Page:Peking the Beautiful.pdf/82

 The Chinese Dragon

VER since that distant age when China became a nation, the dragon has played an important part in the thought and religion of the Chinese people. Indeed, the dragon occupies such a prominent es place in the realms of art, literature, folklore, zoology, history, and religion, and "popular belief in the dragon is so deeply rooted BR and so widespread, that it is advisable for one to secure an accurate knowledge of the Chinese idea of the venerated saurian if he desires to gain a truly sympathetic understanding of this remarkable people." No one who has been in China can help but note the popularity of this great mythical "king of beasts," for wherever one goes one will find the likeness of the dragon on every hand. "Chinese art employs dragon designs in endless variety," says L. Newton Hayes, in his monumental work on this interesting subject. "The graceful lines of its symmetrically proportioned body are found in every part of the country, painted upon silks and porcelain, woven in brocades, carved on wood, embroidered upon satin, cast in bronze, and chiseled upon marble." Where did the Chinese dragon originate, and what are the characteristics of this great mythical monster, that it should maintain such a mighty hold upon nearly a quarter of the human race for so many generations? Some think that the sea serpent or some great antediluvian saurian is responsible for the dragon idea. Many of these prehistoric monsters, paleontologists tell us, "were, in some period of their development, equally at home on land and in the air." It is easy to understand, then, how such a gigantic monster with its super natural origin and marvelous powers could be responsible for the belief in the dragon. According to ancient records, the first appearance of the true dragon "occurred some forty-six centuries ago, during the reign of Huang Ti, or Hsien Yiian," who, after reigning one hundred eleven years, was taken to heaven upon the back of a great dragon. "Since that day," according to Chinese historians, "dragons have been seen in every dynasty and by hundreds of witnesses." All through the ages dragon appearances have been considered auspicious, and "augured well for the affairs of state," "Chinese religion places the dragon in the calendar of its deities as the God of Rain and the Ruler of Rivers, Lakes, and Seas. As such it has been worshiped for centuries." In the realm of zoology it is placed next to man, at the head of all living creatures, and * because it is equally at home in the air and on the earth, as well as in the sea, it has been ranked as the ruler of all created life below man." The beautiful bronze dragon shown in the opposite plate, standing on its pedestal of shining marble, is found on the terrace of one of the principal hails of the Imperial Summer Palace, and is very typical of the Chinese conception of this mythical animal. For a further description of the dragon, see paqe 128.