| In oriental
mythology, the dragon has always had a powerful
image. In such essentially pagan forms of religion,
dragons were often associated with magical
attributes. Chinese dragons are revered and
worshipped and imagery on objects of art show that
this reverence dates back to as early as 618 AD.
In China, dragons
were believed to possess magical powers that enabled
them to control natural elements and as such they
were revered and worshipped through places like
China, Japan and Korea. Different dragons had
different associations like, the Chinese Lung dragon
was believed to be good and has associations with
rainfall (the boon of farmers), while other dragons
may have been associated with storms and torrents.
Still other dragons like Azure Dragons were symbols
of spring.
Dragons were
believed to possess powers that were related to
nature and were associated with natural elements
like rainfall, droughts and storms. Consequently, in
chinese art dragon is a revered symbol. The Lung
dragon, in Chinese mythology, is one of four main
animal figures that were seen to be or rather
believed to be well-meaning or were symbols of good
luck. Of these the dragon, probably because of its
obviously powerful image, became a symbol of the
Chinese emperor.
In any authentic
art drawing of a chinese dragon, there are typically
nine points that must be adhered to. chinese dragon
clip art and Chinese dragon imagery as a whole must
have nine basic elements, that are borrowed from
nine different animals. In that sense, the Chinese
dragon is a combination of these nine animals.
A Chinese dragon is
supposed to have a camel’s head, fish scales, a
stag’s horns, the eyes of a rabbit, the ears of a
bull, the belly of a clam and the claws of an eagle.
Aside from this, a snake’s image is demonstrated in
the length of the dragon’s neck.
There is a school
of thought that claims that Chinese dragon imagery
actually had its roots in Indian mythology. The
Chinese legend of the dragon may have, evolved from
the Indian mythological figures known as the Nagas
or snake-people. Chinese dragons, however, fall into
four categories or groups. The Tien-lung or
celestial dragon is associated with the Gods, Shen-lung
or spiritual dragon is responsible for the wind and
the rain, the Ti-lung or the earth dragon is
associated with earthly water-bodies and the last
dragon known as Fut’s-lung is the Underworld dragon
and is the guardian of precious stones.
Chinese dragon
imagery is so old that it can be seen in crockery
that dates back to the Ming dynasty, vases that are
dated to have been created in the mid sixteenth
century, and even in the form of statues that are
dated to have been sculpted as far back as 618AD.
Chinese museums abound with curios and vases that
portray dragon imagery and depending on the type of
dragon and the detail of the image such curios can
be extremely costly |
