The dragon is the most common motif on ancient Chinese works of art, and is the animal most adored by the Chinese people. But no one today has ever seen a real dragon, and the beast's origins are shrouded in mystery.
Dragons have been considered to be seahorses, snakes, crocodiles, or even dinosaurs, but now scholars are offering other explanations for the dragon motif.
The Chinese character for "a jade carving of a dragon" consists of the character for "dragon" with the jade radical. It is pronounced lung, the same sound as the character "dragon." In the Shuo Wen Chieh Tzu, an ancient Chinese dictionary, lung is defined as "jade used for prayer during droughts."
Dragons have been associated with religious practices connected with praying for rain. But what is the association? Some scholars believe there was such an animal as a dragon, now extinct, that appeared in inland China during the deluge. Jade expert Na Chih-liang prefers a hypothesis that the serpentine shape of the Chinese dragon represents the shape of lightning bolts, and the sound lung, the pronunciation of the character for "dragon," is onomatopoeic for the rumbling of thunder. Either explanation suggests why dragons were associated with clouds and rain.
The jade pendant in the picture dates from the Warring States Period (475-221 B.C.). It is less than ten centimeters long, and was once worn by a nobleman as a sign of rank. Such pendants were suspended with strings from a belt around the official's robe.
@List.jpg?w=522&h=410&mode=crop&format=webp&quality=80)
