Page:Peking the Beautiful.pdf/134

 A Dragon's Portrait

CCORDING to popular belief "there are real dragons living in China to-day. These are not the horrible monsters that some have imagined them WAC V to be. They are friendly creatures revered by all the people." During the four thousand years and more of Chinese history use find recorded scores of appearances of this king of beasts. It is "connected with the stories of many prominent characters of China's past. Perhaps the most aotevorthy reference is one which states that two dragons as guards of honor visited the home of Confucius on the day that great sage was born." Some idea of the high esteem in which the dragon has been held by the people of China can be had from the fact that the "emperor's most reverential title was, 'The True Dragon'; and in harmony with that idea the word 'dragon' was used in the names of all that had to do with his life and position. As an example of this his throne was called the 'dragon's seat,' his hands the 'dragon's claws,' the pen he used was the 'dragon's brush, the Imperial robes were called the 'dragon's garments,' and the Imperial glance was known as 'dragon's eyes.*" Tradition has it that the bodies of all dragons are divided into three sections of equal length; "these divisions being from the point of the nose to the shoulders, from the shoulders to the thighs, and from the thighs to the tip of the tail." As to its actual length, authorities differ greatly. Some who claim to have actually seen dragons, say that they are one hundred feet long; others, about fifty feet long; while still other accounts would lead us to believe that some dragons are actually several miles in length. The smallest dragon of which we have any record is said to have been about the size of a silkworm. This vast difference in the size of the dragon is accounted for in the Shuo Wen, a book written in the days of the Tangs, which says that this wonderful creature has such marvelous powers, that "it may cause itself to become visible or invisible at will, and it can become long or short and coarse or fine, at its own good pleasure." The huge "Dragon Spirit Screen" shown on page sixty-three, gives one a very accurate idea of the brilliant colors attributed to this mythical monster. Usually they are " differentiated as being red, yellow, blue, white, or black." According to the records, there are, in all, eight species of the dragon; but the best known, and the one almost universally portrayed in Chinese art, is the Shert Lung, which is beautifully shown in the opposite plate. This graceful dragon, exquisitely cast in bronze, forms a part of one of the famous astronomical instruments set up in the days of Emperor Kang Hst. These wonderful dragon-adomed instruments are found in the grounds of the ancient Imperial Observatory, the principal landmark on the east wall of the Tartar City. For a further description of the dragon, see paqes 78 and 154.