The Differences between Chinese Long and Western Dragon

The Differences between Chinese Long and

Western Dragon

[Abstract]

In this paper, I would like to discuss the differences between Chinese

Long and western dragon. The two words “Long(龙)” and “dragon”

are often translated into each other in English-Chinese or

Chinese-English translations. But they are quiet different under the

background of Chinese and western culture. In my paper, I will

introduce the difference between Chinese Long and western dragon,

and then analyze some misunderstanding caused by this

mistranslation. The conclusion and suggestions will be showed in

the last part.

[Main body]

With the rapid development of the Internet and transportation,

intercultural communication is become more and more frequent,

people mainly get the information of other culture through

translations, so accurate translations become in great need. But there

are great differences existed in different languages. People in every

nation always understand other nations’ culture with their own views

without considering whether they are right or wrong in origin. Thus the misunderstandings between different nations come into being.

So the misunderstanding caused by translations is worth our

concerns.

Taking Chinese word “Long(龙)” for example, Long is a traditional

culture-loaded word in Chinese which is the symbol of

auspiciousness and authority. This word is always translated into

English word dragon in many translations. But in Western people’s

eyes, the English word dragon is the symbol of devil and bugbear.

Because of the translation from Long to dragon, great

misunderstanding arises between Chinese people’s and western

people’s minds.

A. Long in China

In ancient China, there are many origins about Long, such as lizard,

crocodile, dinosaur and so on. Long is regarded as totem in ancient

times. People in that times admired Long though it is just an

imaginary animal in the legend.

In China, Long is attached to a plenty of commendatory cultural

meanings. Since the ancient times, Long has been regarded by

Chinese people as the incarnation of their ancestor. Consequently

they like to think themselves as the offspring of Long. Hence loong

has been regarded as the symbol of China and Chinese people. In Chinese culture, the traditional symbol of royalty is Long. The

word Long stands for the Chinese emperor. Therefore many things

which are connected with the emperor contain the word Long.

In Modern Chinese Dictionary, the original meaning of Long is a

kind of a supernatural animal, which carries horns and whiskers and

only has one head. It can make rain as wanted in legend. The second

meaning is the head of animals, which can be black or bright, can be

slender or coarse, can be short or long, flying to the sky in spring,

and diving in the sea in autumn. In other words, Long is the head of

changeable water animals, which is helpful for everything. So people

awe and admire it as totem. And Long can also be regarded as

imagery of heroes and wise persons.

B. Dragon in Western Countries

The dragon is often a symbol of devil to westerners. They regard the

dragon as a fierce monster that can destroy other things. Therefore,

in their opinion, it can make many disasters. There are several stories

of heroes dealing with the struggles against such monsters, which in

most cases are killed in the end.

And these can be seen in many western films. For example, in the

film Harry Potter, dragon is a cruel character, in this movie, Harry

fights against the dragon to stop it from destroying the world. Western films can reflect western cultures. Of course, the characters

in their films can reflect directors’ opinions. The image of dragon in

the films is the reflection of dragon in western legend.

In Bible, Satan, a devil, is called the great dragon. Revelation in the

Books of The New Testament of Bible describes dragon like this: A

great red dragon, with seven heads and ten horns, and seven diadems

on his head. And war broke out in heaven; Michael and his angels

fought against the dragon. The dragon and his angels fought back,

but they were defeated, and there is no longer any place for them in

heaven. The great dragon was thrown down, then ancient serpent,

which is called the Devil and Satan, the deceiver of the whole world,

was thrown down to the earth, and his angels were thrown down

with him. In Microsoft Encyclopedia, dragon is described as a

legendary reptilian monster similar in form to a crocodile and

usually represented as having wings, huge claws, and a fiery breath.

Above it is about the appearance of dragon. From the description,

dragon is very ugly, and its figure is very huge.