III 1.THE COMPARISON STUDY BETWEEN ‘LONG’ & ‘DRAGON’
III 1.1 “LONG” IN CHINA
In China, the word “long”, having it spelling and pronunciation quoted from its pinyin (Chinese linguistic and alphabetic system), is thought to be one kind of mysterious and mythological animal with a long body, scales, horns, wings and feet, which could walk, fly, swim and gather clouds to pour down rain. It has been a long history since “long” began to symbolize the auspiciousness, sovereignty, and prosperity in Chinese culture. In ancient China ,“toten” had existed in the tribe before the exactly idea of “country” appeared in people’s mind .They worshiped the “long”, wishing it could bring them the heavy harvest and protect them from any disaster.
Language is the content of culture. I also found in Yi. Qian ① ，we have a saying “fei long zai long ”(long was the most dominating figure in the heaven). “Long” also was referred to one of the four miraculous and powerful animals in the living world by Liji. Liyun ①. When China was in the period of Shang Dynasty (1562? -1066BC), “long” had begun to be printed or craved on the vase, bronze ware and jewelry, etc, according to the report of Archaeology published in the last century. People at that time, honoring “long” as their “almighty God”, hoped that printing or craving the image of it on the daily necessities can bring them good fortune and luck.
As time went by when China stepped into the Qing Dynasty (221-206BC), the culture of “long ”began to develop quickly .In Han Dynasty (Xi Han Dynasty—206BC -23AD, Dong Han Dynasty—25AD -220AD), according to the mythology, there was a saying, “long sheng Gao Zu”. That means Gao Zu (a famous king in Chinese history) was given birth by “long”. The king from Tang Dynasty (618-907) on, set it to exclusively use by the imperial’ s, making that image the national emblem of the federal Chinese empire. They calling themselves “zhen long tian zi” (they were chosen by the destiny and he was the dominator of the world), affix “long” to every things used by them or relating to them. For example : “long ti” —-health of an emperor ；“long ting”----imperial court; “long pao ”---imperial robe； “long chuang ”----the emperor’s bed [1]. Up to the Qing Dynasty (1616-1911), the country preferred to use “long” as a symbol printed on their national flags.
Up till now, “long” is still superior to any of the mythological animal in people’s mind. We have a great number of lakes, places, using the Chinese character “long” as their names. We have the traditional stamps, coins, and dishes, created by the image of “long”. In literature, we call our country “dong fang ju long” (It means we consider our country as supervised and universal as “long” in our traditional culture in East Asia.) Also in the profound Chinese word-formation system, we can find a great amount of phrases, which consists of the Chinese character “long”. For example, “long feng cheng xiang, sheng long huo hu, long teng hu yue” [2]. Chinese people would like to use these expressions, especially in Spring Festival (It is Jan 1st in Chinese Luna calendar, the most important festival in Chinese mind), in order to show their beautiful wishes toward the future, hoping that the society will be prosperous and they have good luck. And also there is a phrase, called “wo hu cang long” which have the same Chinese name with the famous movie: Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon. “Long” here refers to the talented people .We also have the expression “long men diao che”. That is the portal jib crane in English. Here is also a reflection of the “long” image: strong, powerful body structure and almighty creature. We can say the content of “long” is the core of Chinese 5000 years’ culture.
[1] These four words’ translation were quoted from The Contemporary Chinese Dictionary - Chinese to English version. They are “long ti(龙体)” . “long ting（龙廷）”， “long pao（ 龙袍）”， “long chuang（龙床） ”
[2] That is “龙凤呈祥，生龙活虎，龙腾虎跃” written in Chinese .
Article From: http://blog.sina.com.cn/u/3f6e88c40100047c www.loong.cn
