中西方龙文化差异对比研究

中西方龙文化差异对比研究A Contrastive Study on the Differences between Chinese andWestern Dragon Culture摘要上下数千年，龙已渗透了中国社会的各个方面，成为一种文化的凝聚和积淀。

现如今，龙文化已是中华民族文化的象征，中国人也因身为“龙的传人”而骄傲。

龙文化在中国传统文化中占有重要的地位，每一个致力于学习和传播中国文化的人都要对中国龙文化有一定的了解。

然而，在西方的文化中，龙却是邪恶的代表，是撒旦的化身。

尤其在二十世纪九十年代，西方人对于龙形象的误解。

但是由于中国的国际地位的提升，中西方文化的交流变得更多，使得西方人对于中国龙的形象有了更加深入的认识。

随着时间的变化，通过对于文学甚至电影中龙形象的了解，对于西方龙的认识也发生了改变。

因此本文从东西方龙的起源、形象及其象征意义入手，对东西方龙文化进行对比。

加强东西方文化的深入了解和探讨。

关键词：龙;起源;形象;象征意义AbstractUp and down for thousands of years, the Chinese dragon which penetrated all aspects of society has become a culture of accumulation and cohesion. And nowadays, dragon culture is a symbol of Chinese culture, what`s more, Chinese around the world, proudly proclaim themselves “the offspring of the dragon”. On the contrary, dragon in western culture is the representative of evil and the incarnation of Satan. What`s worse, westerner thinks that defeating the dragon is their mission. However, due to the promotion of China’s international status, there are more and more communication between Chinese and western culture. These interactions give western people opportunities to deeply understanding images of Chinese dragon. With the time goes by, Chinese people also have new recognition of western dragon through literature and movies. Because of these differences, this thesis tries to make a contrastive study on the differences between Chinese and western dragon culture from their origins, images and symbolic meanings. It also introduces the different recognition of different dragon cultures.Key words: Dragon;Origin;Image;Symbolic MeaningOutlineI. IntroductionII. Origins of DragonA. The DefinitionB. The ImageC. Different Symbolic Meanings of Dragon III. Different symbolize meanings of dragonA. Dragon in Proverbs and idioms1. Chinese dragon2. Western dragonB. Dragon in Myths and Legends1.Chinese dragon2.Western dragonC. Dragon in Movies1.Dragon in Chinese Movies2.Dragon in western MoviesD. The reasons for different dragon cultures Ⅳ. Different recognition of dragon cultureA. The western recognition of Chinese dragonB. The recognition of western dragon in China Ⅳ. ConclusionA Contrastive Study on the Differences between Chinese and WesternDragon CultureI. IntroductionFor thousands of years, the dragon has infiltrated all aspects of Chinese society and become a kind of culture and heritage. Dragon culture as an important part of Chinese traditional culture has deeply roots in Chinese culture. In the entire history of Chinese civilization, Dragon culture has been an integral part of its continuous development and improvement. Dragon, involved in the process of accumulation of western civilization, however, formed a distinctive dragon culture.Because of cultural differences, western people are different from Chinese people in understanding and using dragon images. Therefore, this thesis tries to compare and contrast the differences between western and Chinese dragon culture with an aim to allow people to truly understand the meaning of dragon culture in cross-culture communication.What’s more, the dragon culture still influences many aspects of western and Chinese society, such as literature, film and television works, clothing. Therefore, understanding the differences between Chinese and Western dragon culture contributes to understanding the different cultural backgrounds and knowing more implied meaning of the dragon. In addition, it’s better to exchange and communicate in cross-culture communication.II. Origins of DragonAs the most common animal in the legends, dragon does not actually exist, even none ever did exist; it is an imaginary animal. However, few people know the origins of both Chinese and western dragon accurately. This part tries to introduce the different origins of dragon through their different definitions and images.A. The DefinitionA dragon is a legendary creature, typically with serpentine or reptilian traits, that features in the myths of many cultures. There are two distinct cultural traditions of dragons: the European dragons and Chinese dragon.The word dragon entered the English language in the early 13th century from Old French dragon, which in turn comes from Latin draconem (nominative draco) meaning “huge serpent, dragon” from the Greek word, drakon (genitive drakontos) “serpent, giant seafish” .Western dragon also means a fiercely vigilant or intractable person or something dangerous.In Chinese culture, the dragon is the combination of many animals, a symbol of the totem worship in the primitive society. In ancient times, people could not have a reasonable explanation of most natural phenomena so they use natural animals as totems. And Chinese dragons traditionally symbolize potent and auspicious powers, particularly control water, rainfall, hurricane, and floods. The dragon is also a symbol of power, strength, and good luck for people who are worthy of it. With this, the Emperor of China usually used the dragon as a symbol of his imperial power and strength.B. The ImageFor Chinese dragons or western dragons, they have varied appearances. The paper will show their most representative images. As for western dragon, a mythical monster traditionally represented as a gigantic reptile having a lion claws and the tail of a serpent, wings, and a scaly skin. The earliest record of western dragon is William Tyndale’s The New Testament. It is a great red dragon with the image as that it has seven heads and ten horns and on its heads seven diadems; and its tail drew the third part of the stars of heaven; and cast them to the earth. It has a strong power that can breathe out fire. However, dragon in the Chinese history is a totem image. In Beijing, Beihai Park, there is a wall called “Nine-dragon Wall”. The dragon has 27 meters long,5 meters high, 1.2 meters thick. The Chinese dragon’s image combine camel’s or horse’s head, deer’s horns, rabbit’s eyes, bull’s ears, snake’s neck, clam’s belly, fish’s scales, hawk’s claws and tiger’s palms together. In addition, its mouth looks like an alligator’s mouth, horse’s manes and fish’s tail. All in all, its image most like a snake but has four claws. Dragon, an omnipotent animal, both in the air and underground can make clouds and bring them rain. The greatest difference between Chinese and western dragon image is that one has wings, but the other does not.III. Differences between Chinese and Western dragon cultureThousands years ago, western and Chinese ancestors respectively gave the dragon different symbolic meanings. The different symbolic meanings caused a lot of misunderstandings. Chinese introduced themselves “the descendants of the dragon”, however, the western dragon has different understanding of Chinese dragon and their own dragon images. Therefore, this part will describe the differences between Chinese and western dragon culture from proverbs, idioms, myths and legends and movies. Also, I will analysis the causes of different dragon cultures.A. Dragon in Proverbs and Idioms1.Chinese dragonThere are varied proverbs and idioms about Chinese dragon and western dragon. In China, most of dragon`s meanings are positive and inspiring. If a couple get married, Chinese will say “lóngfèngchéngxiáng (龙凤呈祥)” to bless them. Lóngfèngchéngxiáng is a phrase which means dragon and phoenix could bring bliss and auspiciousness. It can also be used as an adjective to describe the love between couples. If they have baby, people would like to bless the baby “shēnglónghuóhǔ (生龙活虎)” and “lóngmǎjīngshén (龙马精神)”. These two phrases exhibit that baby will be like the dragon and tiger full of energy and vigor. Also, in our country, most parents look forward their children to having successful career and life. This situationshould be called “wàngzǐchénglóng (望子成龙)”. What`s more, if their children find a good job or pass in university entrance examination, people call this situation “lǐyǘtiàolóngmén (鲤鱼跳龙门)”. It means a carp could finally be a dragon after its insistent efforts of leaping into the dragon gate. After their daughter grows up, they hope to find a son-in-law of high rank. To describe a respectable son-in-law, people usually use “chénglóngkuaìxǜ (乘龙快婿)” whose literal meaning is that a well-content son-in-law is just like riding a dragon and bringing happiness. If the son-in-law has an elegant handwriting, then the elegant handwriting can be called “Lóngfēifèngwǔ (龙飞凤舞)”. This phrase also means the generous mountains. Although the dragon always means auspicious and blissful things in Chinese culture, sometimes it is still not amiable and approachable to civilians. For example, when people encounter a hazardous places or situation, they often use the phrase “lóngtánhǔxuè (龙潭虎穴)” which means the deep pond and cave where a dragon and a tiger live can be easily used to describe.2.Western dragonOn the contrary, western dragon is regarded as evil, and its symbolic meaning are all derogative and negative. For example, if someone has got the “dragon”, he needs to brush his teeth, because here “dragon” just means bad breath. In another case, when you find a man wearing a pink skirt and blue heels with purple highs, you may want to “dragon” his outfit, or say, “That guy’s outfit is so ‘dragon’.” which means the outfit makes you feel sick. It is so disgusting. Dragon can refer to those impenetrable women vividly. For instance, “She is a real dragon. You`d better keep away from her.” “Dragon” in this sentence has a metaphor meaning of shrew. If you call a woman “dragon”, you mean that she is unpleasant and fierce. For example, “She is a bit of dragon around this place.” A “dragon lady” can be paraphrased as a woman behind the ruler. It means a woman whose identity is the wife of the ruler, and she has much great power just like a female dictator. In Chinese history, there are many descriptions of the “dragon lady”. And it would be really funny if someone takes its translation forgranted as “xiǎolóngnǚ (小龙女)” because they are completely different. In English slang, the phrase “chasing the dragon” means smoking heroin and inhaling the fumes. This slang derives from the description about dragon of ancient legends. Since a dragon can breathe out fire and smoke, someone taking the heroin is like chasing the dragon. Another phrase “dragon teeth” originated from the Greek tale of hero Cadmus. Cadmus killed a fierce dragon and sowed its teeth into a land. Soon after, the dragon`s teeth became some warriors and jumped out from the land to attack Cadmus. Cadmus cast a huge rock among the warriors and these warriors began to kill each other. Therefore, “dragon’s teeth” has a connotation of killing each other and “sowing dragon’s teeth” has a metaphor of disharmony or conflicts .B.Dragon in Myths and Legends1. In Chinese mythologyIn Chinese mythology, dragon is a magical animal which is changeable, and specializes in control over water, rainfall, hurricane, and floods and benefits the crops. According to Dadailiji(大戴礼记), the body of dragon can be changeable, either short or long, slim or huge, dark or bright. In spring, dragon flies in the sky; in autumn, dragon swims in the deep. In Ciyuan(Etymology), there are four patron saints---dragon, phoenix, kylin, tortoise. Dragon is the head of the scale insects. Three Emperors and Five Sovereigns (三皇五帝) in the legend and Shennong（神农）, Nvwa, according to ancient records are related with the dragon. Therefore, dragon became the symbol of the imperial power. Emperors always regard themselves as son of dragon and their clothes is decorated with dragons which are called dragon robe. In the book of Chuqiuhechengtu(春秋合诚图), it was recorded that Rao(Chinese emperor) was born by his mother QingDou with his father “a dragon”. What’s more, the Yu(禹)’s father was said to be Huang Dragon. And the dragon helped him to dredge river, so that he could be an emperor. In Han Dynasty, Liu Bang(刘邦) in order to strength his regime and imperial power, coined a legend “His mother dreamed a dragon when she gave birth to LiuBang”, putting himself on the sacred aura. In ourfamous traditional novel Journey to the West to, there are four dragons to make seasonable weather for crop raising. When Sun Wukong(孙悟空), the monkey who protect his master Tang Seng(唐僧) needed water to put out a fire, he asked the king of dragon who control rain to help. So, the dragon also means the kind-hearted and upright which is positive.2. In western mythologyIn western mythology, dragon is the incarnation of evil and its symbolic meaning is negative and ugly. Dragon is sexual and has a hundred sons. But in China, dragon can only give birth to nine sons. In Western culture, dragon always lives in caves and likes collecting treasures especially the gold coins or diamonds so that dragon sometimes symbolize greedy. In Beowulf, dragon is burner and the treasure guard. Once a person stole a gold cup, the dragon breathed out fire to burnout the houses and crops. Finally, Beowulf duelled with dragon and perished together. In Bible, there is a red dragon made flood to pushing away the woman in order to eat her baby. It even agitated other monsters to conquer human and custody. Dragon can breathe out the fire and has a strong body and invulnerability. In German mythology, Siegfried killed a dragon named Fafnir. He took a shower with the dragon’s blood. He ate the dragon`s heart and after that he could understand the birds’ language. So the dragon symbolizes war and strong power. If the king publicize them as the dragon, they are always considered as a king who is bad and not respected. However, in England, dragon can be kind. In the story of King Arthur, the white dragon means Uther Pen-dragon, it is charity and kindness. The red dragon symbolizes V ortigern, it is evil and sinful. Fortunately, the white dragon killed the red dragon and appeared a baby named King Arthur. So, there are two dragons on the hat of English King.C.Dragon in Movies1. Dragon in Chinese MoviesDragons are often used in movies, especially in Chinese. Although dragon is notthe protagonist, its name and figure is widely used in the movies. Chinese directors like using the word dragon to name videos, such as Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon(卧虎藏龙)、Enter the Dragon(龙争虎斗)、Dragon Travels around the World(龙游天下). Actually, these videos are not talking about the dragon, but why the directors named that? The name of Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon is a Chinese idiom referring to hidden or unsuspected forces or powers. While traditional Chinese martial arts films usually place female characters in secondary roles. In Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, there are three powerful women as highlights, each of whom plays a distinct gender role. Traditionally given to men, the most intense fighting scenes are all performed by women, with one exception. Lee uses combat scenes not only to showcase the intricate martial arts but also to emphasize the will, agility, and physical strength of the female leads. It tells people that the ordinary people may have strong powers, and the dragon here refers to the ability and physical strength. The Enter the Dragon does not mean there are fights between dragon and tiger. Here the dragon and the tiger refers to two people who both have the comparable ability. Lee and Han were taught by a teacher, however, Han betrayed his teacher. Commissioned by the master, Lee attended the competition to defeated and cleaned up Han who is traitor in this story. And their battle was so called Enter the Dragon. Dragon Travels around the World describes an emperor Sima Yulong(司马玉龙)travels around his territory to looking for his mother incognito while checking the character of an official. As dragon is the symbol of emperor, people prefer to call him real dragon and the son of god rather than emperor. All in all, most dragon in Chinese videos on behalf of the person whose characters are kind, bright, powerful and honest.2.Dragon in western MoviesIn most western movies, dragon appeared to be killed and the dragonslayer was the hero respected by the masses. For example, George and the Dragon directed by Tom Reeve is a film describing a story of George and dragon. George is a lad whose father wants to kill a dragon. The father once speared into the dragon`s body unfortunately, the dragon was still alive and ate his feet. Therefore, the father insistedasking George to kill the dragon. Finally, George used his father`s lance killing the dragon and became the sage in the eye of human. Actually, the dragon never hurt others. This shows that the entire dragon is evil in their mind and necessary to be killed. Reign of Fire is a film directed by Rob Bowman. It described a boy called Quine who awakened a dragon by accident, and the dragon breathed out fire to burn everything. Finally, his mother was killed and the dragon and its descendants occupied the world. It was a war between dragon and human. However, few of movies described the bright image of dragon. In the film of Dragon Heart, a dragon shared his heart to injured prince. When the prince became a brutal king, his warrior thought it was the fault of dragon. So he decided to revenge and kill that dragon. At last, he found that it was not the fault of dragon but the prince. The dragon sacrificed himself to help overthrow the prince`s tyranny and became a star to guard the land. Therefore, the dragon here symbolized selflessness and protection.D. The reasons for different dragon culturesThe reasons for different dragon cultures are various. First, Chinese and western people have different customs and history. From the description of Chinese dragon’s definition and image, it is easy to find that dragon`s appearance is a combination of bull, deer, tiger, fish and snakes. In their views, snake is a beautiful animal. Because, in Chinese history, people were made by Nv Wa(A goddess in Chinese mythology) whose figure was human’s head with snake’s body. And in history, the ancients thought that the camel’s head symbolizes wisdom; antlers symbolize longevity; bull’s ears mean the brightest and best; the tiger’s eyes symbolize dignity; eagle symbolizes bravery; lion’s nose symbolizes wealth; horse’s teeth mean hard-working; fish’s tail symbolizes flexible, etc. All these contents are auspicious symbol. So, in Chinese, the dragon culture is full of positive energy. But it is totally different in western culture. It is negative and evil. In western culture, the dragon’s image is based on viper, and integrates many different animal characteristics which feel horror and disgust, such as crocodile, lizard, bat, toads and so forth.These animals are mostly living in deep forestand volcano which are cunning and grotesque. Therefore, the dragon in western was not welcomed and loathed by ancients. For a long time, it becomes a sign of the violence and evil.Second, Chinese and western have different mode of thinking. In ancient Chinese, people reverence nature. An important feature of Chinese traditional culture is to emphasize the harmony between man and nature, rather than men conquer nature. Even the emperor also dares to call themselves “the son of nature”, but not has the courage to overcome nature. Dragon is the creation based on the nature and the real life which ancestors put into their fear, dependent, doubts, imagination and worship of nature. In their mode of thinking, dragon can fly in the sky and swim in the ocean, make clouds and bring them rain. People worship and pray it to bring good weather, have a harvest and bless mankind. Therefore, dragon becomes a totem that people hope to get help and have strong power. On the contrary, western believe that “Men conquer nature”. Dragon as the creation of nature was the symbol of monster. It has strong power such as breathe out of fire, toxic teeth. It can kill human, damage the harvest and ruin a country. In order to protect the country, people control it and prevent it from unscrupulous, indiscriminate killing of innocent people. So, western dragon also means war.Third, Chinese and western have different religion. Before the rise of Christian civilization, the dragon in western was kind. But in 1st century AD, the Christian becomes the main denomination; the image of western dragon became evil. As the classic book of Christianity, Bible described a story in the New Testament that Archangel Michael killed the red dragon. In Bible, dragon appeared as the incarnation of the Christian enemy Satan, so in the long spirit reign of Christianity, dragon`s image had been vilified and worse. Hereafter, dragon was been defined as the incarnation of evil. Meanwhile, in the culture of Taoism which was Chinese bishop, they worshiped nature and animals. They thought that dragon can communicate with god and ghosts. Later, Buddhism was introduced into China. And they regarded dragon as a symbol of faith. After that, a lot of Dragon Temples were built in both north and south of China that become an important part of Chinese dragon image.Because of these different national history, religion, customs and ways of thinking, the understanding of Chinese and western culture, the dragon exhibit great differences. What’s worse, during the cross-cultural communication, it is easy to make misunderstanding with each other, especially the dragon’s symbolism.Ⅳ.Different recognition of dragon cultureBecause of the different culture, western people and Chinese have different understanding of their dragon cultures. Also, with the time goes by, people have new recognition of dragon culture. Chinese dragon is regarded as a god controlling the rain and water. However, western dragon is the symbol of monster and flood. They have different definitions, and images. The image of western dragon is widely acquainted and accepted by the world as evil and monster. This part will introduce the different recognition of dragon culture.A.The western recognition of Chinese dragonBecause there are two distinct cultural traditions of dragons: the European dragons and the Chinese dragon. So, this part will introduce the changes of the Chinese dragon image in Europe. According to European historical documents, Mendoza’s Historia del Gran Reino de la China was the most influential Chinese monograph for Europe which published in1585. In this book, dragon was written as Serpents, so until the end of 16th century, the Europe did not have the dedicated translation of dragon. But, as the decorative patterns, beautiful dragon pattern had been used for Church’s decoration. During 17 to 18centuries, European were longing and yearning for Chinese culture. At that time, they were interested in dragon and its symbolic meaning---imperial power. They used the words “elegant, great, noble” to praise the dragon patterns. In 1735, Jean Baptiste du Halde upgraded the definition “national symbol of the Chinese”. At this time, Chinese dragon image was objectively reported, and not be deliberately vilified. On the contrary, they described the dragonimage was closely accompanied with magnificent royal style.After 18th century, European countries were competing for overseas expansion. And the negative image of Chinese bureaucracy occupied the main impression. All these bad impressions influenced the image of Chinese dragon. What`s worse, in 1860, comics named “conquer Chinese dragon” were popular in Europe. They draw a classic scene “St. George slays Dragon”, the angel handed with a lance to spear the so-called Chinese dragon which symbolizes the forces of backwardness. During this time, many western countries issued a large number of such commemorative postcards. For example, in Germany postcard “Western powers conquer China”, western soldiers were draw like St. George riding white horses, wearing silk, taking lance and spearing the huge dragon. These actions leaded to the vilification of Chinese dragon image.With the development of Chinese economy and politics, more and more people choose to study, work and live abroad. Also, there are many foreigners choose to study and work in China. From 1978-2012, the number of study abroad has increase nearly 400 thousand. And the population of American of Chinese ancestry has occupied 12% of the American total population. The population of Chinese in England and France is nearly 430 thousand. Since these people brought Chinese culture to the west, the image of Chinese dragon became bright and positive. And the foreigners who live in China has already experiencing the Chinese dragon culture. They may bring their new thoughts back to their countries. In addition, there are some famous Chinese people who are well known around the world. Li Xiaolong who studied and worked in America. His Chinese kung fu was famous for the world. Because of his name, the Chinese dragon was aware by the west. Cheng Long, another famous star was also known to the world. He was also named dragon and famous for his kung fu. Thus, the west became to know the real meaning of Chinese dragon. What’s more, 2000 was the year which meets the turn of millennium and a century, coincided with the Chinese traditional culture of Dragon Year. At this year, China held the first Chinese dragon culture and art festival. Chinese vice premier Qian Qichen published a paper to declare that Chinese dragon is the symbol of nationalstrength because of its spirit of unity and cohesion. Meanwhile, Chinese who lived in other countries also held the party to celebrate the dragon year. They brought the bright and positive dragon image to the world. In 2005, an academic exchange activity named “Chinese dragon image rectification” was held in Chinese Culture Park. This activity aimed to promote the Chinese dragon image in international level and it suggested naming the Chinese dragon as Chinese pinyin “Long”. Because of improvement of China’s international status and these different activities, more and more western people eliminate their misunderstanding and have new recognition of Chinese dragon.B. The recognition of western dragon in ChinaFrom another point of view, the Chinese people always get the information about western dragon from their movies and literature. In western culture, dragon as a symbol of evil and monster. And the strongest evidence of western dragon comes from the Bible’s Apocalypse. In fact, there are also some positive images of dragon in Bible. For example, the holy mighty angel leader, the crutch in Moses hands that save the tribe for many times, the brass snake that Jesus think could represent himself and so on. Nowadays, we can still find these content in the official bible. For the stories that already talked about many times, such as dragon rob princess, knight hero story, only could be found in the medieval European literature. Prior to this, the Celtic who were throughout the most of Western Europe and the Nordic Vikings were also worship the dragon totem like Chinese people. They consider the dragon as their national symbol and the patron saint. The Celtic descendants even put dragon on their flags today. With the development of technology, the communication throughout world becomes convenient. More and more Chinese people read both ancient and modern literature which have content of dragon image.Good and bad, good and evil, may both appears on anything. And the judgment of good and bad is often related to the position of the people themselves. This is the dialectical thought. Although there is no clear evidence that the dragon is real in theobjective world, it still leaves many imaginations in the myth and legend. People in different culture should widely absorb the knowledge of each other. With the development of our society and world, people will have new recognition of different dragon cultures.Ⅳ. ConclusionBecause of different national histories, religions, customs, ways of thinking and geographies, western dragon and Chinese dragon have many differences in definition, image and symbolic meaning. Compared with the evil and formidable western dragon, Chinese dragon is auspicious and noble. The western people misunderstand the Chinese dragon decades years ago. However, with the development of Chinese economy and politics, there are more and more people study, work and live abroad. These people are helpful to eliminating the misunderstanding of Chinese dragon. Also, many foreigners are willing to come to China and experience the Chinese culture. Therefore, on one hand, China should develop the economy first, so that Chinese international status can upgrade. Chinese should do better to show the real spirit of dragon---unity, selflessness, integrity, so that the world can realize the connotation of Chinese dragon. On the other hand, Chinese people also need to learn more about the knowledge of western dragon before the judgment.。