| Chi Long | |
|---|---|
 | |
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Other Names |
Red Dragon, Chìlóng or Zhūlóng (literally "Cinnabar Dragon", "Vermilion Dragon") |
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First Appearance |
Chinese Mythology |
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Created by |
Unknown |
Origin[]
Zhulong in an edition of the Konjaku Hyakki
The Red Dragon is the Dragon God of the south and of the essence of summer. Also known in English as the Torch Dragon, it supposedly had a human's face and snake's body, created day and night by opening and closing its eyes, and created seasonal winds by breathing.
The key word in the names "Zhuyin" and "Zhulong" is 燭, pronounced zhú in present-day Mandarin. It describes the act of "shining" or "illuminating" something but, owing to the nature of Chinese grammar, can function as a verb ("to shine", "to illuminate"), an adjective ("shining", "bright"), or a noun ("light", "illumination", an object which illuminates) depending upon its position in a phrase
The Classic of Mountains and Seas (c. 3rd century BCE - 1st century CE) records parallel myths about Zhuyin and Zhulong.
"The Classic of Regions Beyond the Seas: The North" section (8) describes Zhuyin on Bell Mountain 鍾山, Zhōngshān):
The deity of Mount Bell is named Torch Shade. When this deity's eyes look out there is daylight, and when he shuts his eyes there is night. When he blows it is winter, and when he calls out it is summer. He neither drinks, nor eats, nor breathes. If this god does breathe, there are gales. His body is a thousand leagues long. Torch Shade is east of the country of Nolegcalf, which "lies East of Longtigh country". Nolegcalf "people have no calves on their legs".[citation needed] He has a human face and a snake's body, and he is scarlet in colour. The god lives on the lower slopes of Mount Bell.
Guo Pu (276-324 CE)'s commentary on this passage is:
'Enlightener' is a dragon; he enlightens the nine yin (darknesses, i.e. the nine points of the compass at the opposite, dark side of the earth, which is a flat disk; these nine points are North, South, East, West, North-east, North-west, South-east, South-west, and the Centre)".
"The Classic of the Great Wilderness: The North" section (17) describes Zhulong living on Mount Brillianttail (章尾山, Zhāngwěishān):
Beyond the northwest seas, north of the River Scarlet there is Mount Brillianttail. There is a god-human here with a human face and a snake's body, and he is scarlet. He has vertical eyes that are in a straight seam. When this deity closes his eyes, there is darkness. When the deity looks with his eyes, there is light. He neither eats, nor sleeps, nor breathes. The wind and the rain are at his beck and call. This deity shines his torch over the ninefold darkness. This deity is Torch Dragon.
Guo Pu quotes a legend from a no longer extant Classic of Poetry commentary that "the sky is insufficient to cover the northwest, so there is no ebb and flow of yang and yin. Therefore a dragon carries a torch in its mouth to light up the sky."
Public Domain Appearances[]
All published appearances of from before January 1, 1930 are public domain in the US.
Public Domain Literary Appearances[]
- Classic of Mountains and Seas
- Songs of Chu
- Huainanzi
- Records of Penetration into the Mysteries
Notes[]
- Zhulong or Zhuyin was not the only serpent-bodied celestial deity in Chinese folklore. Other examples include Pangu, Fuxi, Nuwa and Gonggong.