The comparative study of Long and dragon英语毕业论文.doc

The comparative study of Long and dragon1. Introduction Chinese people like talking about “Long”, and often consider themselves as “the descendants of the Long”. But if we talk to our friends from western countries that this year is “the year of dragon”, they will be surprised, even feel uneasy. The reason is that the legendary Long, found in the ancient folklore of many cultures, not only occupies a special position in Chinese mytheology, but also is deeply rooted in the countrys culture with a very different symbolic meaning, and it is not the dragon in western peoples opinion. What is “Long” and “dragon”? They are two animals in China and western countries. Long became the Chinese totem more than 7,000 years ago. It is a magical animal in Chinese ancient legend, with long body, scales and claws, which walk and fly, even can swim. Dragon is often considered as evil in the west. It looks like lizard, large, fierce, and has wings and a long tail. It is usually portrayed as having wings and can fly, and often it will breathe fire. Culture is as the carrier of the thought. Sometimes different cultural backgrounds and social values will bring about considerable discrepancy in understanding and communication. In the Chinese culture, “Long” symbolizes power，strength and fortune, while in the English culture “Dragon” symbolizes savage, evil and monster. What is “Long” and “dragon”? What is the detailed difference between “Long” in Chinese and “dragon” in English in view of culture? Is there any change now? These questions make a focus of the discussion in this essay through exploring the connotative meaning of the word “Long” and “Dragon”.2. What is Long and Dragon?2.1 Long in Chinese imaginationThe Chinese word for dragon is spelled out in roman characters as Long. More than 7000 years ago, Long, like Indian Nagas, was often associated with water and rain and lakes and rivers. The origin of the Long is the point at issue. Some say that Long originates from the loach; others say it originates from the snake, still others, from the crocodile or the lizard and so on. If we want to make this issue to be clarified, we should talk about the imagery of Long first. The explanation of Long from the dictionary of Modern Chinese is a magical animal in our ancient legend, with long body, scales and claws, which can walk and fly, even swim. To the Chinese, the imperial Long, is considered to be primary of four benevolent spiritual animals, the other three being the phoenix the unicorn and the tortoise. “Compendium of Materia Meclica” by Li Shizhen shows that Long is described visually as a composite of parts from nine animals: the horns of a deer, the head of a camel the eyes of a devil, the neck of a snake, the abdomen of a large cockle, the scales of a carp, the claws of an eagle, the paws of a tiger, and the ears of an ox. “Most of the time long is shown to have a liontype mane around its neck, on its chin and on each elbow. They have two antlers-type horns decorating their wide-mouthed heads, and two long “feeler” whiskers spreading out from their snouts. Long has five toes on each foot while Korean or Indonesian longs have four and Japanese Longs have three. To explain this phenomenon, Chinese legend states that although Long originates in China, the further away from China Long go, the fewer toes it has, and Longs only exist in China, Korea, Indonesia, and Japan because if they traveled further they would have no toes to continue. Long is shown in the colors of blue, black, white, red or yellow. They are associated with a pearl of wisdom, either pursuing it, or held in the mouth under the chin, or in the claws. This glowing pearl is said to be their source of supernatural powers and, not surprisingly, long protect it fiercely. It is not impossible that this symbolism arose from the alligators fierce protection of its nest and careful attention to its hatchlings.” (Yuandan ,2002:22) The imagery of Long is a composite of parts from nine animals, “Long is one kind of totem” Yiduo Wen considered. It is a composite of several different totems, a mixed totem appeared because of the annexation of a number of tribes.2.2 Dragon in western peoples imagination“Western dragons look different from Chinese longs. From the view of the word resource, the word dragon forms from the Greek word drakon, which means, “to see, to look at”.” (杨春梅, 2000: 45) Now look at the explanation in the dictionaries: “1.a large fierce, imaginary reptile usu. able to fly and breathe (The dictionary of Contemporary American English, p .431) 2. An imaginary monster that was supposed to be a huge winged reptile, often spouting fire. (Websters Dictionary of American English, Random House, Inc. FLTRP, p .415) 3. A large imaginary animal that has wings and a long tail and can breathe out fire. (The Dictionary of Contemporary English, p .408). 4. A large angry, imaginary animal usu. Able to fly and breathe fire. (The Basic Dictionary of American English, p .184). 5. Imaginary animal with wings and claws, able to breathe out fire. (Oxford Advanced Learner English Chinese Dictionary, Extended 4th edition, The Commercial Press, p .437). 6. A large, fierce, imaginary animal, usu. Represented with wings, a long tail, and fire coming out of its mouth. (Cambridge Dictionary of English, Am .p .259).” (赵培员 武灵, 2003: 26 ) In The United Kingdom Encyclopedia: The dragon of the ancient Babylonia Egyptian and Greek is Hydra, some of them have nine, or hundreds of heads, even the new one will replace the cut one. Another image is chrnera, the head of lion, the body of the goat and the tail of viper; even some have three heads -the heads of lion, goat and viper. Ra or Re is also considered to be the dragon Egyptian . In fact he is Apollo, the face of people, the head of sparrow hawk, and there is sun on the head. The dragon killed by Beowulf looks like a snake with wings, can swim and protrude the water. In the Bible there are several images of dragon in the Bible: “a great red dragon, with seven heads and ten horns, and seven diadems on his heads. His tail swept dawn a third of the stars of heaven and threw them to the earth.” (Holy Bible: chapter 12 of Revelation) “It had great iron teeth and was devouring, breaking in pieces and stamping what was left with its feet, it had ten horns. There were eyes like human eyes in this horn and a mouth speaking arrogantly”. (Holy Bible: chapter 7 of Daniel)From above we know that the main features of the western dragon are that an animal in the legend or imagery, looks like lizard, large, fierce, and has wings and a long tail. “It is usually portrayed as having wings and can fly, and often it will breathe fire. Some breeds of these dragons have been said to be shape changers and others in mythology have the chameleon power to change color of their background. They are sometimes displayed as having a spade or spiked tail. They eat but once a month on a sheep or ox, or even a human (myth says they prefer virgin maidens). They can be any color, or many colors, depending on the breed of the dragon.” (Yuandan, 2002: 23)2.3 Comparison of their appearancesFrom above introduction, we can notice some similarities between Long and dragon.First, it is obvious that both of their antitype is snake; Second, both of them have scales, have claws and can fly, and have the ability of guarding something. Chinese people like worshiping of Long as god, from which point we can think that our Chinese people consider Long could guard them.Third, the reasons of appearance are both the attitude of evading the snake. People are afraid of the snake, so they produce all kinds of thoughts to evade it and then the images of Long and Dragon begin to take their place in the world.Forth, Chinese legend states that the main feature of Long is the body of snake. And in westerns legend that dragon is the monster like the snake.However, therere great discrepancies not to be ignored:(1)The body of Long is longer than dragon. The dividing line of Longs body and tail is not obvious and Long has no wings, except Ying Long. (2)The Chinese Long is often associated with water and river and lakes, while the Western dragon is more associated with fireit breathes flame, for instance. It is said that Long has the ability to do almost everything. They can become long or short, small or large, dark or bright, and can fly into the clouds and also can live under the water in the fall. Traditionally, Long are considered as the guardian spirit of rainfalls in Chinese culture. They have the power to decide where and when to have rain and it is said that some of the worst floods in Chinese history were caused because a mortal had upset long, while the western dragon couldnt do these things. (3)Dragon in ancient western country often contains several heads, while Long in our China often only has one head.3. Long and Dragons culture 3.1 The culture of Long The Chinese Long is a mythical creature, it is a potent symbol of auspicious power in Chinese folklore and art and it is not as the European model of destruction but are instead life giving honored and very powerful.“Therere nine major types of Chinese Longs including: the horned Long, the winged Long, the celestial Long which supports and protects the mansions of the gods, the underground Long which controls rivers and water on the earth, the spiritual Long which generates wind and rain for the benefit of mankind, the Long of hidden treasures which keeps, guard over concealed wealth, the legendary Emperor Fuxi with the elements of writing. The last of the nine is the Long king, which rules over one of the four seas, those of the east, south, west and north. Their names appear in the pilgrimage to the west, were. Ao Chin, Ao Kuang, Ao Jun, and Ao Shun.” (Yuandan ,2002: 24) There is no indication that these Kings directly, communicated with mundane humas. But their ministers are presumably all longs apparently done.“In the minds of the early Chinese, Long was the God or the messengers to the God. They could realize will or ideals. In the ancient China nobody doubted the existence of Long.” (Yuandan ,2002:25) They believed that Long were the ones who talked directly to the Gods. People showed great respect of Long, including the emperor. Since the Han Dynasty, the meaning of Long was beyond the original totems meaning and began to be used to symbolize emperor. Chinas first emperor, Fu Hsi was said to have a Longs tail and his successor, Shen Nung, was said that Long was his father. Kept in the Social Economy Commentary Section of the Historical Records that Han Gaozus mother made a dream that she met a fairy when there was a lot of thunder and lighting during the storm, then a mythical flood Long was on her body. As a result she was pregnant and gave birth to Gaozu. Long, this unreal animal became the spiritual substance for a nation little by little. The emperor considered they were the real Long or the sons of Long. Their beds were called the Long beds, their chairs were called Long seats, and their dresses were called the Long robes. “Furthermore, Long became the sign on the national flag of the last feudal dynasty, the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911). It became the law that only the emperor could have Long displayed on his robes or illustrated on anything the emperor owned. It was usually a yellow Long thought to be the most superior of all other colored longs. If someone other than the emperor was caught wearing the symbol of Long, he / she was put to death. Nowadays there is still a legend of the carp. This legend says that the carps able to leap over the Dragon Gate would become dragons. Several waterfalls and cataracts in China are believed to be the locations of the Dragon Gate and this legend is an allegory of the drive and efforts needed to overcome obstacles. As a popular saying says, “the carp has leaped through the longs gate”, means success, especially for students who have passed their exams.” (Yuandan, 2002:25) The legend of the yellow emperor: the legend has it that the Huang Di (Yellow Emperor) used a snake for his coat of arms. Every time he conquered another tribe, he added his defeated enemys emblem of animals to his. Huang Di was immortalized into a Long that looks like his emblem. That explains why the Chinese Long looks like a combination of many animals. Also, since the Chinese consider Huang Di as their ancestor, they refer themselves as “the descendants of Long.”(Yuandan ,2002:24)However, there are also bad Longs in China, for instance, the Long in the Records of the Mountains and Rivers, depends on eating people to survive. In another legend, the Long Kings evil daughters and sisters drink human blood.In general Chinese Long is good. It symbolizes power, strength and fortune.3.2 Dragons culture in the WestWestern dragons arent necessarily evil-but they often are. First, lets see their images in the Bible: “He seized the dragon, that ancient serpent, who is the Devil and Satan, and bound him for a thousand years”;(Holy Bible ,chapter 20 of the Revelation) “King Nebuchadrezzar of Babylon has devoured me, he has crushed me; he has made me an empty vessel, he has swallowed me like a monster, he has filled his belly with my delicacies, he has spewed me out.” (Holy Bible, chapter 51 of the Jeremiah) “And his tail drew the third part of the stars of heaven, and did cast them to the earth, and the dragon stood before the woman which was ready to be delivered, for to devour her child as soon as it was born.” (Holy Bible, chapter 1 of the Revelation)Second, unlike Long that is so popular among our Chinese people, Dragon is so disgusting in the western culture. Dragon is a very ugly animal and everybody is disgusted with him. The dragon on symbolizes savage, evil and monster on the whole. Lets look at some famous dragons as portrayed in Western culture and their relationship with: St. George and dragon, Beowulf and the dragon, and Draco in the movie Dragon Heart. “Perhaps the most famous of the European dragons is the tale of St. Georges dragon. Saint George is known as the Patron Saint of England. He is originally a Roman Calvary officer who is known for his courage in war and he is a mighty sight on his white warhorse. A dragon appears at the village of Cappadocia and threatens to destroy the region. In the fear they first feed off the village sheep and then finally start feeding the maidens via a lottery until only the princess is left. She is tied to a stake and this is when George came by and killed the dragon.” (Yuandan, 2002:25)Beowulf is the oldest epic of the England. In it the dragon is a burner and a treasure guard. He breathes fire and the flames eat up the village because someone steels one golden cup. Finally Beowulf fight against him and end up in common ruin. In the Greek legends Ladon the drag