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TheRopen — Dragons of the World: Chinese Long

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Published: 2023-08-31 17:29:27 +0000 UTC; Views: 4432; Favourites: 150; Downloads: 0
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Description China's dragons are some of the most powerful and renown races both within and outside of Chinese mythology and culture. Although their image was roughly established as early as the Shang dynasty (1600-1045 BCE) and Zhou Dynasty (1046-256 BCE), no one was certain on what they looked like and artists each had their own interpretations. The most frequently referenced description in modern works comes from Han Dynasty scholar Wang Fu, who gave them 'nine resemblances'; a camel’s head, eyes like a demon, a cow’s ears, a deer’s antlers, a snake’s neck, a tiger’s paws, an eagle’s claws, the scales of a carp, and a belly like a clam’s. This however wasn't always universally accepted at the time, and several other regional variations and details appeared. This is my summarized description of how it looks in traditional Chinese art based on my own observations:

Head: They always had bulbous human-like noses, a pair of tendril-like whiskers, a combination of fangs and flat teeth in their jaws, two fang-like tusks at the corner of their mouths, pronounced and heavy brows with large piercing eyes, cow-like ears, and curved branching horns that are sometimes blunt at the tips. They also have a mustache/beard combo lining their lips and flowing manes that range in length. Wang Fu also gave it a broad lump on its head called a Chimu, which I decided to instead make it an unseen concentration of its divine power or 'líng' (灵). 

Body: Their bodies were long and snake-like, which were sometimes divided into three sections of equal length. They also had carp-like scales and clam-shaped belly scales, as well a a dorsal fin extending down their backs towards the tip of their tufted tails. There is no actual confirmation on size, as they are frequently said to be able to change their size to as small as a silkworm to big enough to fill the entire universe, so I gave it an average adult size of 52-84m, with a maximum length of 106m. This is likely to change in future retellings depending on how it compares with other dragons.

Limbs:  Though they most often have five claws today, it historically ranged between two and five depending on their significance in relation to the current dynasty. Although they most often now only have 4 powerful limbs, each with tufts of fur on their elbows and ankles, earlier Chinese dragons additionally had wings that were gradually converted into flames emanating from their shoulders and hips, though winged dragons are still prevalent as minor cultural symbols. I gave the flames sparkles because Wang Fu wrote how their fire was a magical form that combusted more strongly in water, yet was also easily put out by regular fire. 

Color: Their colors most often align with the elemental conceptual scheme of the Wuxing, being either red, yellow/gold, blue/green, black and white. However, there are also orange, brown, purple, and even pink dragons in Chinese art, but there's nothing I could find confirming if these had some symbolism or meaning of their own. Their horns, hair, fins, belly scales, eyes, noses, lips, and podotheca (the scales of a birds foot, which applies to the paws and digits of these dragons) are variously colored depending on their dominate body color. For instance, I've seen yellow and gold Chinese dragons having either green, red, blue, orange, or white hair, and this is just the one characteristic out of all the others. Though not something shown in Chinese art, L. Newton Hayes referenced an unnamed Yuan Dynasty book in his The Chinese Dragon describing their whiskers being universally purple.

I took a month to read 34 sources worth to learn everything there is to know about these creatures, and I wish I could share everything with you but there's too much to just post here. I'm more than happy to answer any additional questions in the comments. 
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Comments: 12

DragonWarriorKing [2024-10-25 02:39:26 +0000 UTC]

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TheRopen In reply to DragonWarriorKing [2024-10-25 06:51:18 +0000 UTC]

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BlackDragon117 [2024-02-23 02:40:58 +0000 UTC]

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TheRopen In reply to BlackDragon117 [2024-02-23 06:33:27 +0000 UTC]

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BluegirlWoomy [2023-11-01 04:40:13 +0000 UTC]

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PrincessBerry98 [2023-09-20 23:57:53 +0000 UTC]

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TheRopen In reply to PrincessBerry98 [2023-09-21 01:37:58 +0000 UTC]

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G0J1MAN2004 [2023-09-02 10:22:33 +0000 UTC]

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TheRopen In reply to G0J1MAN2004 [2023-09-02 13:13:58 +0000 UTC]

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kevinobill [2023-09-01 04:33:11 +0000 UTC]

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TheRopen In reply to kevinobill [2023-09-01 13:46:29 +0000 UTC]

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EggnWaffle [2023-08-31 20:26:33 +0000 UTC]

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