

net/publication/268431749

The Chinese Dragon Concept as a Spiritual Force of the

Masses

Article  in  Sabaragamuwa University Journal · October 2011

DOI: 10.4038/suslj.v9i1.3735

CITATION READS
1 3,665

3 authors, including:

Professor Dharmakeerthi Sri Ranjan

University of Colombo
6 PUBLICATIONS   10 CITATIONS   

SEE PROFILE

All content following this page was uploaded by Professor Dharmakeerthi Sri Ranjan on 18 August 2016.

The user has requested enhancement of the downloaded file.

Sabaramuwa University Journal
Volume 9 Number 1; December 2010 pp 65-80
ISSN 1391-3166

The Chinese Dragon Concept as a Spiritual

Force of the Masses
Dharma Keerthi Sri Ranjan D.G.1 and Zhou Chang C.2
1
Department of Sociology, Wuhan University, Wuhan, P.R.China.
[email protected]

2
Department of Sociology, Wuhan University, Wuhan, P.R. China.
[email protected]

Abstract

The concept of the Dragon is amalgamation of early tribes from the period of pre –
historic era Ain the Chinese social structure. He is a proto - totemic beast later rise
into a Dragon which we find each parts of his composition as a sacred body, meaning
is attached denoting one of his qualities. In modern complex societies, with the
specific interaction potentially drawn from different backgrounds, the distribution
of cultural practices and knowledge of their meaning can become extremely complex.
There cannot be making simple any local system or any patterns of interactions.
The local social system or homogeneous has the highest degree of shared cultural
practices. Cultural practices are those meaningful which forge and continue ongoing
histories of social cultural coupling. The literature review on the Chinese cultural
Dragon denotes that the geographical and social – cultural boundaries have been
discrete and made relations with the different tribes and nations.

Key words: Dragon Concept, Social Super Structure, Mass Consciousness, Social
Development

Introduction
The “Dragon”, depicted in mythology, is a conceptual animal that exists
lively in mass consciousness in both East and West in the world. The “Dragon
culture” is deeply embedded into Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Thailand and
some other eastern and western cultures and considered as the domain of
cultural practices. It is a creating practice in the mass consciousness which
sustains as a viable trajectories of social structure; depicted in materially
and non - materially from the ancient history. It is obvious that this culture
should not be understood as a unified domain of which the content is shared
by all. China, Japan, Korea, being industrialized societies, individuals engage
in especially intense recurrent structural coupling with a small set of individuals,
family, friends, workmates, acquaintance, sporadic structural larger group,
bureaucrats, kin relation, etc. have never been underestimated or erased the

65
Sabaragamuwa University Journal 2010, V.9 N0. 1 pp 65-80

cultural practices from their perception, diffusing from the date back 6000
years in Neolithic Age (The famous Jade Dragon was excavated in the
Inner Mongolia from the Hongshan Culture) (Bayer and Kevin,1992). The
biological organism states and the trajectory result of its lived history inculcates
habitués takes it to be. The mythologies on the Dragon acculturate and
transcending the concept of “man is descending from the Dragon” as an
individual form and let the masses to mingle with the ongoing social
environment with seamless interconnected.

Mythological Approach to the Dragon Concept

The viable features and mutual codetermination of the Dragon and the social
environmental practices are significantly different from Eastern to West.
Social interaction, action, knowledge, power, virtue and interdependent things
and much are based on the supreme spiritual power of the Dragon. These
West and East Dragons represent the celestial and the terrestrial strength,
power and wisdom. The Dragon is residing once in water and in sky brings
the people mighty hopes, prosperity, cognitive world and becoming an
individual agent and lives as a symbol in the perception of the masses. This
mythical creature has an enormous force to fly and walk marvelously and
has the ability to change its divine power rapidly. It is clear that the social
system is in the highest degree of sharing these cultural practices. The
homogeneous tradition has a huge net work of social system and remarked
the China as “The land of Dragon” proudly and believed that the nation
descended from Dragon. The biological phenomenon mingles into the social
phenomenon and it triggers to articulate the ongoing history of social structure.
The social system communicate that the soul and the savior of the Chinese
nation is The Dragon and has become a fabulous and universal symbolic
figure that is founded in most cultures throughout the world.
The legends transmit the information of the Dragon as a loathsome beast
and an evil enemy to humankind (Kiessling, 1970). It was a winged being;
had a magical power to fly to god and come back to earth to create the
human race (Goodkind, 1991). This creation has become an important
symbology as a blueprint of the reality to express this cultural creation.
From the very ancient body of the practices of Chinese culture, they validated
explicitly four magical, spiritual and benevolent animals. They had been known
as the “Dragon”, the “phoenix”, the “Unicorn”, and the “Tortoise’. The
Dragon had been the most powerful, dominant and revered creature emerging
from the social structure and became the trans-generational domain of
practices in a social system. Metaphors, linguistic and other oral devices
remark that his claws grasp an enormous magical pearl, which is capable of
multiplying the power and strengthen of masses. The ancient social system

Dharma Keerthi Sri Ranjan D.G. and Zhou Chang C. 66

 Sabaragamuwa University Journal 2010, V.9 N0. 1 pp 65-80

divulge and symbolizes the functional power of the “pearl” and believed that
it would bring the prosperity, treasure, capabilities and wisdom for the people.
So, the masses once respected and made responsible on it as “totem”.
According to the products of innate and the endowments of the legends in
China and the suburb adjoining territories, that The Dragon is a fabulous
animal usually representing a monstrous winged and scaly serpent or saurian
with a crested head and enormous claws and a monster, represented usually
as a gigantic reptiles having a big lion’s claws and breathing fire. The Dragon
seems to be the product of culture; apprehended multi origin around the
different cultures in the world, based loosely on the appearance of a snake
and possibly fossilized dinosaur remains. The concept of the Dragon is
omnipresent in the socio – cultural structure and the initiation of rites and the
passage from the childhood to death.
The cultural categories and products in one society seem to be either formal
or informal transformation from other cultures and its own. At the early
stages of Egyptian periods, it was considered that the Dragon and serpent
worshipping cult had been appeared and developed in various forms
(Hornblower, 1933). This cult gradually spreads to India and the Oriental
world, the other Pacific Islands, and finally the North American continent
mingled into the socio and cultural systems (Smith, 1918). In the period of
Roman, this revered cult reached its peak and disappeared at the advent of
god concept of the Christian religion. The themes here were similar in some
respects to those of totem which was a particularly apropos choice of the
people. The basic distinction between animals and humans is that animals
belong to the nature and humans to the culture. This object of ethnography
is to discover how relations are apprehending in nature to generate cultural
products.
The distinctive features of the mythical creature have the ability to arise
from his superior power to control the water and create flood. They are
believed to be lived at the bottom of the sea where they guarded vast treasure
hoards, most frequently of pearls (Nilsson, 1947). Rain clouds, thunder and
lightning are believed to be the dragons breathe, hence the fire-breathing
monster (Orange, 1959). He is essentially a benevolent son of heaven who
can control the watery elements of the universe.
As a conventional trans-generational domain of cultural and social practices,
the Dragon concept had become a main and integral part of the culture.
Mostly the salient feature of the Dragon culture in Japan is depicted in
Buddhist temples which have been a familiar object. The people should
enter the shrine room to worship Lord Buddha and invoke blessings through
the dragon mouth or should be purified with the pure water streaming down
from the mouth of the dragon. The “Phoenix” is the other subgeniculate

67 The Chinese Dragon Concept as a Spiritual Force of the Masses

Sabaragamuwa University Journal 2010, V.9 N0. 1 pp 65-80

creature which is strongly combined with the concept of the Dragon. Much
more innate creational legends on the Phoenix as a taxonomic structure
immerged and influenced to organize and to construct in making a relational
net work of the social system.
The fables and legends say that the Dragon is a central figure of both good
and evil in the Chinese culture. According to the legends in China, the Dragon
had originated in the middle kingdom and had five toes. Some of the Dragon
had four toes and some had three toes. Finally the Dragon is seen to be a
gregarious creature who can make people wandered was created by the
nature.
The historical legends say that if the Dragon would step out from China, he
could lose more toes. i.e. when the Dragon would reach to Korea it could
lose one toe and by the time he would move to Japan he could lose another
toe. According to this the Japanese dragon has three toes. This also explains
why he had never been to Europe or the Americas (Smith, 1918). If he
would move that far, he could lose all of his toes and could not be able to
walk. So Dragon lore says he is lazy to walk away from this region.

The Dragon Culture in Himalaya and Tibet as a Spirit

The most prominent historical evidence convinces that the Dragon culture
had been embedded into Himalaya Mountain ranging from the very ancient
times. The Dragon concept is most drastically mingled into the Tibet culture
which is situated next to the Himalaya range. However in the southern
ranges of Himalaya, the myths of the Dragon and the concept of nagas
(Cobra) of India had been mingling one another. The Dragon in Tibet is
known as Druk (‘brug), Drug or Zhug. Bhutan, the kingdom at the southern
border of the Himalaya is being called Druk Yul; the “land of the peaceful
Dragon” or the “thunder dragon land”. The dragon concept emerged and
embodied practices in the temples which have known as the dragon temples.
Many monuments of the Dragon are alive viably at present.
Many legends and archaeological evidences convince that the concept of
the Dragon who impacts on the social structure at the Himalayan regions,
back at least to the “Tang” Dynasty in China. “Li Yuanding” travelled during
the reign of “Tang” to the ancient kingdom in Himalaya where he saw Dragon
images in the tent of the king.
In Lhasa, a city in the territory of ancient ‘Zhangzhung’ is a monastery
“Jo’khang” or “Tsuglagk’ang” where a statue of Shakyamuni Buddha
has been found. In the front side of it, there are two pillars with Dragon.
During the period of “Tang” Tibet came in touch with the Chinese feng shui
and some traces of them are still seen to be alive. Sporadic structural coupling
with much larger groups combined with closer kin relations are lived as a
part of the social structure.

Dharma Keerthi Sri Ranjan D.G. and Zhou Chang C. 68

 Sabaragamuwa University Journal 2010, V.9 N0. 1 pp 65-80

The green Dragon was found south in Lhasa. The Dragon was symbolizing
the heroic attributes like nobility, strength and fortitude. In the blue sky there
was a Jade Dragon. He lived in a Purple cloud city. It reminds on the heavenly
palace of Chinese Dragon (Liang and Zhang, 2006).
According to the mythological and cultural practices of the Tibetan
community, the most important spirits of the Tibet were the Klu which were
more feared than the Druk. The myths were mingling up with the cult of the
Nagas in India from the beginning (Grinstead, 1967). If there is a lack of
fundamental knowledge on these cults, no one is led to identify clearly the
differences in between and its relations to the social structural coupling.
Most historical mythologists have been greatly explaining that the Klu are
the Tibetan version of the Chinese water Dragon. Their dwellings probably
were in the fountains, rivers and seas. The king of them lived in a palace
under the water same as the Dragon king in china. The female of the Klu
was known as “Klu mo” and the queen was named as “Yum klu mo yak”.
She was not one of the nice and peaceful breed and her garments were
made up of snakes. When she rid out, she had a bag full of diseases with
her. Another much friendlier “Klu mo” wears a garment of cloudy silk and
feathers. The name of the wife of king Gesar is Sengjam Zhugmo, known
as the daughter of the Dragon. Today, most of the women in Tibet bear the
name Zhugmo. Klu is taking the responsibility for illness and disease. This
local social system had embedded cult and mythologies but later societies
were unable to attenuate networks of social interaction in this regard.
The Druk is different from Nagas of India and considered as protectors
against enemies. The Dragon Druk had five claws and was the vehicle of
some protective deities of the Tibet. She was of dark blue complexion and
held in her right hand a crocodile banner and a small mirror.
These histories show how these myths influence on the society and their
behavioral pattern on the human. In any society myths play an important
role. The Chinese villagers and inhabitants engaged in a long history of
ongoing relationships with neighboring villages. They had built up a huge net
work of social relations and understandings, believed and bound to the social
relational cult brings by the historical evidences. These cults help to make
social and collective consciousness in the community.

Dragon in Japan
The Dragon concept in Japan is famous in the world as well as the Dragon
in China. The concept of the Dragon has been diffusing out all over Asia if
the different cultural practices were functioning. The Dragon in Japan is
similar to their Chinese counterparts. According to the Japanese language
the Dragon is called “Tatsu” or” Ryu”. “Tatsu” has been identified as the

69 The Chinese Dragon Concept as a Spiritual Force of the Masses

Sabaragamuwa University Journal 2010, V.9 N0. 1 pp 65-80

three claws dragon. It is true that the concept of Dragon in Japan goes back
to the people in pre - historic age. No longer could we see a Dragon as same
as in china but all the elements of the culture are different from one another
(Komatsu, 1978). When the Dragon departs away from Japan, the more
toes would grow. So the Chinese and other Dragon have more than three
toes. According to the Chinese social practices Dragon is the symbol of
most divine protection. But Japanese traditional description has remarked
the Dragon as a symbol of power. It would not be unexpected that there are
variations in cultural practices. In the Japanese socio - cultural structure the
community revere for the various types of Dragons (Daniels, 1960). But
with no knowledge of the meaning of cultural practices and its elements, no
one could understand socio - cultural structures. The Concept of the Dragon
in Japan is enormously powerful in their cultural practices and traditions.
Japanese culture has imposed duties and responsibilities on the Dragon
according to their various cultural practices.

Dragon in Korean
The Dragon represents in the Korean social structure is different from the
Dragon in Japan and in China. The Korean dragon has four toes. The Korean
community believes that the origin of all eastern Dragons in Korea. When
the dragons leave Korea towards China, they would gain more toes and a
reverse could happen when it would moves towards Japan. The Koreans do
not believe that the social structure of relations to concept of Dragon deriving
from some other domain. Their habits and the ways of thinking are
demonstrating their cultural practices.
The Dragon has been symbolized particularly in the ancient Korean arts
calligraphy and etc. The political stream from the very ancient time mingled
into and interacted with the concept of the dragon. The Korean Dragon was
said to have certain specific traits: no wings, and have a long beard. The
Korean mythologies and legends indicated that the history of the Dragon
had survived from the thousands and years ago. The history of the Dragon
runs back into the pre- historic era in the Korean history. The Dragon is
revered as a totem and believed it has a marvelous spiritual power to change
the world.

The Dragon Concept in West and its Influence

All within the conceptual frame of the Dragon concept remarks the
hierarchical structure and a large degree at different levels from the traditional
features to the popular culture. But all units have been incorporated into a
same category and representing as a uniformly concept if the cultures use
different ways and different functions. Similarly, the dragon in the West

Dharma Keerthi Sri Ranjan D.G. and Zhou Chang C. 70

 Sabaragamuwa University Journal 2010, V.9 N0. 1 pp 65-80

represents rich diversity when it spreads from culture to culture. For somehow
both Dragons in British and Celtic culture have a close association with
water as the Asian Dragon does and has differently lives in material culture
and human perceptual mechanism.
Particularly the Western type of Dragon has its own unique and significant
features (Simpson, 1978). The unquestioned cultural assumption
conceptualized the appearance of the Dragon as parts from various creatures.
The legends explicitly announce that the Dragon contains of lion’s forelimbs
and head, antelope’s horns, eagle’s feet and wings, fish’s scales, and a
serpentine form of trunk and tail, etc (Smith, 1918). These are explicitly
aware that the physical parts of the Dragon are similar to the Asian Dragon.
The Dragon, in British social structure is known as “Wyrm”, an outdated
word for “worm”, an entails as a large serpentine creature, closely related
with water. According to the traits represents by the Western Dragons;
“Wyrm” has been always identified as a cruel and evil beast. However,
Dragon represents along the sides of their boats, and used as a symbol by
the many English families and coat of arms. Welsh flag represents the image
of the Dragon. It strictly remarks and it bears direct and indirect relationship
to the physical objects. The concept of the western Dragon is a most
fascinating and mostly represents the popular culture which benefited at the
super structure of the society.
Celtics believe that the Dragon is greatly influencing on their mother land
and posses the special power to manage the social system. There is a clear
similarity here with the Chinese Feng Shui Dragon. Celtic Dragon lives
both in water and earth. The physical characteristics represent it as natural
object and live as sea serpent but no legs, and differ from the others. Celtic
Dragon is arguably the most powerful and manipulates the surrounding spaces
particularly in Irish. Closely correlated with the elements of the actions
regards to the Dragon concept is the fact that, they have discrete boundaries
which separated them from geographically and socially.
According to the Western and Eastern tradition and the mythologies that the
Dragon is supposed the enemy of the sun and the moon and is believed to be
responsible for eclipses. In the African continent too, the concept of Dragon
has been explained in multiple perspectives. Culturally constructed Dragon
in Africa is most wicked and has the devastating power.
Armenian legends depicts that the dragon has marvelous power to fire and
making lightning (Hornblower, 1933). According to Macedonian mythology,
the god has to stay under the control of Dragon, and has the great
strengthened to make thunderbolts and send them to human world. A dead

71 The Chinese Dragon Concept as a Spiritual Force of the Masses

Sabaragamuwa University Journal 2010, V.9 N0. 1 pp 65-80

man is thought to rebirth at Dragon. The Dragon is believed to be the

guardians of treasures in burial chambers. The concept of the Dragon
provides the fundamental groundings for the community to operate their
patterns of behavior.
In the Greek legends, the concept of the Dragon has been described explicitly
and generated practices in the disposition mentality and the social behavior
of the community. The concept of Hercules is highly durable and persists
through the life of the people. The mythology described that the Hercules
encountered, and killed the Dragon laden while fulfilling his eleventh labor.
The Scandinavian history, social structure and the literature is inscribed that
the Beowulf was slain by a Dragon (Lawrence, 1918).
The concepts of the Dragon and the concepts of the Hercules are still alive
and disposition of the habitués of the people and generate continually the
social production and reproduction. The pebbles and mythologies are
extending information and providing the groundings for the masses to operate
fundamentally, what always must be taken for granted. It corresponds to
what can be explicitly stated and critically reflected on.

The Different Features of the Dragon from Female to Male:

The concept of the Dragon depicts and expresses the biological differences
and the social position of the male and the female Dragon. Legends do not
dare to inculcate that the organism or biological differences are considered
as a privilege as well as duty. The state of male and female organism
participating in social structural coupling highly depicts the vary in social
positions. It is directly reflected that the dragon labor is different from female
to male. For instance, male Dragon usually holds a club in their hand while
females hold a fan. The club shows the wickedness of the male dragon.
The male Dragon horns are thinner near the base of the head and thicker
and stronger outwardly. Females have nicer mane. They are rounder, and
seen as more balanced than the rigid mane of the males. Its nose is usually
straight, their scales are thinner, and has a thicker tail. In every continental
Dragons brought by the mythologies are varied from one another.

The Dragon as a Spiritual Force of the People and Authority:

The Dragon is the most powerful and strengthened animal or totem living in
the consciousness of the Chinese masses. The Dragon is named as “Long”
or “lung” in Chinese language. According to the social structural
phenomenological responding of the Chinese, the Dragon physically consists
of 117 scales. 81 of them are totally remarks as positive and 36 of them are

Dharma Keerthi Sri Ranjan D.G. and Zhou Chang C. 72

 Sabaragamuwa University Journal 2010, V.9 N0. 1 pp 65-80

considered as negative. So, he displays both negative and positive factors

(Zhao, 1989).This malevolent influence on the Dragon is highly for their
destructive and aggressive tasks. He has a great strength to devastate the
property, to form of floods making of the tidal waves and storms badly.
The historical sources of the Chinese convey separated from modern civilized
scientific thought patterns from those of primitive traditional thoughts of
people. The history of the Chinese is vastly different form the present
technological development era. The lives of the ancient traditional Chinese
were hard and had to confront many attacks from the divers regions. China
is a vast county experienced with different tribes and revered for the different
totems. They believe the totems as their ancestors who would protect them
and could avert disasters. i.e. a tribe lived in Central China at the Yellow
River honored the snake as their totem. When they conquered foes their
tribe added the parts of other totems to their snake totem. i.e. when the tribe
honors the deer, the antlers of the deer sought to add the head of the snake.
According to the Chinese mythology, at last the mixture images of the Dragon
came into being. i.e. the deer’s antlers, the camel’s head, the hare’s eye, the
snake’s neck, the carp’s scales, the eagle’s claws, the tiger’s paws; and the
ox’s ears and etc.
The history of the social structural coupling has been inscribed the various
origination patterns of the Dragon. One of the mythologies inculcates that
the production of the Dragon emerges from the alligator. Chinese Dragon
reflects many myths and vice versa. The astrological impact is enormous on
the masses and they have a celestial time table of the zodiac invents of the
Dragon (Stokley, 1973., Azarpay and Kilmer, 1978). The name of the Dragon
was indulged to slither into the science, Botany, agriculture and etc. i.e.
Lung Li Yeh – Peaking pronunciation (Lung – Dragon, Li or lei– tongue,
Yeh – leaf/ Lung Lei Ts’o., Ts’o – Plant). “Dragon tongue” refers to oblong
– oblanceolate leaves / plant (Ying 1967., Daniels, 1960).
In the Chinese history, it is depicted that there were two ancestors. They
were Nuwa and Fuxi. According to the legend, they had dual features of
body; head from the human and the body looked as either serpent or Dragon.
The Yellow Emperor was regarded as the ancestor of the tribes in Central
Chinese community. Legends assumed that he had the body of yellow dragon.
When the Xia Dynasty was established in 21 century BC, the Dragon
gradually became the ancestor of the royal family which further strengthened
the Dragon’s dominant position in Chinese culture.
In the period of Han Dynasty, the concept of the Dragon had sentimental
varying arrangements of the culture (Liang and Zhang, 2006). The first Han
Emperor “liu Bang” was born due to the sexual behavior of his mother

73 The Chinese Dragon Concept as a Spiritual Force of the Masses

Sabaragamuwa University Journal 2010, V.9 N0. 1 pp 65-80

with a red dragon. The emperor “Liu Bang” believed to be the heavenly son
of real Dragon who ruled the world by divine rights. The Dragon was
omnipresent in the emperor palace. Ultimately the whole of the cultural
elements of the emperor was based on the Dragon concept. i.e. emperor’s
robe was called the Dragon robe, the throne was called “Dragon seat”, and
the emperor’s bed was called the Dragon bed (Cammann, 1951). The
emperors particularly revered the yellow or golden Dragon who has five
claws. In the period of “Chine” dynasty the Dragon was clad into the national
flag. To wearing Dragon symbolized clothes were banned and were a major
offence. The Dragon had been carved in the staircases of imperial palaces
and tombs. i.e. the Forbidden City in Beijing (Hua and Xian, 2005). These
decorations of the Dragon displayed mighty appearance to the civilians of
the kings. The Dragon became the symbol of the imperial supreme power
and authority.
Some legends emphasize that the emperors were born with the birthmarks
of the Dragon. i.e. one of the mythology inculcated that “these birthmarks
of the Dragon never let the princes to be hidden from their enemies”.

Dragon’s Nine Spiritual Forces and Nine Sons in the Chinese

Culture:
There are nine types of Dragons in the Chinese culture. But their capabilities
and the appearance are different from one another. Number nine is remarked
as lucky to the Chinese which is probably the concept highlighted below.

-The Horned Dragon - who is completely deaf, powerful and ability to produce
rain.

-The Celestial Dragon - who is protecting the gods.

-The Spiritual Dragon - Who controls the wind and the rain

-The Earth Dragon - Who rules all water and run through the earth.

-The Underworld Dragon - who protects the precious metal, gems and
the hidden fortunes.

-The Winged Dragon - who has wings.

-The Coiling Dragon - who dwells in the water in lakes.

-The Yellow Dragon - who emerged from the sea and gave the knowledge
of writing to the ancient Chinese emperor Fu Xi.

Dharma Keerthi Sri Ranjan D.G. and Zhou Chang C. 74

 Sabaragamuwa University Journal 2010, V.9 N0. 1 pp 65-80

-The Dragon Kings - who has a group of four dragons that control the four
seas: North, West, South, and East. (Grinstead, 1967)

According to the Chinese masses “The Dragon has nine sons who are
different in appearance, abilities and the interests. But all they have strong
personality”. There is no general agreement on the Dragon’s nine sons
according to the traditional masses and the legends. Another kind of Dragon’s
nine sons was found in some other legends.
− Qiuniu - The eldest son loves music, whose image carved in many traditional
Chinese instruments.
− Yazi: - The second son who is bad-tempered, and inclined to fight. Often
appears on ancient weapons. It’s carved in sword-hilt, knife hilt and battle
axe. It is said that this figure empowers weapons.
− Chao Feng: - The third son, who is fearless, loves to take risks and watch
from high places. So he is decorated the corners of palace roofs in ancient
China.
− Pulao: - The forth son, who is fond of roaring. His figure is put on bell
handles. Lives near the sea but fears to meet the big whale.
− Suanmi: - The fifth son who is fond of smoke and fire. Its figure appears
like lion and legs are fixed for the incense-burners. He is considered as the
guardian Dragon.
− Baxia or bixi: - The sixth son, who has great strength and desired to carry
heavy things.

− Bi An: - The seventh son who is like tiger. He is wise and willing to know
what is good and evil. So, the prisons and courts are decorated with his
figure.

− Fuxi: - The eighth son who loves literature. His figure is carved on stone
tablets with inscriptions.
− Chi Wen: - The ninth son who likes swallowing things. He is said to be in
charge of rainfall. So he is designed for the safeguard of palaces from fire.
This nine Dragon concept is deeply embodied in Chinese culture, being pre-
conscious, highly durable and persists through the life of the masses. This is
a social and cultural construction instead of being an individual one. Adults
coach children in retelling the events of the Dragon and his incidents. The
children are not allowed to diverge from the adult recalling of the events of
the Dragon (Socialization). So adults are contextualizing their sons into the

75 The Chinese Dragon Concept as a Spiritual Force of the Masses

Sabaragamuwa University Journal 2010, V.9 N0. 1 pp 65-80

Dragon culture. The masses are strongly fostered the dragon cultural structure
by the endemic fictionalizing mainstream.

Dragon Depicted in the Chinese Architecture, Paintings, and in the

Material Culture
The history of the cave paintings associates more than 25,000years. i.e. the
rock paintings found in Shanxi province in China are older than 8000 BC
years. In these cave paintings, the Dragon picture had been depicted. The
Dragon symbol has been strongly contextualized into the material culture
and indicated the similarities and differences in association with the Dragon
categorization (Hornblower, 1933). It shows up in arts (Ward, 1898), literature,
poetry, architecture, songs, and many aspects of the Chinese consciousness.
Some of them can be articulated as follows;
Vase:- In the reign of “Chia Ching” (1532-1455) the Porcelain vessels
were colored (five), enameled and decorated in imperial five clawed Dragons
sporting amid in the waves of the Sea. They are still alive at the Art Treasures
of the Peking Museum.
Wine Jar: - The Chinese ceramic and stoneware vessels which had been
brilliantly colored with the Dragon features, has a long history and it was
popular in the reign of Ming Dynasty in the early period of 16th century.
This heralded the long history of the Dragon culture and the Chinese ceramics.
Royal Dragon robes of emperors:- In the reign of the “Tai-Tsung” (626
– 649 AD), in the “Tang” Dynasty yellow color was used only in the royal
purposes. The Empress “Xiao Jing” embroidered the 100 boy’s jackets
with figures of Dragons. (Cammann, 1951)
Gilded bronze dragon:- The gilded bronzed Dragon in the period of “Tang”
Dynasty (618-906 AD) was excavated at the city of Xi’an in the Shaanxi
Province in China in1975. They are well protected in the Shaanxi History
Museum.
Red Dragon:- A pair of red Dragon was painted in a lacquer brush - pot in
the period of “Wan-li” (1573-1620).
Nine Dragon Wall:- The Nine Dragon Wall built in 1756 existing in the
BaiHai Park in Beijing, China was 21m long, 15m high and 2m thick and
depicted 635 Dragons in addition to the main nine Dragons. It is faced with
4247 colors ceramic tiles. There is a giant Dragon exists at the centre of the
wall. The wall is covered from edge to edge with many smaller Dragons.

Dharma Keerthi Sri Ranjan D.G. and Zhou Chang C. 76

 Sabaragamuwa University Journal 2010, V.9 N0. 1 pp 65-80

Awakening of the Dragon in the Chinese Culture

The Dragon boat festival is one of the remarkable ceremonies that associate
with the history of more than 2000 years. The Gregorian calendar says that
it usually falls in the month of June. Customs, values, norms, beliefs, and
some other ethnographic realities are behind this boat festival. The festival
was begun at the demise of “Qu Yuan” (340-278 BC). “Qu Yuan” a minister
of the State of “Chu” and adviser to strengthen the military power against
“Qin” state, and was one of the earliest poets in China. He advocated
enriching the country of strengthening its military forces to fight against the
Qin. Later he was exiled by the king Huai and composed a great poem at
his exiled days and named it as “Li Sao” (The Lament), Tian Wen (Heavenly
Questions) and Jiu Ge (Nine Songs).
He plunged himself into the “Miluo” River, and die, at the date of 5th of the
5th month. With the demise of “Qu Yuan”, people lamented at the river
bank and fishers sailed their boats up and down to find the dead body of the
minister. People threw zongzi (pyramid-shaped glutinous rice dumplings
wrapped in reed or bamboo leaves - which ate only in spring and autumn
from the 770 BC) to water to prevent the body attacked from the fish.
Masses followed these customs, racing Dragon boat, eating zongzi and
drinking wine on the same day. At present at the time of this great event, the
people enjoy and entertain with their relations at the river banks throughout
the country. The zongzi is now popular in North and South Korea, Japan
and Southeast Asian nations.
But meticulous research, appreciating that the Dragon boat racing festival is
a semi-religious and semi-entertaining program from the Warring States (475-
221 BC) (Chow, 1968). This has been famous in Asian and some western
countries. From 1980, it has been listed into the state sports competition
programs. The winner is offered the award, called “Qu Yuan Cup.”
Particularly, at the beginning and at the end of the voyage, conventionally,
they are paying rites. The anthropologists say that these rituals at the festival
should be treated as white magic. The ritualistic aspect of Dragon boat
festival certainly is regarded as a deep cultural heritage and spring up to the
religious beliefs. The main purpose of this festival is to “pray” for the gods
and the giving “Life” for the Dragon. At present Taoist priest perform this
ritual.

Chinese Cultural Dragon Dance Performance

The Dragon Dance or lantern dance, was originated as folk dance in China
in the period of Han dynasty.

77 The Chinese Dragon Concept as a Spiritual Force of the Masses

Sabaragamuwa University Journal 2010, V.9 N0. 1 pp 65-80

This greatly respected Dragon puppet is called sacred Dragon. This has
become a special performance of arts in the Chinese physical and mental
functioning. The Dragon dance is a skilled team effort. In Song Dynasty in
the 10th century, the Dragon was used with lanterns to form a kind of visual
arts. The Dragon lantern dance became a major item of entertainment during
the festive period which is on the 15th day of the first lunar month. This
festival is celebrated to achieve bumper harvest in their agriculture at locally,
regionally and nationally throughout the China, forging and sustaining the
cultural practices to suite to the modern society. Particularly, “Dragon Raising
Head Day” is taken place in every 2nd of lunar February. People cut their
hair with the hope of a happy life with one another. The movement of the
dance is pretending of chasing the pearls and displaying a powerful and
majestic momentum. The various patterns of the dance fulfill the ambitions
of the people through these events
To perform the Dragon cultural dance, there should be many performers
and it is used for the different symbolic and festive reasons. When lion
dance is performed, it requires two persons. The size and the shape of the
lion are totally different from the Dragon. The lion dance is thought to bring
prosper and blessings for the wedded life and the business purposes people.

Conclusion
According to the Anthropological and sociological perspective, researching
and recognition of the folklore, in the “primitive and the mass societies” as
an educational tool for transmission of cultural conventions, social integrative
quality and the institutional aspect of values, pattern of entertaining and its
physical and mental aspects, histories from one generation to the next which
functioning in the Dragon culture should be documented as an important
contributions. The man is emotional at least as much as reason and he is
constantly vigilant to discover the emotional as well as the rational basis of
human action.
Their functional, traditional and dramatically diversities comes alive grasping
the modernity, portraying the validity of them for the rapid development of
the country and to reach the unique goal. The Chinese Dragon, stretching its
hands throughout all the regions controls and leads the social system varying
from tradition to the modernity. The Belief and the behavior on the Dragon
has been leading the masses to alive as a spiritual force in their mind and in
the functional activities of the social system. The Chinese entertaining culture
helps to make this event alive in the social super structure.

Dharma Keerthi Sri Ranjan D.G. and Zhou Chang C. 78

 Sabaragamuwa University Journal 2010, V.9 N0. 1 pp 65-80

References
Azarpay, G. and A.D. Kilmer, (1978) The Eclipse Dragon on an Arabic
Frontispiece - Miniature, Journal of the American Oriental Society, v.
98, pp. 363-374.
Bayer, N. and Kevin, S. (1992) Mongol Creation Stories: Man, Mongol
Tribes, the Natural World, and Mongol Deities, Asian Folklore Studies,
v. 51, pp. 323-334.
Cammann, S. (1951) The Making of Dragon Robes, T’oung Pao, Second
Series, v. 40, pp. 297-321.
Chow, F. (1968) A Dragon-Boat Regatta, The Metropolitan Museum of Art
Bulletin, New Series, v. 26, pp. 389-398.
Daniels, F.J. (1960) Snake and Dragon Lore of Japan, Folklore, v. 71, pp.
145-164.
Goodkind, D.M. (1991) Source Creating New Traditions in Modern Chinese
Populations: Aiming for Birth in the Year of the Dragon, Population and
Development Review, v. 17, pp. 663-686.
Grinstead, E. D.(1967) The Dragon King of the Sea, The British Museum
Quarterly, v. 31, pp. 96-100.
Hornblower, G.D. (1933) Source Early Dragon-Forms: Man, v.33, pp. 79-
87.
Hua, J. M. and Xian, W.H. (2005) A survey of Chinese Society and Culture,
China.
Kiessling, N.K.(1970) Antecedents of the Medieval Dragon in Sacred History,
Journal of Biblical Literature, v. 89, pp. 167-177.
Komatsu, K. (1978) The Dragon Palace Child: An Anthropological and Socio
-historical Approach, Current Anthropology, v. 28, pp. 831-839.
Lawrence, W.W. (1918) The Dragon and His Lair in Beowulf. PMLA,
v. 33(4), pp. 547-583.
Liang Q.H. and Zhang, H. (2006) A talk on Traditional Culture: The Language
Perspective, China.
Nilsson, M.P. (1947) The Dragon on the Treasure, The American Journal of
Philology, v. 68, pp. 302-309.
Orange, L.E. (1959) Spenser’s Old Dragon, Modern Language Notes,
v. 74, pp. 679-681.

79 The Chinese Dragon Concept as a Spiritual Force of the Masses

 Sabaragamuwa University Journal 2010, V.9 N0. 1 pp 65-80

Simpson, J. (1978) Fifty British Dragon Tales: An Analysis, Folklore, v. 89,

pp. 79-93.
Smith, G.E.(1918) An American Dragon, Man, v. 18, pp. 161-166.
Stokley, J. (1973) Dragon Visible in September, Science News, v. 104, pp.
126.
Ward, W.H. (1898) Bel and the Dragon. The American Journal of Semitic
Languages and Literatures, v. 14, pp. 94-105.
Ying Hu, S. (1967) The Economic Botany of Dragon Tongue, Economic
Botany, v. 21, pp. 288-292.
Zhao, Q. (1989) Chinese Mythology in the Context of Hydraulic Society,
Asian Folklore Studies, v. 48, pp. 231 – 246.

Dharma Keerthi Sri Ranjan D.G. and Zhou Chang C. 80

View publication stats