Dragon Lore
EVERY true dragon, according to Chinese folklore, has nine sons, each of which is different from the others in physical characteristics and in disposition. Besides these, which are such by birth, we find another class of dragons that become members of the "Lung" family by transformation from fish of the carp species. "The transformed variety become dragons," so the story goes, "by leaping up the waters of a certain cataract upon a western mountain stream, Large numbers of carp swim once each year to this waterfall known as the 'Dragon's Gate.' Here under the cataract they flounder about, jumping and springing up out of the swirling waters; a few of them succeed in getting over the falls to the higher waters above. Those which are successful in this effort become dragons."
The sketch below shows a representation of the "Dragon Gateway," from a painting on the spirit wall," which formerly stood in front of the main entrance to Nanking's Examination Hall. This painting depicted a carp changing into a dragon. "A Bachelor of Arts, according to China's ancient system of education, upon becoming a Master, was congratulated by his friends as having passed through the 'Dragon Gate.'" The implication was that it was as difficult for a Bachelor of Arts to become a Master as for an ordinary carp to be transformed into a mighty dragon.
Will the belief in this creature pass away with the changing times or will its influence remain? Mr. Hayes, in his monumental work, The Chinese Dragon, answers this question in the light of fifteen years' study of dragon lore. He says: "There is a feeling among many friends of China, and even among a few Chinese as well, that the effect of the revolution and the passing of the Dragon flag will very shortly kill the dragon idea. This the writer believes is impossible. A belief that has gripped the nation for over forty centuries is not to be shaken even by a great revolution, which, though cataclysmic in itself, yet in relation to the ages which have passed, is little more than a ripple upon the surface of the sea of time. The dragon is neither a symbol of the Manchu dynasty nor a type of absolute monarchy, and has nothing to do with either. The idea is distinctly a heritage of the Chinese race itself, and as such it will probably live as long as this people. It will survive for at least a generation after Western science has permeated and dominated every seaside village, every mountain hamlet, and every inland city, to the remotest bounds and limits of this vast Republic."
Our plate shows one of the former officers in the Empress Dowager's Court, clothed in his gorgeous official robes. Thousands of these officials and eunuchs, once wealthy, have actually come to want since the downfall of the dynasty. However, a few managed to escape the general ruin; and one, a notorious palace eunuch, got away with 50,000,000 taels, and now lives like a king within the protecting boundaries of a foreign concession.
