3.+Water+and+the+History+of+China.pdfVIP

Water and the History of China Water and the History of China1 Bozhong Li th Jia Baoyu, the hero in The Dream of Red Chamber, a masterpiece of 18 century Chinese literature, said: “Women are made out of water and men out of mud.” There is more truth to this than at first meets the eye. Water has shaped the history of all peoples, but rarely is this so well documented as in China. I. Prelude: The Chinese dragon worship Dragon culture is as old as Chinese history. The dragon was among the most important objects of worship in ancient China. The earliest images of the dragon appear on Neolithic painted pottery. The character dragon long in Chinese can be found in inscriptions on oracle bones dating to the Shang Dynasty c.1600-1046 BC . It evolved later into the form to which we are accustomed today. In sharp contrast to the dragons in the European tradition, which often are associated with evil, the Chinese dragon represents esteem, reverence and beneficence, and has long enjoyed a preeminent status in the spirit world of traditional China. Small wonder that the dragon was the imperial symbol in China. The emperors were known as “the real dragons” zhenlong tianzi . The imperial throne was called “the dragon throne”, the emperors bed, “the dragon beds,” and his ceremonial dress “the dragon robes.” Images of the dragon were everywhere to be seen in the imperial palace. In more recent times, the Dragon also came to symbolize the Chinese nation. The first Chinese national flag was the Dragon Flag, while the first silver dollar coins made by the Chinese government were Dragon Dollars. Even after the 1949 Revolution, the images of the dragon have still remained on the ornamental columns erected in the front of Tiananmen, the symbol of the political center of the People’s Republic of China. And people in China still call themselves “the descendants of the dragon.” The dragon is ubiquitous in Chinese popular culture. Dragon King temples can 1 st This