Chinese Dragon

Over time I discovered the general symbol for males is the dragon and for females the phoenix. Lex gave a very short, pithy presentation on the male symbol. No one ever bothered to give a female symbol presentation.

Today, the world belongs to many different nationalities and races. Different races have different cultures and totems. For example, we all know that the bear stands for Russia and the eagle can be used to describe the America. But what is the totem of China? Well, that my topic today, the Chinese dragon.

The Chinese dragon is a mythical creature in East Asian culture with a Chinese origin. It is visualized as a long, scaled, snake-like creature with four legs and five claws on each (though it does not always have five claws). In contrast to the dragon of western culture which stands on four or two legs and which is usually portrayed as evil, the Chinese dragon has long been a symbol of auspicious power in Chinese folklore and art. The Chinese dragon is traditionally also the embodiment of the concept of male and associated with the rain and water. Its female counterpart is the Fenghuang (usually translated as phoenix).

The dragon is an important part of Chinese culture. And Chinese usually call ourselves the descendants of the dragon. Because in the ancient China, there were a lot of tribes at first. Then a great leader, who's name was Huang Di, unified all of them. The problem was, as a united tribe, they didn't have one same totem. Every tribe had their own totem. Some used the bear, some used the fish, while the others used the snake or something else. To solve this problem and make an agreement, Huang Di created a new totem. It has the long snake-like body, lion-like head, fish scales, buckhorn, the claw of eagle and so one. It was called the Dragon.

But, nowadays, in European-influenced cultures, the dragon is aggressive, warlike that the Chinese government wishes to avoid. It is for this reason that the giant panda is far more often used as a national emblem than the dragon. 

A large number of Chinese proverbs and idioms feature references to the dragon, for example: Hoping one's son will become a dragon.