Why the Dragon is Central to Chinese Culture | Monstrum
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The Chinese dragon is one of the world’s most globally recognized monsters. Playing a major role throughout Chinese history, they were both creators and destroyers and controlled the elements. They've influenced everything from politics to religion-what is it about the Chinese Dragon that makes it such a central figure in Chinese culture?
The world is full of monsters, myths, and legends and Monstrum isn’t afraid to take a closer look. The show, hosted by Emily Zarka, Ph.D., takes us on a journey to discover a new monster in each new episode. Monstrum looks at humans' unique drive to create and shape monster mythology through oral storytelling, literature, and film and digs deep into the history of those mythologies.
Written and Hosted by: Dr. Emily Zarka
Director: David Schulte
Executive Producer: Amanda Fox
Producer: Thomas Fernandes
Editor/Animator: P.W. Shelton
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Illustrator: Samuel Allen
Executive in Charge (PBS): Maribel Lopez
Director of Programming (PBS): Gabrielle Ewing
Additional Footage: Shutterstock
Music: APM Music
Produced by Spotzen for PBS Digital Studios.
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BIBLIOGRAPHY
Allan, Sarah. “The Taotie Motif in Early Chinese Ritual Bronzes.” The Zoomorphic Imagination in Chinese Art and Culture Eds. Jerome Silbergeld, and Eugene Y. Wang. University of Hawai’I Press, 2016: pp. 21-66.
Hodge, Bob, and Kam Louie. The Politics of Chinese Language and Culture the Art of Reading Dragons. Routledge, 1998.
Ho, Judy Chungwa. “Representing the Twelve Calendrical Animals as Beastly, Human, and Hybrid Beings in Medieval China.” The Zoomorphic Imagination in Chinese Art and Culture Eds. Jerome Silbergeld, and Eugene Y. Wang. University of Hawai’I Press, 2016: pp. 95-136.
Irwin, J. O’Malley. “Fossils of the Chinese Dragon.” The Far Eastern Review. Dec. 1915, Vol. XII, Issue 7, pg. 247.
Purtle, Jennifer. “The Pictorial Form of a Zoomorphic Ecology: Dragons and Their Painters in Song and Southern China.” The Zoomorphic Imagination in Chinese Art and Culture Eds. Jerome Silbergeld, and Eugene Y. Wang. University of Hawai’I Press, 2016: 253-288.
Sax, Boria. Imaginary Animals: The Monstrous, the Wondrous and the Human. Reaktion Books, Limited, 2013.
Schipper, Mineke., et al. China’s Creation and Origin Myths Cross-Cultural Explorations in Oral and Written Traditions. Brill, 2011.
Sri Ranjan, Dharma Keerthi, and Zhou Chang. “The Chinese Dragon Concept as a Spiritual Force of the Masses.” Sabaramuwa University Journal, vol. 9, no. 1, Dec. 2010, pp. 65-80.
Strassberg, Richard E. Chinese Bestiary. University of California Press, 2002.
Zhang, Qiong. “From ‘Dragonology’ to Meteorology: Aristotelian Natural Philosophy and the Beginning of the Decline of the Dragon in China.” Early Science and Medicine, vol. 14, no. 1-3, BRILL, 2009, pp. 340-68.
For information on the efforts to preserve and share Chinese folklore and cultural heritage, go to the China Folklore Network: www.chinafolklore.org/
You should check out the kappa, kitsune, and the Japanese dragon.
Could you guys do other types of dragons from Asia? Maybe a compilation or long video playlist type thing for dragons?
This video is amazing! It will help me so much when I write my own children's story. Thanks so much, Dr. D.! ✍🏾📕🤩
I was born in the year 2000.22.2 year of the metal dragon last month was my birthday 22.22.22 not a coincedence 😉
Loved this episode. Can you also please make an episode about the following mythological creatures?
The Phoenix / The Fenghuang
The Batibat / Bangungot
The Unicorn
The Hippogryff
The Moon Rabbit
Thanks in advance!
My favourite tale of the dragon is a proverb 叶公好龙（Mr Ye loves the Dragon): Mr Ye was obsessed with dragons and his clothes and furnitures etc were full of dragons. The dragons heard about this man and were very interested in him. They decided to show up in front of Mr Ye to give him a surprise. But when the man saw the actual dragon he scared the sh*t out of him. The proverb means someone shows interested in something but not actually having a passion or real interest in it.
Are you a dragon?
It could also mean that what you think never ends up being the same as reality
这是个成语故事
Never meet your heroes 😂
@@user-ju9fv2om6oYes,but probably most 成语 is come from tale
My grandmother was born in Saigon in 1923 (when Vietnam, Laos and Cambodge were a french colony). We had to pass in front of her open door at night to go to the bathroom and were terrified of the dragon we heard growling at night in her room (you know the one she took with her from Vietnam). One day I was old enough to understand that she was just the loudest snorer.
Lmao outta here
when my brother and i were very young our bedroom was down a long hall from my parents' bedroom. one night we heard a loud noise and thought a bear got into the house. so we carefully went down the long hall towards our parents' room to tell them there was a bear in the house. it was dad snoring.
How kind if your grandmother to cover for the dragon by saying she snored.
a friend of mine who's grandma is japanese grew up thinking she was a fox spirit. he and his siblings would spy on her trying to see her tails. They get her fox charms to this day.
😂
7:03 Huangdi was not belong to the Han dynasty, actually from a long long ago, in mythological period. The story is that thousands of years ago, Huangdi defeated Yandi and became the first king of China in mythology. Because he was claimed to be the direct ancestor of Han ethnic, you might be confused with that.
Yes, the Han dynasty lasted from 202BCE to 220CE, while Huangdi was from a time period earlier than 2070BCE, with a 2000+years time gap
He ruled from 2697-2597 or 2698-2598 BC. The cult of yellow emperor is still going on today.
She made some mistakes indeed. Eg, she failed to identify the dragon’s 9 sons. Anyway, it's not bad for some foreigners to have a basic understanding of traditional Chinese cultures.
@@dongxuzhou4661 Right, at least she shown enough respect to Chinese traditional culture. Unlike some nerds in other channels lol
I always love learning about other cultures and their mythologies 🥰
Awesome timing! I happen to be reading the Shan Hai Jing at the moment ... plenty of dragons there! But on top of fossils, there is one particular animal I'd point to (namely because it looks ... well, it pretty much looks like a dragon) is a dragon snakehead fish (AKA Gollum snakehead). Anyway, great video! Totally have a crush on you Dr.Zarka! 😂 Keep on making awesome videos!
Wow, Shan Hai Jing.. something even most Chinese people don't read, cuz it is pretty old and complex book.
Shanhaijing is a fantastic book in ancient China. There are incredible animals and plants in it. No one knows who wrote this book. It's amazing
其实是有这么一条龙的
鱼化龙 是一种龙头鱼身的龙，亦是一种“龙鱼互变”的形式，这种形式我国古代早已有之。《说苑》中就有“昔日白龙下清冷之渊化为鱼”的记载，《长安谣》说的“东海大鱼化为龙”和民间流传的鲤鱼跳过龙门，均讲述了龙鱼互变的关系。这种造型早在商代晚期便在玉雕中出现，并在历代得到发展。
@@ccc-py9ih是的，不过恐怕过不了多久韩国人就会说是他们的😂😂
There is nothing called "Chinese dragon" because dragons do not exist in Chinese mythology. That thing is called Long. Long and dragons are totally different creatures and they have different cultural backgrounds and meaning.
SMASHING THAT LIKE BUTTON SO FAST. Please do more Chinese mythical animals!
YES! Qilin! Qilin!
Phoenix please!
@@TurquoiseInk Yes!
They are not mythical. They are real. The King of the dragons is referred to in the Bible and worshiped all over the world.
@@theNfl_Esq Honestly, I doubt they're actually real. But it's possible, as bascially anything are.
I was born year of the dragon, Earth dragon to be precise. I loved watching this and learning from it. Dragons are at the top of my favorite mythical creatures. ❤🐉
I’m also an Earth Dragon (born in Early 1989) and I was wondering who else in the comments is a Dragon too!! 🐉 🌙 ✨😍🥰
i remember my mom telling me that the gold dragon was banned because it was a symbol of royalty. anyone of royalty can have gold dragon or gold coloured dyes on their clothes and if you wear them without being one, youre essentially impersonating royalty which is a capital offense and pretty much a death penalty back then.
Not golden, but yellow. A specific type of bright yellow.
Yellow(黄) and Emperor (皇) in Chinese are spelled as Huang.
I believe one of the pilgrims in Journey to the West is a young dragon who takes on the form of a horse for the monk Tripitaka. Speaking of Journey to the West, how about an episode about Sun Wukong, the monkey king!
The 8- headed "dragon" Susanoo killed was more like a snake. It was called Yamata no orochi. It's name translates to something along the lines of "8 headed giant snake/serpent" and it was more or less the Japanese equivalent to the hydra. Unlike the hydra it couldn't re- grow it's heads once they were severed though.
Are you a dragon?
need the 9th head to get extra after that
其实日本不少妖怪也是从中国传过去的
Japan is just a copycat.
@@Stealingcultureisadisgrace.Yamata no Orochi is native to Japan. It is not a dragon per se but more like a snake. Before the introduction of dragons from China the Japanese already believed in giant snakes.
One of the best depictions I got of Dragons was from a cartoon, Avatar - The Last Air Bender. But there have been a lot of other depictions in so many other forms of media and literature. There was also the Disney's American Dragon.
As a kid I thought the serpent was essentially a water dragon, and that their were dragons of each element.
I love those shows
@@ileilanambingaamtheleader1154 I was so happy when I found Avatar on Netflix, my fam get to rewatch the whole series whenever we want to. As for American Dragon, I wish they'd put on Netflix, I really want to rewatch the series.
@@laylasolon5576 i'm pretty sure it's online on certain websites
Very informative , as Chinese, I have personally studied Chinese dragon for over 20 years . for my understanding , the dragon warship was much older than the current Chinese metholgy about dragon . The dragon appears in the Chinese history over 8000 years , but the oldest record in book is about 3000 years .
The dragon is North Light , where our ancientors used to live in Siberia . They witnessed the North light and made it as dragon metholgy 8000 years ago , the dragon in our metholgy for long time , even after Chinese people moved to South and never had a chance to see north light any more .
That's amazing! Do you have any names for the North Light Dragon? I'd love to learn more about it.
Our ancestors didn’t live in Siberia. Our ancestors are from yellow river and Yangtze River.
@@user-qwertyuiopasdfghj If you dont agree with me , that's fine . Yellow river and Yangtze River history were crowed of gene C and D people 20k years ago . NO gene people came from North Serbia.
我没找到关于北极光龙的信息不过我找到了一个应该差不多的龙叫【烛龙】你应该会感兴趣的
烛龙是中国古代神话中的钟山山神，身长千里，通体赤红，居住于章尾山，烛龙有一子名为“鼓”，被处死于钟山之东。《山海经》中称烛龙能够向天神请求雨水，即所谓“风雨是谒”、“能请致风雨” 。
@@MissyMona实际上烛龙作为四大神龙之一，地位最高也仅仅是等同太阳，见于元初《说郛》“烛龙即日之名”，在这一等同太阳的说法里烛龙还是《山海经》里噎鸣、石夷、鹓等神人的下属，烛龙睁眼闭眼变换昼夜都是身不由己，听命于噎鸣等神，远不及青龙、应龙于古籍创世五亿天地、一怒而灭世。即使呼吸都受控于折丹、因因乎等神。
除却烛龙等同太阳的说法外，烛龙还有执炬、衔烛、衔火精，分别照亮幽都、无日之国的版本。在这些版本里烛龙的能力全部来自于炬、烛、火精，所照明范围也仅限幽都或无日之国，同时烛龙又成了无名神人、应龙的从属，就连烛龙赖以逞威的“炬”也都源于无名神人所赐。据汉代王逸于《楚辞章句》中考证无日之国即“幽都”，唐代王勃也曾称“烛龙避尧日于幽都”。
烛龙除了躲避尧日，还有见星则惧的记载。《景星赋》载“癸丑之秋，有星丽天……烛龙不敢张炬”。
烛龙不仅在《后汉书》：“征烛龙令执炬兮，过钟山而中休” 奉无名神人之令执炬，还有更多职责，南朝王融称：“仙者驾御所至，烛龙为之引导”，甚至还有《使琉球录》记闻曰“仙瀛……长照烛龙膏”，认为仙岛瀛洲用烛龙的脂膏照明。
《山海经》记载：“钟山之神，名曰烛阴，视为昼，瞑为夜，吹为冬，呼为夏，不饮，不食，不 息，息为风。身长千里。在无之东。其为物，人面，蛇身，赤色，居钟山下。”
The Shang-chi Dragon lacked the signature moustache
LOL maybe it was a lady Long/Lung.
I'd love to understand the symbolism behind the dragon dances in Chinese New Year parades.
They are auspicious creatures, with vast psychic abilities, symbolising power & prestige. To dance as a dragon is to ward off evil spirits during CNY.
Dragon boat racing is even more apparent, it's an ancient shamanic rain ritual (& it always rains during Dragon Boat Festival)
The Chinese dragon is primarily a mix of totems from different tribes that were absorbed and assimilated during ancient times. The Yellow emperor, before fighting his enemy chi you 蚩尤, for control of the yellow river region, had previously defeated and absorbed the tribe of the fire emperor 炎帝. This is perhaps where the image of the dragon started to take shape and became the symbol for the Chinese.
Also, there is speculation that the tribe defeated by the yellow emperor，chi you 蚩尤 , were quite advanced and they made contact with Sumerians when they travelled East during their exile. The myth of Gilgamesh and enkidu may very well explain the relationship between chi you 蚩尤 and the Sumerian king at the time. But it’s all speculation and there isn’t real evidence from that time period to support this.
The funny thing is tho we Chinese think we are descendants of the Dragon but the Dragon never told us to do anything. Like to sacrifice a bull annually or circumcision or genocide the canaanites. It just chills. Floating in the space.
I love Chinese mythology! Thanks, Dr. Z! Another great video!
This really does make me wonder how/why we call these two separate things dragons in the first place. Other than being powerful, arcane elemental beasts (and even the word beast feels inappropriate for the eastern fashion of dragon) they have nearly nothing in common, they are only both called dragons because we've all agreed that they are despite them having nothing to say they're at all linked. The presence of wings, their role in stories, their ability to control the weather, their ability to breathe a weapon of one element or another. One kind of dragon has these things and the other doesn't. It makes me wonder whatever they might have in common.
From what I remember, a Westerner who came to China called them dragons because to him, that was what they most closely resembled. The name then stuck and they've been called dragons in English ever since.
Literally the only thing linking all creatures westerners call "dragons" is the fact that the main body plan is that of a snake. So basically the formula to create a dragon is "snake + another animal".
it's just different languages work differently. like baozi is considered as dumpling by English speakers, but many Chinese would argue that only jiaozi can be called dumpling, ignore the fact that the concept of "dumpling" is different from jiaozi. the word Long also contains some non-dragon creatures, like dinosaurs or chameleons.
@@hirokokueh3541 Why isn't baozi considered as dumpling and only jiaozi?
In Nepal both baozi and jiaozi are considered as mo:mo:s (dumplings). The only purpose the shapes themselves serve is to notify the customer of the meat content. The baozi will normally only have water buffalo and chicken meat but its generally buffalo. Jiaozi normally only has chicken meat and never buffalo meat but also vegetarian.
@@bravomike4734 because the word "jiaozi" in Chinese can only be referring to this specific kind of food, other dumplings like baozi, dango, and wonton are not considered as jiaozi.
and many Chinese users who learned English only in school were told that dumpling means jiaozi, they have never learned about what dumpling really means.
As someone who's ethnically Chinese, I'm glad the Chinese dragon 🐉 is being explained here.
Back in 🇹🇼 Taiwan, mythologies weren't really taught to us in school (or at least not the one I went to as I went to private school) so it's good to learn more about it from Storied.
No, Taiwan is Taiwan. China is China. Chinese dragon belongs to China and has absolutely nothing to do with Taiwan. Your totem is a frog.
Ofc DPP is trying to throw away the Chinese identity completely
hmm yeahh.. also the yogad dragon and tilapia face mix..
ahhh
This year is the year of the dragon 4719 !
is there potential to go more into depth with some of these? I feel like this is barely even scratching the surface of the mythology? perhaps a longer video or a series based on each of them.
Similar to Chinese and Japanese dragons, those of India are usually pictured as giant, wingless serpents. The most famous Indian dragon is Critra, meaning "enclosure." It has three heads, and its body is wrapped around the world. We from south India also call in a "Vyali".
“Dragons of enormous size and variety infest northern India,” concluded Apollonius of Tyana who traveled through the southern foothills of the Himalayas in the first century AD. “The countryside is full of them and no mountain ridge was without one.” Locals regaled visitors with fantastic tales of dragon hunting, using magic to lure them out of the earth in order to pry out the gems embedded in the dragons’ skulls.
Trophies of these quests were displayed in Paraka at the foot of a great mountain, “where a great many skulls of dragons were enshrined.” Ancient Paraka has never been identified, but linguistic clues suggest it was the ancient name for Peshawar. In later times a famous Buddhist holy place near Peshawar was known as “the shrine of the thousand heads.”
Apollonius traveled through the pass at Peshawar and southeast on a route that skirted the Siwalik Hills below the Himalayas. The barren foothills of the Siwalik range boast vast and rich fossil beds with rich remains of long-extinct bizarre creatures. On these eroding slopes and marshes from Kashmir to the banks of the Ganges, people in antiquity would have observed hosts of strange skeletons emerging from the earth: enormous crocodiles (20 feet long); tortoises the size of a Mini Cooper; shovel‑tusked gomphotheres, stegodons, and Elephas hysudricus with its bulging brow; chalicotheres and anthracotheres; the large giraffe Giraffokeryx; and the truly colossal Sivatherium (named after the Hindu god Siva), a moose‑like giraffe as big as an elephant and carrying massive antlers. It seems safe to guess that the “dragon” heads exhibited at Paraka included the skulls of some of these strange creatures from the Siwalik Hills.
Several details in the ancient descriptions catch the eye of a paleontologist. The dragons of the high ridges were said to be larger than dragons of the marshes, which had sharp twisted tusks. The marsh dragons fought elephants to the death; to find their entwined bodies was a great discovery. The dragons of the ridges were frightening: they had long necks and very prominent brows over deep, staring eye sockets. Huge crests grew on their heads, of moderate size on the young but reaching towering proportions on the adults. Men set out to hunt these creatures for the precious jewels-iridescent, “flashing out every hue”-inside their skulls.
There is no creatures similar to Chinese dragons in India. Theirs is a snake-like creature of different origin known as Naga. Naga is the Sanskrit word for cobra.
Chinese dragons have protruding eyes, mane, horns, ears, extended snorts, fluffy tail. etc. It has a scaly body, four powerful legs with talons, so it is completely different.
The Japanese adopted the Chinese Song dynasty dragons and some Japanese temples owned such paintings of dragons that is about a thousands old. Some were consider as national treasures.
@@jacku8304 Nope... you are wrong .. we have the dragons in many south indian temples.. it's called a "Vyali" or I Tamil and Malayalam a "Yazhi" .. they are different from Nagas!!! And I'm talking about ancient temples built almost 3000 years back!!!!
@@peaceloveandenlightenment3790 There are hundreds of artifacts such as prints, paintings, porcelain, bricks, clay, bronze statues of Chinese dragons in most top museums in the world. Can you advised which museum have an example of Indian dragons that is similar to the Chinese dragons in description that I mentioned ?.
@@jacku8304 artifacts? there are thousands of amcient temples in South India that have carvings aging more than 3000 years back!!!
Try searching for Padmanabhaswamy temple... and then temples built by cholas and many many other!!!!
I had two dreams about dragons trough my life and the two of them were very vivid I still remember them. Both of the dragons were totally different and the meaning of the dreams represented separate stages in my life, but since the video is about the Chinese dragons I want to ask what a white, bony, ghost looking, long like snake, swimming in a river dragon may represent? It had a long mustaches, but no wings.
Вы можете встретить хорошего китайца
@@山上徹也-h4e , I don't understand your comment!? What do you mean?
@@ixoraroxi I mean, you may meet a good Chinese in your life. I'm sorry my Russian is not well
@@山上徹也-h4e I am not Russian and I know a few Chinese people. I used to live in Vancouver for 18 years...:) anyway, I do understand Russian too. My point of asking was, what I'm going to do with a good Chinese person!?:)))) good in a what way? If he or she likes to cook, then we are going to have fun 👍 😜
P.S. your English is not good either, are you from Hubei province, or Korea?
They're supposed to appear when person is dying but they can be a guardian spirit for someone powerful
This video made me think of a thought I had when I was little. I've known for years that Long were associated with rainstorms and thunderstorms and tornados and the like, but before I ever learned that, I envisioned a kind of personification of a hurricane. No prize for guessing the shape it took.
I love Monstrum! When I see Eastern Dragon's bodies, I always think of the curves in a river.
I’m a dragon sign and a Leo (1952, August). Thanks for this documentary. It was so interesting and I’ll watch it again.
The video ended too quick. I wish she'd made it drag-on a little longer.
There are celestial creatures in the Hindu myths called Nagas, which are said to large serpentine creatures that live in the great depths of the oceans and land. Nagas can take up any form,but preferably they take up human form to coexist with humans. Interestingly, Naga can also mean a person who is secretive in conduct/ manipulative or a serpent in Sanskrit. These nagas guard the riches and ancient civilizations buried under the ground, so the ancient Hindus always served a small bowl of milk to serpents if they found anthills near their field , thereby assuring some form of insurance of safety and a bountiful harvest in return. The Nagas are the ancestors of all serpentine creatures( not crocs or lizards) and they are believed to descend from Adishesh or the world serpent. Later, Buddhism borrowed these Hindu myths and they became more prominent in Buddhist art, apart from Hindu temples.
I would urge the monstrum team to do a video on a mythical Character called Yali which has been carved historically in Ancient Hindu Temples over.
My congratulations Dr. Z. The Chinese long is a very rich subject choosing what to keep and what to cut to fit 10 minutes must not have been an easy task. I hope you'll remember the river dragons when you cover river deities. Again, well done on the subject.
有种研究，龙应该是鳄鱼的演变，中国北方在古代气候更热，有鳄鱼大象犀牛等热带动物。而龙就是当时人们对鳄鱼的称呼。在古代的典籍中，有很多描述人们看见龙，或者有龙打架的场景。似乎那时候龙是一个存在于现实世界中很常见的物种。而随着气候的变化，鳄鱼在北方消失，逐渐被神化，形象也慢慢演变，成了后来所谓的龙。
Love the delivery of the Host(ess) for this episode.
I was actually born in the year of the dragon it was the year 2000 and strangely enough i lived in the asain district and it is a bad neighborhood and one of the asain went to look at me after i got in a fight and he said your eyes are as of dragon so i got the nick name red dragon from them and any time i went to a Chinese restaurant in that neighborhood they wouldn't let us pay and when i asked why they just said its a honor to have a dragon to dine in then when Chinese newyear came around i would find tons of red envelopes and firecracker in a basket on my front porch didn't open the envelopes till a few years later and found out they were full of money ranging from 1-100 $ and i definitely enjoyed that and ov corse i went to wach the chinese newyear paraid it was kinda cool
It was remarkable to hear about the prehistoric fossils that resemble parts of dragons. Specially the long neck which was actually a tail! Love this video will go to the culture link.
She said, "The dragon is a combination of many other animals and the list is 'LONG'' (Long is Chinese for dragon), nice. 😏 🐉
Wild. 117 has always appealed to me and I've had no idea why. It just glows.
I can't tell you how stoked I am to see this topic. I can already tell this video is gonna be amazing!
In China around middle 2000's, a railway bridge is having problems on a particular spot, they can't drill down the earth. They consulted a monk and said he can provide the solution to calm the dragon living underneath and will die soon if he does. Anyway, he commissioned the post to have a design of nine dragons on metal. Now, it is the only of its kind in China. The monk died. Local officials say it's only a design and not to appease spirits.
In China, dragon is never recognized as a monster, and it was positive image in Chinese opinion
but also viewed as dangerous, powerful, to be respected, feared, and can destroy.
Sounds almost the same as a Naga from Indian Buddhist cosmology: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nāga#Buddhism
Nāgas have almost the same abilities as Chinese dragons, except that the Chinese dragon has a defined appearance, whereas Nāgas tend to change form more, yet are seen mostly as great serpents that live in water and caves. They are also able to travel to higher realms, speak, and some are obsessed with wealth and treasure. I suppose Chinese were quite happy that Buddha's discourses included mention of them, as it fit with their existing so-called mythology.
he also represent lion head which does connect to the water dragon touching the solid scale
As a dragon, and the imperial sign, my birth year is marked by ME HAVING TO HELP EVERYBODY ELSE. Because, noblesse oblige. 🙄
OMG me too. Thank YOU for the reminder. With great power there must also come -- great responsibility.
Seeing these dragons of an Asian heritage made me think of the Naga. That then made me think of Thailand (yes they're from South and South-East Asia, but I've only visited Thailand and learned of them from there), and the Thai New Year is coming soon! Perhaps a Thai Monstrum episode please?? Naga, Garuda, Nang Thai, Krause, Yaksha, etc? 😃🙏
The concept of Chinese lung/long are definitely more alone the lines of the South & SE Asian naga. Evil, fire-breathing treasure hoarders with bat wings aren't really a thing in Asia LOL.
Not just in Thai but also in Khmer, Burma, Vietnam, Laos and Javanese (Indonesian) they have similar Naga (Dragon) heritage from hindu-buddhist era, Interestingly most of them call that mythical creature as Naga altogether.
There are some inaccuracies in this video. When Buddhism came to China from India, it brought with it the idea of Indian nagas, which merged with the existing dragon myth of the Chinese, some would even argue the snake-like feature of the naga influenced the elongated appearance of the Chinese dragon.
As for the dragon is a mix of various tribal animal totem hypothesis, to date, there is no evidence that ancient Chinese tribes had those animals as their tribal symbols, and the tribal animal symbols that we do know existed, such as the bear and the ox were not features found on the dragon appearance, thus this hypothesis is most likely wrong.
In the oldest version of the Nuwa story, there was no mention of a black dragon or green dragon, it was about two elemental deities of fire and water who fought and broke the world pillar, with no dragons involved. On the other hand, this video failed to mention that Nuwa was described as half serpent half female, which is the only dragon-related element in that mythology, and also very likely to be the earliest connection between Chinese culture and dragon personifications.
The Yellow Emperor is not a Han emperor by any stretch, assuming he existed and isn't just a myth, he would predate both the Han dynasty and the classification of Han ethnicity by at least a thousand years. Furthermore, according to documents, his father is a tribal leader called 少典, not a dragon. The only dragon connection in the Yellow Emperor myth is how he summoned a dragon to fight in battles for him, and how he rode a dragon to heaven upon death.
Lastly, the real origin of why Chinese emperors refer to themselves as the "true dragon" was not because of the Yellow Emperor, but Liu Bang, the first emperor of the Han dynasty. Liu was born a peasant, thus in an attempt to legitimize his ascension, he made up a story of how his mother dreamt of a dragon before conceiving him. From that point onward, the Chinese emperor was seen as the true dragon in human form. Emperors and rulers that predate Liu Bang made no such claims, which is why it could not have been a tradition inherited from the Yellow Emperor. In fact, given how most records of the Yellow Emperor came from texts written in the Han dynasty, thousands of years after the supposed Yellow Emperor era, it is highly likely that the dragon elements in the myth were added due to a Han dynasty fascination with dragons, and not part of the original Yellow Emperor myth.
Frankly, I'm a little disappointed at the lack of primary source research for a channel under PBS.
I love that in eastern cultures the dragon is respected. In European cultures it’s always looked at as a monster. Dragons have always been my favorite mythical creature
In Europe we see heroes slaying dragons and in China and Japan we see heroes ascending from them
Yup, none of that satanic association to the powerful, majestic Long/ Lung.
Looking at paleontological finds in recent years from China, I’d say that those in the ancient past would have come across fossils and understood them as dragons.
I loved when you guys did a video on Slenderman, highlighting how monsters are still invented and relevant today. I don’t know if this would be too off-topic, but could you guys make a video on the backrooms?
Thank you for your marvelous information about Dragons.
that blooper ending was cute
0:43 somehow this painting is at a museum in Boston, the US 🫠
Missed my professor smokeshow
Very interesting and nicely done. Thank you 😊
I think dragons were tornados back in the day. Tornados suck animals, swirl, and twist them in midair which how they become dragons.
She reminds me about how I glitch while sending voice mails
Chinese dragons are so much better looking than the America's boring flying chicken.
Some Japanese 101: Japanese is very straight forward in how to pronounce its roman-letter spellings. If it's spelled with an o, pronounce it as o. So Sunsanoo is pronounced Susanoo, not Susanu.
Particularly, in this case, it's _two_ "o" sounds: the common transliteration is usually "Susano'o," or "Susano-o," which makes it two separate syllables. It's why the third common transliteration is "Susanowo," as a way to try and convey this double "o" to an English speaker.
Happy Dragon Year!! 龍年快樂!!
I was told that buildings in Hong Kong have hollow area in the middle of the building. This to allow the dragon to pass the buildings and bless them
Wales have the Welsh Dragon on their flag, both countries are thousands of years old. There are written records of Welsh Civilization in Britain long before anyone else arrived there and invaded.
Honestly, y'all should check out the Pacific, we have very similar "Dragons" too, we call them Taniwha (pronounced as Tanifa).
Very similar, and many (is not all) of us Maori today have Taniwha in our ancestries.
The Celts, Germanic and Nordic people also had myths about Dragons and used them in their artwork.
Very fascinating information regarding the Chinese dragons.
My favorite Chinese dragon is the Yinglong or winged dragon!
[Just Some Guy with a Mustache] We let them win - it has been good for their morale ever since...
In a dream about 2 weeks ago I saw one of left front leg of China dragon was cut by sword, so it's walk became more slower
Dragon was not originally Chinese, but originated from invaded southern people, where there were much more waterways, rains and reptiles in everyday life.
The thing that amuses me most about Chinese dragons is that they specifically gave the dragon the eyes of a rabbit given that rabbits like most herbivorous animals have selected for peripheral vision, which in human terms means they qualify as legally blind, and as with most mammals have dichromatic vision meaning they can only see two colors which to humans counts as color blind.
The implication thus is that dragons have abysmal eyesight putting a whole other meaning to the "eye of the dragon" lol.
On a more general note it is interesting that despite our penchant to categorize everything to death when you zoom out more broadly to different cultures and through time you still get a lot of blurred boundaries between mythological creatures.
Most probably not. Bunny rabbits have beautifully eerie red eyes.
Chinese Lung/Long do NOT have "abysmal eyesight" in fact, their senses are all supernaturally astute, not to mention they are telepathic with all sorts of psychic abilities.
Gong Xi Fa Cai to everyone reading this in 2024!
These dragons really do exist on the universe today. They are so big that some do not fit in the Earth.
I have seen some in the skies.
I have them in videos here in my channel.
"FOR THOUSANDS OF YEARS I LAY DORMANT..."
-Shenlong (probably)
Could you do a mosterum on the Bolotnik of wester Slavic folk lore?
I have never heard anyone with Phd degree introduce themselves with title Doctor. Well, except Dr Evil.
Chinese dragons are awesome some grant wishes
3:23 My name is Jeff
As a native Chinese,i love 凤凰 more than 龙 (Dragon).Since 凤凰 can 浴火涅槃，九死重生(Bath fire nirvana, nine deaths and rebirth),龙 is just powerful,凤凰 is not only powerful but also never die.Everytime 凤凰 die,when it come back,it will be more powerful!
In fact it's very probable than peoples thought dragons were in clouds or were literally the clouds in the whole Asia not only in china
Just to throw out another idea, I think the ancient people found dinosaur fossils just like we do today. Thus, the legends of the dragon were born.
I have long assumed that dragons (which occur in several world cultures) are the result of finding dinosaur skeletons.
In China maybe, but in Europe it's more likely they're based on snakes. The earliest Greco-Roman art simply shows them as big serpents, but over time more features were added to them.
Yeah I have never seen dragon anytime but I heard so much about it and I'm really impressed and interested in dragon legend. I don't know but l trust the animal and l believe that it has ever survived in our life. I have read a topic about ' Have ever you seen dragon', l read a lot of comments and then, there were many same features, same stories. lt makes me trust in more. I heard that seeing dragons is a lucky thing and not everyone can see them. But we shouldn't seek them anytime or anywhere because they no longer belong to this age, just leave them alone.
I loved this video.
Thank you 👍❤🎉
Damn those ancient people are high af.
FIVE claws may represents 5 elements like water,air,space,Fire,and earth..
Dream white dragon was been took down in water like rebirth objects you for got but when you hold on to the feelings and grip on to the objects you sink .so you make peace and in joy the pain and love of renembering what you had forgotten places wow.
You can own Axolotl as your real dragon fantasy
Well, time to start a Cathay campaign in Total War Warhammer 3.
Can we please appreciate that the king dragon is called "long wang" lol
1:37 no I’m pretty sure those are the same thing
Beautiful creatures, my favorite mythical beings.
龙最早是苍龙星座来的。中国人最早观察的星座，并根据这个星座制作了早期历法。
Because when you squint real hard, many things look like dragons.
Lol at 2:43 I got that yin and Yang tattoo on my pec but the moon white, it in is the yin and sun is black, in the Yang
Fun fact: The Pokemon Rayquaza is based on a Chinese dragon (along with the Hebrew legendary bird Ziz and the Aztec Quetzalcoatl).
and ho oh is based on the phoenix i suppose...
Dr. Emily Zarka!
When western afroeurasian hate dragons (many dragon killer story from europe and middle east), while eastern afroeurasian honor the dragons...
You give us the BEST monsters! ❤️
Long aren't "monster"... they're literally viewed as a highly intelligent class of sentient beings with their own other dimensional realm/society, associated with fertility, power & prestige.
it have horn whiskas fish scale and claw
4 of my 7 tattoos are dragons.
I love how some "critics" here correctly point out that China is from the Yellow River Civilization BUT THEN say that "they are not water-centric". Rivers have water, by the way.
Also, what civilization is not water-centric? Water is a necessity and it's literally a key factor in the creation of civilizations around the world.
I wonder what these doubters think about the many carbon-dated artifacts that have been excavated in China, many of which having writings that the Chinese people can still read today.