Magnificent, marvelous—legendary.

Undulating as gracefully through the vast  sky above as the watery depths below, the Chinese dragon is one of the world’s most  globally recognized monsters.

Their behavior could be described as benevolent—but their  appearance can still inspire fear and awe.

These dragons, or long, as they’re  called in Chinese Mythology, have been a crucial component of religion,  culture, mythology, and folklore in China for thousands of years.

The dragon is one of the Four  Benevolent Animals in Chinese mythology and one of the twelve members of the Chinese zodiac.

And  those are only small parts of their influence.

Dragons played a major role in China’s history.

They were both creators and destroyers,  and controlled the elements.

So what was it about the Chinese Dragon that  made it such a central figure in Chinese culture?

I'm Dr. Emily Zarka, and this is Monstrum The dragon was born in China a long time ago,  and has appeared throughout ancient and modern history.

Cave carvings in the Shanxi province  depicting the creature date back to 8,000 BCE.

A Jade Dragon discovered from the Hongshan culture  dates to around 6,000 years ago.

And dragon heads appear on oracle bones from 1300 BCE.

More  recently, Disney’s Shang-Chi gave us a beautiful (and mythologically accurate) representation of  the creature.

That’s a pretty solid track record.

Wang Fu, a Chinese historian and philosopher  in the Eastern Han Dynasty wrote that the dragons’ unique appearance is actually a  composite of many different animal features.

And the list is long!

Their heads are the same  shape as a camel, their ears are like a bull, and they regard us with eyes similar to a hare  or a murderous demon, depending on the source.

Atop their majestic heads grow the antlers of  a stag.

They have the writhing body of a snake and the well-armored belly of a clam.

They have  the feet of a tiger and the enormous talons of an eagle.

Finally, covering their whole body are  the protective scales of a carp.

Some scholars believe that these various attributes evolved  out of the influence of the disparate tribes that eventually unified into the China we know  today.

Others see them as emblematic of desirable human characteristics or as a representative  amalgamation of ancient spiritual totems.

Some traditions claim that Chinese dragons conceal  a large pearl in their throat or chin.

The pearl, often depicted in art as a glowing  white disk in a dragon’s claw or mouth, may represent the sun, the moon, or the  earth.

Or maybe it’s just a giant jewel.

Regardless, the dragon’s ability to hold  the precious orb represents immense power.

Even the number of scales on the Chinese  dragon’s body carries important significance.

The number is said to be 117 which in traditional  Chinese philosophy and religion represents a perfect balance of yin (negative essence) and  yang (positive essence).

Because of this natural duality, while usually compassionate,  the dragon can be malicious as well.

Or even just really invested in politics.

In  the 17th century, scholar Xie Zhaozhe’s text The Five Assorted Offerings tells the story of  his own encounter with dragons.

According to Xie, while traveling by sea at 10-years-old with  his uncle on a diplomatic mission, they were suddenly plagued by wind, rain, hail, thunder,  and lightning.

Three dragons surrounded them.

At first, everyone was terrified  of the extraordinary creatures.

But an elder remarked that they must  be there to hear the Emperor’s message.

They interact with gods and  immortals in the heavens.

Even without wings, they can fly through the  air.

They are shapeshifters, capable of taking on any size or shape—including human form.

They can  turn invisible at will, are highly intelligent, in some stories they can even speak.

The deep meanings attributed to Chinese dragons are ancient, so much so that their  exact origins are largely lost to the past.

The evidence that we do have, however,  suggests dragons were a universal facet in all early cultures in China even though  traditions and spiritual significance differed.

In The Guideways through Mountains and  Seas, an encyclopedic tome and Chinese bestiary penned  between the 4th and 1st century BCE, the dragon appeared as a nature  deity known as the God of Thunder, who uses his own belly to drum up echoing booms.

There were even so-called “Dragon cults,” religious groups that worshipped dragons  and gave offerings to appease them.

As aquatic, semi-divine beings dragons control  rainstorms, hail, wind, tornados, floods, and all bodies of water.

Dragons helped explain the rain  cycle during the Song dynasties and were thus also said to bring thunder and  lightning.

This was an important development because if humans could summon dragons, then they  had a semblance of control over rain as well.

During this same period, paintings  of dragons dramatically increased.

In Ancient Chinese cosmology there are four kinds  of dragons: the Celestial Dragon, Dragon of Hidden Treasure, the underground or underworld dragon  and spiritual Dragon who control rain and winds.

But in other traditions, the taxonomy expands  to nine, an auspicious number in Chinese numerology—and, interestingly, the same number  of animals the dragon borrows its features from.

Joining the classification system are the Winged  Dragon , the Horned Dragon, the Coiling Dragon, the Yellow Dragon, and the Dragon King.

The Dragon King concept was only introduced after the arrival of Buddhism in China.

When Buddhism came to the area, dragons were adopted as a symbol of enlightenment as well as royalty.

Buddhism was then imported from China to Japan around the  7th century, and dragons came along with it.

Dragons were later incorporated into Shintoism as  well.

The Shinto god Susanoo was believed to have killed an eight-headed dragon—which certainly  seems like a monster-slayer story to me.

In Chinese mythology, when the four poles that  held up the sky collapsed one of the disastrous consequences was great flooding brought on by  the Black Dragon, a malevolent creature who could only be stopped by the mother goddess Nüwa.

But other dragons are not so monstrous; after all, one of those world-building pillars  was constructed by the Green Dragon, one of the deities of creation.

In yet  another creation story from the Bai peoples, when the world was created, a great  golden dragon lay in slumber under the sea.

When one of two warring suns dropped into  the ocean, the sea began to boil.

Awoken and enraged by this, the golden dragon swallowed the  sun.

It began to burn him, eventually bursting from his chest and becoming clouds, trees,  flowers, grass, and animals of all kinds.

So to sum it up, not all Chinese dragons are  the same, they serve different purposes.

Some are celestial, others belong to the river, some  protect treasure, act as deities, or serve as a connection to the spiritual.

Oh, and they can have  human offspring–or more specifically, emperors.

This is one reason why Chinese dragons are  intimately linked to imperial history.

During the Han dynasty to Qing dynasty period, the  great and powerful dragon became associated with emperors as a way to show the rulers had  been divinely chosen.

The first Han emperor, known as the Yellow Emperor, was said to be the  offspring of a human mother and a divine Dragon.

This supposed heritage trickled down to all  elements of the emperor’s authority, from their robes to their beds.

Yellow or golden dragons  were particularly revered by imperial powers.

And the five-clawed dragon became an official  imperial symbol in the 14th century.

Their claws represent the emperor’s power over the five  elements: wood, fire, earth, metal, and water.

Eventually, everyone else was banned from wearing  any clothing that pictured a five-clawed dragon.

That’s not to say that all stories of  dragons were based on mythology, animism, or legend.

Ancient animals likely played a role  as well.

Yep, we’re talking dragons and fossils.

As early as China’s Jin Dynasty, which lasted  from 265 to 317 CE, we find a text mentioning the discovery of what were believed to be  dragon bones in what’s now Sichuan Province.

A lot of the sediment in this area dates back  to the middle and late Jurassic period, and the area is full of fossils.

Remains of dinosaurs  like the predatory theropods were found there, as well as a massive sauropod with an extremely  long neck that could grow up to 25 meters long.

Dragons inhabit exotic spaces: mysterious watery  depths, expansive skies, and heavenly realms.

Their powers are frightening but inspirational, and they’re beautiful in their  strength and otherworldliness.

Luck, power, wisdom, bravery, strength—Chinese  dragons inspired everything from religious practices to the national emblem, countless  astounding artworks and architectural marvels to the globally famous dragon dance.

The  creature is inseparable from the history of the Chinese people.

To embrace the Chinese  dragon is to celebrate Chinese culture.