The dragon as known in Asia is not the wild and almost gruesome creature depicted in the stories of medieval Europe.
Instead, the Chinese dragon is full of wisdom, strength, and goodness. It is said the dragon can be found in the unclimbable mountains, or deep in the unfathomed sea. When active, he can be found in the storm clouds flying high above.
Of course, he is also known as the god of water, so the clouds and sea are home to him.
The dragon can grab lightning with his claws and the roar of a hurricane is really the voice of the dragon.
He is the chief of all scaled animals, and is described in ancient writings this way:
The head of a camel, horns of a deer, eyes of a rabbit, ears of a bull, neck of a snake, belly of a frog, scales of a koi fish (carp), claws of a hawk, and palms of a tiger.
These are the nine "resemblances" of a dragon - one of the reasons that 9 is seen as "the number of the dragon".
The official Romanized Chinese for dragon is "long" but in older English books it's sometimes spelled "lung". Both of these spellings don't tell you the true vowel sound which is really like the English word "oh".
More Dragon Info:
In Chinese culture, the dragon represents power and for many generations, only the emperor could dare to wear the symbol of a dragon on their clothing.
If you hang a dragon calligraphy scroll on your wall, it indicates that you are strong and powerful. A great gift for a corporate executive with a chip on his shoulder - lol.
This is probably the most popular Chinese character for tattoos these days.
You'll see it on the shoulders of pro-basketball players, and on the hips of pop
star divas. Of course, half of them have no idea what this symbol means,
and the other half incorrectly think it directly means "warrior" or "power".
Of course, long before it became a tattoo staple, the mythological dragon roamed the earth - at least in the legends and minds of Asian people.
The history of the dragon is hidden deep in myth and history. Drawings and symbols of this mythological animal can be traced back to prehistoric tribal peoples of China. Evidence of the dragon's importance in Chinese culture can be traced to dragon figures and other artifacts unearthed from the Yin Dynasty (3000 years ago).
This is the character for dragon in Chinese, old Korean Hanja, and Japanese Kanji.
The dragon is the creature of myth and legend that dominates Chinese, Japanese, and even European folklore. In China, the dragon is the symbol of the Emperor, strength and power, and the Chinese dragon is known as the god of water.
From the Chinese Zodiac, if you were born in the year of the Dragon, you . . .
Have a strong body and spirit. Are full of energy. Have vast goals. Have a deep level of self-awareness. Will do whatever you can to "save face".
This is an alternate form of dragon. Still pronounced the same in Chinese, Japanese, and Korean.
This particular Kanji is often associated as an imperial symbol as well as representing the mythical Asian dragon. You may have seen it on the chest or flag of the emperor in old Japanese and Chinese movies.
Note: I would rate this as a non-universal alternate form. The other dragon character is by far more common, and universally understood.
We strongly recommend if you are looking for the symbol of dragon.
This is the movie title of the Kung Fu epic that was very popular in the west a few years back. The title is actually a re-ordering of an ancient Chinese idiom that refers to undiscovered talents.
The movie was one of the most popular Chinese foreign films to ever debut in the USA, but received a lukewarm reception in China.
Note: This can be pronounced in Korean, but it's not a commonly-used term.
The Spirit of the Dragon Horse
lóng mǎ jīng shén
This is an old phrase that is used to wish someone good health and success combined as a great compliment.
The meaning is "The vigor and spirit of the legendary dragon-horse". These four characters are often accompanied by four more which mean, "...and the power and prestige of the tiger". Here we are just offering the first part which is considered the short version.
By giving a wall scroll like this to someone, you were either wishing or telling them that they have an amazing quality. There is also a suggestion of good health - at least anyone with the vigor of a dragon horse, would seem to also be in good health.
Note: In Japanese, this would be read as the spirit of 坂本龍馬 (Sakamoto_Ryōma), a beloved rebel who help abolish the old Japanese feudal system. This can be confusing, so I am declaring this phrase to be Chinese only.
The Spirit of the Dragon Horse, the Power of a Tiger.
lóng mǎ jīng shén hǔ hǔ shēng wēi
Characters shown above are read vertically, starting from the right
This is an old phrase that is used to wish someone great health and success combined as a great compliment.
The meaning is "The vigor and spirit of the legendary dragon-horse, and the power and prestige of the tiger".
By giving a wall scroll like this to someone, you were either wishing or telling them that they have these qualities. There is also a suggestion of good health - at least anyone with the vigor of a dragon horse, would seem to also be in good health.
Dragon and Phoenix Brings Luck
lóng fèng chéng xiáng
This is often seen at weddings and other celebrations in China. It suggests that he dragon and phoenix will bring you auspicious tidings.
The first character is dragon.
The second is phoenix.
The third is presents or brings.
And the last means auspicious, propitious, or luck.
This is a list of the Chinese characters for the five animals of Shaolin Kung Fu in a comfortable order (meaning that they are in the proper order and will simply "feel right" to a Chinese person who views this arrangement).
This means the spirit of the dragon and tiger. It speaks to the vitality and vigor that is the nature of these two creatures.
Beyond "spirit", the second two characters can also mean mind, soul, or heart. Therefore, you can also say this means "Heart of the Dragon and Tiger", etc.
This is often titled as "Ryukoseishin" in many Japanese martial arts.
You might think this title is in reverse, but actually this is the original idiom. The movie Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon was actually a play on words or order reversal of this old Chinese idiom.
The meaning is that both the tiger and dragon have amazing talents, but if they are out of view, you may have not discovered them. It can be said of someone with amazing ability that keeps that ability hidden.
Added by special request of a customer. This phase is natural in Chinese, but it is not a common or ancient title.
The first character is dragon. The second is a possessive modifier (like making "dragon" into "dragon's"). The third character means home (but in some context can mean "family" - however, here it would generally be understood as "home").
The first character means gold or golden. The second and third characters hold the meaning of auspiciousness and good luck. the fourth character is dragon. The fifth is a possessive modifier (like making "dragon" into "dragon's"). The last character means home (but in some context can mean "family" - however, here it would generally be understood as "home").
Note: The word order is different than the English title, because of grammar differences between English and Chinese. This phrase sounds very natural in Chinese in this character order. If written in the English word order, it would sound very strange and lose its impact in Chinese.
Note: Korean pronunciation is included above, but this has not been reviewed by a Korean translator.
This literally means "little dragon" or "young dragon". This is often used as a given name in Chinese. In fact, Bruce Lee's real given name is "Little Dragon".
This is not the most common thing to say in Chinese, but it is grammatically correct and a cool title.
The first character means "supernatural or saintly". The second is "dragon". The last two mean protection. You could also translate this as something like "Protected by the Dragon God" or more closely "Holy Dragon".
Many people have no idea that Bruce Lee had a "real" Chinese name. In mainland China and Hong Kong he is known as "Li Xiao-Long". He kept his family name pronunciation (Li = Lee). This is a common family name that also means "plum".
His given name "Xiao-Long" literally means "little dragon". This is why you often see the character for dragon associated with Bruce Lee on various posters etc.
For a pronunciation lesson, the "X" in Romanized Chinese is pronounced like a "sh" sound but with your tongue at the bottom of your mouth. The vowel sound in "Long" is like the English "oh", not like the "ah" sound in the English word "long".
If you are a big Bruce Lee fan, you should know this information, and you should have this wall scroll hanging in your room or martial arts studio.
Note: Japanese use these same exact Chinese characters / Kanji to write Bruce Lee's real name (with different pronunciation - which is a bit like how the name "Bruce Lee" sounds in English).
The scroll that I am holding in this picture is a "medium size" 4-character wall scroll. As you can see, it is a great size to hang on your wall. (We also offer custom wall scrolls in larger sizes)
Professional calligraphers are getting to be hard to find these days. Instead of drawing characters by hand, the new generation in China merely type roman letters into their computer keyboards and pick the character that they want from a list that pops up.
There is some fear that true Chinese calligraphy may become a lost art in the coming years. Many art institutes in China are now promoting calligraphy programs in hopes of keeping this unique form
of art alive.
Even with the teachings of a top-ranked calligrapher in China, my calligraphy will never be good enough to sell. I will leave that to the experts.
The same calligrapher who gave me those lessons also
attracted a crowd of thousands and a TV crew as he created characters over
6-feet high. He happens to be ranked as one of the top 100 calligraphers
in all of China. He is also one of very few that would actually attempt
such a feat.
The following table is only helpful for those studying Chinese (or Japanese), and perhaps helps search engines to find this page when someone enters Romanized Chinese or Japanese
If you have not set up your computer to display Chinese, the characters in this table probably look like empty boxes or random text garbage.
This is why I spent hundreds of hours making images so that you could view the characters in the "dragon" listings above.
If you want your Windows computer to be able to display Chinese characters you can either head to your Regional and Language options in your Win XP control panel, select the [Languages] tab and click on [Install files for East Asian Languages]. This task will ask for your Win XP CD to complete in most cases. If you don't have your Windows XP CD, or are running Windows 98, you can also download/run the simplified Chinese font package installer from Microsoft which works independently with Win 98, ME, 2000, and XP. It's a 2.5MB download, so if you are on dial up, start the download and go make a sandwich.
Some people may refer to this entry as Kanji, Characters, in Mandarin Chinese, Characters, in Chinese Writing, in Japanese Writing, in Asian Writing, Ideograms, Chinese symbols, Hieroglyphics, Glyphs, in Chinese Letters, Hanzi, in Japanese Kanji, Pictograms, in the Chinese Written-Language, or in the Japanese Written-Language.
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if you are looking for the symbol of dragon.
Many people have no idea that Bruce Lee had a "real" Chinese name. In mainland China and Hong Kong he is known as "Li Xiao-Long". He kept his family name pronunciation (Li = Lee). This is a common family name that also means "plum".
