Chapter THREE: The Varieties of Dragons

To the majority of people the word “dragon” denotes one animal only. There are, however, at least eight species of animals which bear this name. These are the Lung Wang, the Shen Lung, the Li Lung, the Chiao Lung, the Ying Lung, the Chiu Lung, the Tsao Lung, and the Tu Lung. They all belong to the genus dragon (Lung), but each has one or more characteristics which differentiates it from the others. For example, the Li Lung, or Chih Lung, as it is also named, has and is the only species which possesses wings. It is, however, but one of these species, the Shen Lung, which will be considered at this time. Of the eight varieties this is the one best known. The others may be dismissed with a word. Dr. Williams, in his “Middle Kingdom,” mentions only three varieties and says that these are respectively dragons of the sky, of the sea, and of marshes. However, it seems that the Chinese are not generally accustomed to make such a classification. They rather consider that the one species, Shen Lung, controls and operates in all of these three spheres. Most of the other varieties are minor creatures which are practically unknown and have slight bearing upon this study. The one exception to this rule is the Lung Wang, or dragon king. This species differs from the others in that its members possess a dragon’s head upon a human body. By some this dragon is said to answer to Neptune in Western mythology. Each ocean has a dragon king. The members of this species differ from those of the one in which we are the most interested in that dragon kings rarely grow old and never die. The remaining varieties are all quite secondary and practically never appear in any form of art. These are mentioned only occasionally in Chinese literature. This article will therefore be confined to an account of the Shen Lung, or spirit dragon, the real dragon, the dragon which has held China in its spell since the days of Yao and Shun.

All true dragons are of two kinds: those which are such by birth and those which become dragons by transformation from fish of the carp species. The transformed variety become dragons by leaping up the waters of a certain cataract upon a western mountain stream. Large numbers of carp swim once each year, we learn, to this waterfall known as the “Dragon’s Gate.” Here under the cataract they flounder about, jumping and springing up out of the swirling waters; a few of them succeed in getting over the falls to the higher waters above. Those which are successful in this effort become dragons. After the story of this strange occurrence became known to the public, it was incorporated into the life of the people in a popular saying, and scholars who succeeded in passing the great triennial literary examinations were said to have “passed the Dragon Gate.” The use of this figure was doubtless to illustrate the difficulty of passing the examinations, for it implied that it was as difficult a task for a man to succeed at these examinations as it was for the carp to leap up over the falls. This figure has, in addition, the happy inference that even as the carp, an ordinary fish, might become a mighty dragon, just so by this supreme effort a scholar might become a master of arts, thus placing the value of the transformation on a very high scale.

One ancient authority tells us that there is a class of these great saurians which are known as “lazy dragons.” These do not like to exert themselves in the task of directing clouds which carry rain over the surface of the earth. They sometimes make themselves small in size, drop to the surface of the earth and hide in trees, under roofs of houses, and even in the clothing of unsuspecting countrymen. The Thunder God, learning of their desertion from their posts of duty, sends his messengers to search for them and when he discovers their location, kills them with thunderbolts during an electric storm, after the manner of Zeus. This explains to many an unsophisticated man the frequent destruction of life and property during thunderstorms. An epithet that in some parts of the country is often hurled at lazy people is “Lan Lung,” or “lazy dragon.”