Chapter NINE: The Hold of the Dragon on China

The word “dragon” occupies a prominent place in the common phraseology of the country. Some illustrations of this fact are as follows:

Deaf people are called “lung,” a character formed by the combination of the dragon and ear characters signifying a person with ears like a dragon (which we are informed is deaf).

The asparagus plant is known as “dragon’s beard grass.”

The gentian flower is called the “dragon’s gall.”

A common variety of pine is known as “dragon’s tail pine,” from the supposed similarity of its branches to the tail of the dragon.

Amaryllis lilies and also the blossoms of a certain locust tree are called “dragon’s claw flowers.” This is no doubt on account of the shape of the flower clusters.

Fire engines are called “water dragons.”

Locomotives and water faucets are commonly designated as “dragon heads.”

The keel of a ship goes by the name of the “dragon bone.”

Water spouts are known as “dangling dragons.” The name was probably given them by junkmen and fishermen who considered these to be the tails of dragons suspended from the clouds.

Spirited horses are said to have “dragon dispositions.”

Betrothal certificates are known as “dragon-phœnix papers.”

Wedding cakes are called “dragon-phœnix cakes.”

The published list of Master of Arts graduates was known as the “Dragon-Tiger Register.”

A large number of cities, prefectures, rivers, and mountains have the character “dragon” incorporated into their names. One of the largest rivers of Manchuria and one of its three provinces are named Hei Lung Kiang (Black Dragon River), because it is related that a large black dragon once made its appearance in its waters.

One of the most famous mountains of the province of Kiangsi is known as the “Dragon-Tiger Mountain.”

Perhaps the most popular kind of tea in China is the “Dragon’s Well Tea.” This received its designation from the fact that its original home was in a valley of that name. Among the hills on the farther shores of Hangchow’s beautiful West Lake is nestled a monastery, on the estate of which is a pool of crystal-clear water. From the depths of this “well” a dragon was once seen to rise. The “Dragon’s Well” is now the name of the monastery and also of the surrounding hills. Tea of this name, though it may never have grown near Hangchow, is as highly prized in distant Szechwan and in other distant parts of China as it is in the capital of Chekiang province.

In the excellent new encyclopedia recently issued by the Commercial Press, there are no less than 257 references to the dragon. Fifty-one of these are the names of cities or villages, twenty-four of mountains and rivers, and fifteen the names of flora of various genera.

The emperor’s most reverential title was “The True Dragon,” and in harmony with that idea the word “dragon” in the adjectival sense was used in names of all that had to do with his life and position. As an example of this his throne was the “dragon’s seat,” his hands the “dragon’s claws,” the pen he used was the “dragon’s brush,” the imperial robes were called “dragon’s garments,” and the imperial glance was known as “dragon’s eyes.”

The “Dragon Tablet” was the name given to the imperial tablet, which was worshiped during the Ching dynasty in every large temple and monastery in the land, and even in Mohammedan mosques. The inscription on the tablet read as follows: “To the reigning Emperor. May he live ten thousand years, ten thousand years, ten thousand times ten thousand years.” The tablet received its name from the fact that it represented the Emperor, “The True Dragon,” and because it bore at its top a dragon’s head.

One insignia of official rank, until the recent Revolution, was the picture-square embroidered in gold and silver thread and worn on the front and back of official robes. The squares worn by civil officers bore the pictures of birds, while those of military officials were decorated with the pictures of animals; each rank and grade having its corresponding variety of bird or beast. The emperor, the princes, and the prime minister were allowed the special privilege of wearing the dragon on one of these embroidered squares.

The round disk on the Chinese Dragon Flag, which is often pictured before the mouth of the dragon, is explained by some as a pearl, by others as a huge spider metamorphosed into a ball. We are repeatedly told in fables that dragons have a peculiar fondness for teasing spiders. A more satisfactory theory, however, is that the disk represents the sun. According to this explanation, the dragon is not trying to devour that heavenly body, as some would lead us to suppose, but is gazing with a great longing, for it desires to become like the sun in brilliance.

In referring to the Dragon Flag, the fact is worthy of notice that although this design appeared upon Chinese military banners through many centuries, the selection of the dragon emblem as a national insignia was of comparatively recent date. It is probable that the custom of foreign nations of using national emblems had a large part to play with the adoption of a national flag.

There is a feeling among many friends of China, and even among a few Chinese as well, that the effect of the Revolution and the passing of the Dragon Flag will very shortly kill out the dragon idea. This the writer believes is impossible. A belief that has gripped the nation for over forty centuries is not to be shaken even by a great revolution, which, though cataclysmic in itself, yet in relation to the ages which have passed, is little more than a ripple upon the surface of the sea of time. The dragon is neither a symbol of the Manchu dynasty nor a type of absolute monarchy, and has nothing in common with either. The idea is distinctly a heritage of the Chinese race itself, and as such it will probably live as long as this people. It will survive at least until a generation after Western science has permeated and dominated every seaside village, every mountain hamlet, and every inland city, to the remotest bounds and limits of this vast Republic.