{"id":6559,"date":"2019-11-20T21:17:39","date_gmt":"2019-11-20T21:17:39","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/chinesemoment.com\/?p=6559"},"modified":"2019-11-20T21:17:39","modified_gmt":"2019-11-20T21:17:39","slug":"there-was-once-a-dragon-in-the-ancient-orient-dong-fang-long","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/chinesemoment.com\/fr\/there-was-once-a-dragon-in-the-ancient-orient-dong-fang-long\/","title":{"rendered":"There Was Once a Dragon in the Ancient Orient..\u4e1c\u65b9\u9f99"},"content":{"rendered":"<div><span>The people of China have a long held belief that they  are descendents of the dragon, a tradition that is firmly embedded in  their culture and one that is encountered across all aspects of Chinese  society and in the minds of its people. Whereas in western cultures  dragons are usually regarded as a symbol of malevolence, in China the  dragon is held in high esteem for its dignity and power for good. <\/p>\n<p>  <\/span><span><span>From primitive times people have regarded the dragon as  an auspicious creature with the power to bless and influence their  lives. As tribes fought for domination and came to be united under a  common banner the dragon was adopted as a national icon. Such was the  mysterious creature&#8217;s power it was regarded as the god of rain, thunder,  the rainbow, and the stars. In a society that was founded upon  agriculture and animal husbandry totally reliant upon its natural  environment and in particular the climate, the dragon was worshipped as  the source of all that was beneficial to communal well being. This  concept has been sustained for thousands of years as more and more  deification was bestowed upon the dragon ranging from being a bringer of  joy to prophecy and miracles. With the establishment of a feudal  society, emperors compared themselves to the dragon thereby making it  the exclusive symbol of imperial majesty. Anyone who subsequently used  the dragon as a symbol either intentionally or erroneously could be  regarded as offending their ruler and condemned to death. <\/p>\n<p>  <\/span><\/span><span><span><span>The image of the dragon has undergone a series of  changes over the centuries becoming more and more mighty and beautiful.  The original illustration on primitive bronze ware portrays it as  ferocious and mysterious; in the Han Dynasty (206BC &#8211; 220), it became  magnificent and unrestrained; while during the Tang Dynasty (618 &#8211; 907),  it was personalized as gentle, tamed and graceful. From the Song  Dynasty onwards (960 &#8211; 1279), the design became delicate and flowery. <\/p>\n<p>  There are several different kinds of dragon according to color, which  may be yellow, blue, black, white or red. Of these the most highly  revered was the yellow dragon and so each emperor wore a gown decorated  with a yellow dragon pattern. <\/p>\n<p>  <\/span><\/span><\/span><span><span><span><span>Although there are differences in appearance, the basics  are similar. This is because it is a combination of the features of  animals with which people were familiar. A dragon has a protruding  forehead indicating wisdom and antlers signifying longevity. Its ox&#8217;s  ears denote success in the imperial examination; it has tiger&#8217;s eyes as a  sign of power; eagle&#8217;s claws showing bravery; while a fish&#8217;s tail  implies flexibility and the horse&#8217;s teeth are a mark of diligence and so  on. <\/p>\n<p>  The most vibrant and spectacular way of expressing fondness for the  dragon is the dragon dance. This has evolved from what was a ritual rain  dance into a popular entertainment performed during the period from  Spring Festival until the Lantern Festival. The second day of the second  lunar month is the Han people&#8217;s special time &#8211; &#8216;Dragon Heads-raising  Day&#8217;. People could not tonsure their hair from the start of the lunar  New Year until then. The activities for celebration are still for a good  rain. Other big festivals related to the dragon include the Dragon Boat  Festival and those of ethnic groups like Zhuang, Yao, Hani, and so on. <\/span><\/span><\/span><br type=\"_moz\" \/>  <\/span><\/div>\n<div class=\"chine-tie-zi-nei-rong-zhi-hou\" id=\"chine-1405036328\"><script async src=\"\/\/pagead2.googlesyndication.com\/pagead\/js\/adsbygoogle.js?client=ca-pub-1889418300638825\" crossorigin=\"anonymous\"><\/script><ins class=\"adsbygoogle\" style=\"display:block;\" data-ad-client=\"ca-pub-1889418300638825\" \ndata-ad-slot=\"7273022922\" \ndata-ad-layout-key=\"-gw-3+1f-3d+2z\"\ndata-ad-format=\"fluid\"><\/ins>\n<script> \n(adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({}); \n<\/script>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The people of China have a long held belief that they are descendents of the dragon, a tradition that is<\/p>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[9,2837],"tags":[118,46],"class_list":["post-6559","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-chinese-culture","category-chinese-mythology","tag-culture","tag-examination"],"views":217,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/chinesemoment.com\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6559","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/chinesemoment.com\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/chinesemoment.com\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chinesemoment.com\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chinesemoment.com\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6559"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/chinesemoment.com\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6559\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/chinesemoment.com\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6559"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chinesemoment.com\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6559"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chinesemoment.com\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6559"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}