Jiaolong

''Jiaolong'' () or ''jiao'' (''chiao'', ''kiao'') is a dragon in Chinese mythology, often defined as a "scaled dragon"; it is hornless according to certain scholars and said to be aquatic or river-dwelling. It may have referred to a species of crocodile.

A number of scholars point to non- southern origins for the legendary creature and ancient texts chronicle that the Yue people once tattooed their bodies to ward against these monsters.

In English translations, ''jiao'' has been variously rendered as "''jiao''-dragon", "crocodile", "flood dragon", "scaly dragon", or even " kraken".

Name

The ''jiao'' character combines the "insect radical" , to provide general sense of insects, reptiles or dragons, etc., and the right radical ''jiao'' "cross; mix", etc. which supplies the phonetic element "''jiao''". The original pictograph represented a person with crossed legs.

The Japanese equivalent term is . The Vietnamese equivalent is ''giao long'', considered synonymous to Vietnamese '.

Synonyms

The ''Piya'' dictionary (11th century) claims that its common name was ''maban'' ().

The ''jiao'' is also claimed to be equivalent to Sanskrit (modern Chinese pronunciation ''gongpiluo'') in the 7th-century Buddhist dictionary '' Yiqiejing yinyi''. The same Sanskrit equivalent is repeated in the widely used ''Bencao Gangmu'' or '' Compendium of Materia Medica''. In Buddhist texts this word occurs as names of divine beings, and the Sanskrit term in question is actually ''kumbhīra'' (). As a common noun ''kumbhīra'' means "crocodile".

Phonology

Schuessler reconstructs Later Han Chinese ''kau'' and Old Chinese *''krâu'' for modern ''jiao'' . Pulleyblank provides Early Middle Chinese kaɨw/kɛːw and Late Middle Chinese kjaːw.

The form ''kău'' is used as the Tang period pronunciation by American sinologist Edward H. Schafer. The transliteration ''kiao lung'' was given by Dutch orientalist 's book on dragons.

Etymology

''Jiao's'' () etymology is obscure. Michael Carr, using Bernhard Karlgren's reconstruction of Old Chinese *kǒg , explains.

Most etymologies for ''jiao'' < *''kǒg'' are unsupported speculations upon meanings of its phonetic *''kǒg'' 'cross; mix with; contact', e.g., the *''kǒg'' dragon can *''kǒg'' 'join' its head and tail in order to capture prey, or moves in a *''kǒg'' 'twisting' manner, or has *''kǒg'' 'continuous' eyebrows. The only corroborated hypothesis takes *''kǒg'' 'breed with' to mean *''kǒg'' indicates a dragon 'crossbreed; mixture'. (1990:126-7)

The word has "mermaid" as one possible gloss, and Schuessler suggests possible etymological connections with Burmese ''k^hru^B'' or ''k^hyu^B'' "scaly, furry beast" and Tibetan ''klu'' "nāga; water spirits", albeit the Tibeto-Burman are phonologically distant from OC.

;Crossed eyebrows
The explanation that its name comes from eyebrows that "cross over" ( ''jiao'') is given in the ancient text "Records of Strange Things" (6th century).

;Early sense as mating dragons
It has been suggested that ''jiaolong'' might have referred to a pair of dragons mating, with their long bodies coiled around each other ( Wen Yiduo 2001a:95–96)

Thus in the legend around the ''jiaolong'' hovering above the mother giving birth to a future emperor i.e., Liu Bang, the founding emperor of Han, r. 202-195 BCE (Sima Qian, ''Records of the Grand Historian''), the alternative conjectural interpretation is that it was a pair of mating dragons.

The same legend occurs in nearly verbatim copy in the ''Book of Han'', except that the dragons are given as "crossed dragons". Wen noted that in early use ''jiaolong'' "crossed dragons" was emblematic of the mythological creators Fuxi and Nüwa, who are represented as having a human's upper body and a dragon's tail.

Semantics

In textual usage, it may be ambiguous whether ''jiaolong'' should be parsed as two kinds of dragons or one, as Prof. Zhang Jing (known in Japan as ) comments: "It is difficult to determine whether ''jiaolong'' is the name of a type of dragon, or wo dragons"''jiao''" and "''long''" juxtaposed

Zhang cites as one example of ''jiaolong'' used in the poem ''Li Sao'' (in ''Chu Ci''), in which the poet is instructed by supernatural beings to beckon the ''jialong'' and bid them build a bridge. Visser translated this as one type of dragon, the ''jiaolong'' or ''kiao-lung''. However, it was the verdict of Wang Yi, an early commentator of this poem that these were two kinds, the smaller ''jiao'' and the larger ''long''.

Translations

Since the Chinese word for the generic dragon is ''long'' (), translating ''jiao'' as "dragon" is problematic as it would make it impossible to distinguish which of the two is being referred to. The term ''jiao'' has thus been translated as "flood dragon" or "scaly dragon", with some qualifier to indicate it as a subtype. But on this matter, Schafer has suggested using a name for various dragon-like beings such as " kraken" to stand for ''jiao'':

The word "dragon" has already been appropriated to render the broader term ''lung''. "Kraken" is good since it suggests a powerful oceanic monster. ... We might name the ''kău'' a "basilisk" or a "wyvern" or a "cockatrice." Or perhaps we should call it by the name of its close kin, the double-headed crocodile-jawed Indian ''makara'', which, in ninth-century Java at least, took on some of the attributes of the rain-bringing ''lung'' of China. (1967:218)

Some translators have in fact adopted "kraken" as the translated term, as Schafer has suggested.

In some contexts, ''jiao'' has also been translated as "crocodile" (See §Identification as real fauna).

Attestations

Classification and life cycle

The ''Shuowen Jiezi'' dictionary (121 CE) glosses the ''jiao'' as "a type of dragon (''long''), as does the '' Piya'' dictionary (11th c.), which adds that the ''jiao'' are oviparous (hatch from eggs). The '' Bencao Gangmu'' states this also, but also notes this is generally true of most scaled creatures.

''Jiao'' eggs are about the size of a jar of 1 or 2 capacity in Chinese volume measurement, according to Guo Pu's commentary; a variant text states that the hatchlings are of this size. It was considered that while the adult jiao lies in pools of water, their eggs hatched on dry land, more specifically on mounds of earth (''Huainanzi'').

The ''jiao'' did eventually metamorphose into a form built to fly, according to 's ("Records of Strange Things"), which said that "a water snake (''hui'' ) after 500 years transforms into a ''jiao'' (); a ''jiao'' after a millennium into a dragon (''long''), a ''long'' after 500 years a horned dragon (), a horned dragon after a millennium into a ''yinglong'' (a winged dragon)".

General descriptions

The ''hujiao'' or "tiger ''jiao''" are described as creatures with a body like a fish and a tail like a snake, which made noise like mandarin ducks. Although this might be considered a subtype of the ''jiao'' dragon, a later commentator thought this referred to a type of fish (see #Sharks and rays section).

The foregoing account occurs in the early Chinese bestiary ''Shanhaijing'' "Classic of Mountains and Seas" (completed c. 206–9 BCE), in its first book "Classic of the Southern Mountains".

The bestiary's fifth book, "Classic of the Central Mountains" records the presence of ''jiao'' in the Kuang River (, "River Grant") and Lun River (, "River Ripple"). Guo Pu (d. 324)'s commentary to Part XI glosses ''jiao'' as "a type of [''long'' ] dragon that resembles a four-legged snake". Guo adds that the ''jiao'' possesses a "small head and a narrow neck with a white goiter" and that it is oviparous, and "large ones were more than ten arm spans in width and could swallow a person whole".

A description similar to this is found in the '' Piya'' dictionary, but instead of a white "goiter (''ying'')" being found on its neck, a homophone noun of a different meaning is described, rendered "white necklace" around its neck by Visser. Other sources concurs with the latter word meaning white "necklace" (or variously translated as white "tassels"), namely, the ''Bencao Gangmu'' quoting at length from ''Guangzhou Ji'' () by Pei Yuan (, 317–420):

A later text described ''jiao'' "looks like a snake with a tiger head, is several fathoms long, lives in brooks and rivers, and bellows like a bull; when it sees a human being it traps him with its stinking saliva, then pulls him into the water and sucks his blood from his armpits". This description, in the ''Moke huixi'' (11th century CE), was considered the "best definition" of a ''jiao'' by Wolfram Eberhard.

Scales

The description as "scaly" or "scaled dragon" is found in some medieval texts, and quoted in several near-modern references and dictionaries.

The '' Guangya'' (3rd century CE) defines ''jiaolong'' as "scaly dragon; scaled dragon", using the word ''lin'' "scales". The paragraph, which goes on to list other types of dragons, was quoted in the ''Kangxi Dictionary'' compiled during the Manchurian Qing dynasty. A similar paragraph occurs in the (6th century) and quoted in the '' Bencao Gangmu'' aka ''Compendium of Materia Medica'': "(Category of Animals with) Scales" I; , Volume 43;

Aquatic nature

Several texts allude to the ''jiao'' being the lord of aquatic beings. The ''jiaolong'' is called the "god of the water animals". The ''Shuowen jieji'' dictionary (beginning of 2nd c.) states that if the number of fish in a pond reaches 3600, a ''jiao'' will come as their leader, and enable them to follow him and fly away". However, "if you place a fish trap in the water, the ''jiao'' will leave". A similar statement occurs in the farming almanac ''Qimin Yaoshu'' (6th c.) that quotes the ''Yangyu-jing'' "Classic on Raising Fish", a manual on pisciculture ascribed to Lord Tao Zhu ( Fan Li). According to this ''Yangyu-jing'' version, when the fish count reaches 360, the ''jiao'' will lead them away, but this could be prevented by keeping ''bie'' (variant character , "soft-shelled turtle").

''Jiao'' and ''jiaolong'' were names for a legendary river dragon. ''Jiao'' is sometimes translated as "flood dragon". The (c. 1105 CE) ''Yuhu qinghua'' Carr says people in the southern state of Wu called it ''fahong'' "swell into a flood" because they believed flooding resulted when ''jiao'' hatched. The poem ''Qijian'' ("Seven Remonstrances") in the ''Chu Ci'' uses the term ''shuijiao'' or water ''jiao''.

Hornlessness

The ''Shuowen Jiezi'' does not commit to whether the ''jiāo'' has or lacks a horn. However the definition was emended to "hornless dragon" by Duan Yucai in his 19th-century edited version.( A somewhat later commentary by stated the contrary; in his '' Shuowen tongxun dingsheng'' () Zhu Junsheng explained that only male dragons (''long'') were horned, and "among dragon offspring, the one-horned are called ''jiāo'' , the are called '' qiú'' , and the hornless are called '' chì'' .

Note the pronunciation similarity between ''jiāo'' and ''jiǎo'' "horn", thus ''jiǎolóng'' is "horned dragon".

Female gender

Lexicographers have noticed that according to some sources, the ''jiao'' was a dragoness, that is, a dragon of exclusively female gender.

''Jiao'' as female dragon occurs in the glossing of ''jiao'' as "dragon mother" (perhaps "dragoness" or "she-dragon") in the (c. 649 CE) Buddhist dictionary '' Yiqiejing yinyi'', and the gloss is purported to be a direct quote from Ge Hong (d. 343)'s '' Baopuzi'' . However, extant editions of the Baopuzi does not include this statement. The (11th century CE) '' Piya'' dictionary repeats this "female dragon" definition.

Records of hunt

As aforementioned, ''jiao'' is fully capable of devouring humans, according to Guo Pu's commentary.

It is also written that a green ''jiao'' which was a man-eater dwelt in the stream beneath the bridge in (present-day city of Yixing, Jiangsu) according to a story in (; fl. c. 376–410)'s anthology, ''Zhiguai''. The war-general Zhou Chu (; 236–297) in his youth, who was native to this area, anecdotally slew this dragon: when Zhou spotted the man-eating beast he leaped down from the bridge and stabbed it several times; the stream was filled with blood and the beast finally washed up somewhere in Lake Tai where it finally died. This anecdote is also recounted in the ''Shishuo Xinyu'' (c. 430; " A New Account of Tales of the World") and selected in the Tang period primer .

Other early texts also mention the hunt or capture of the ''jiao''. Emperor Wu of Han in Yuanfeng 5 or 106 BCE reportedly shot a ''jiao'' in the river. The '' Shiyiji'' (4th century CE) has a ''jiao'' story about Emperor Zhao of Han (r. 87-74 BCE). While fishing in the Wei River, he

...caught a white ''kiao'', three chang en meterslong, which resembled a big snake, but had no scaly armour The Emperor said: 'This is not a lucky omen', and ordered the Ta kwan to make a condiment of it. Its flesh was purple, its bones were blue, and its taste was very savoury and pleasant.

Three classical texts ('' Liji'' 6, ''Huainanzi'' 5, and ''Lüshi Chunqiu'' 6) repeat a sentence about capturing water creatures at the end of summer; "attack the ''jiao'' , take the ''to'' "alligator", present the ''gui'' "tortoise", and take the ''yuan'' "soft-shell turtle"."

Dragon boat festival

There is a legend surrounding the Dragon Boat Festival which purports to be the origin behind the offering of ''zongzi'' (leaf-wrapped rice cakes) to the drowned nobleman Qu Yuan during its observation. It is said that at the beginning of the Eastern Han dynasty (25 A. D.), a man from Changsha named Ou Hui had a vision in a dream of Qu Yuan instructing him that the naked rice cakes being offered for him in the river are all being eaten by the dragons (''jiaolong''), and the cakes need to be wrapped in chinaberry ( ''Melia''; ) leaves and tied with color strings, which are two things the dragons abhor.: "chiao-lung"

Southern origins

It has been suggested that the ''jiao'' is not a creature of origin, but something introduced from the Far South or culture, and . which encompasses the people of the ancient Yue state), as well as the Hundred Yue people.

Eberhard concludes (1968:378-9) that the ''jiao'', which "occur in the whole of Central and South China", "is a special form of the snake as river god. The snake as river god or god of the ocean is typical for the coastal culture, particularly the sub-group of the Tan peoples (the Tanka people)". Schafer also suggests, "The Chinese lore about these southern krakens seems to have been borrowed from the indigenes of the monsoon coast".

The onomastics surrounding the Long Biên District (now in Hanoi, Vietnam) is that it was so-named from a ''jialong'' "flood dragon" seen coiled in the river (''Shui jing zhu'' or the '' Commentary on the Water Classic'' 37).

It is recorded that in southern China, there had been the custom of wearing tattoos to ward against the ''jiaolong''. The people in Kuaiji (old capital of Yue; present-day Shaoxing City) adopted such a custom during the Xia dynasty according to the ''Book of Wei'' (3rd c.). The Yue created this "apotropaic device" by incising their flesh and tattooing it with red and green pigments.''Treatise on Geography'' in the ''Book of Han'', 111CE, quoted by Kong Yingda.

Identification as real fauna

The ''jiao'' seems to refer to "crocodiles", at least in later literature of the Tang and Song dynasties, and may have referred to "crocodiles" in early literature as well.

Aside from this zoological identification, paleontological identifications have also been attempted.

Crocodile or alligator

The term ''jiao e'' or "''jiao'' crocodile" (; Tang period pronunciation: kău ngak) occurs in the description of Han Yu's encounter with crocodiles according to 's or "Records of the House of Proclamation" written in the late Tang period..

As noted the '' Compendium of Materia Medica'' identifies ''jiao'' with Sanskrit , i.e., ''kumbhīra'' which denotes a long-snouted crocodylid. The 19th-century herpetologist Albert-Auguste Fauvel concurred, stating that ''jiaolong'' referred to a crocodile or gavial clade of animals.

The ''Compendium'' also differentiates between ''jiaolong'' and ''tuolong'' , Fauvel adding that ''tuolong'' () should be distinguished as "alligator".

Fossil creatures

Fauvel noted that the ''jiao'' resembled the dinosaur genus ''Iguanodon'', adding that fossil teeth were being peddled by Chinese medicine shops at the time(1879:8).

Sharks and rays

In the foregoing example of the ''huijiao'' in the "Classic of the Southern Mountains" III, the 19th-century sinologist treated this a type of dragon, the "tiger ''kiao''", while a modern translator as "tiger-crocodile". However, there is also an 18–19th-century opinion that this might have been a shark. A Qing dynasty period commentator, suggested that ''huijiao'' should be identified as ''jiaocuo'' described in the ''Bowuzhi'' , and this ''jiaocuo'' in turn is considered to be a type of shark.

As in the above example ''jiao'' may be substituted for ''jiao'' "shark" in some contexts.

The ''jiao'' denotes larger sharks and rays, the character for sharks (and rays) in general being ''sha'' , so-named ostensibly due to their skin being gritty and sand-like Compare the supposed quote from the ''Baopuzi'', where it is stated that the ''jialong'' is said to have "pearls in the skin" .

Schafer quotes a Song dynasty description, "The ''kău'' (''jiao'') fish has the aspect of a round fan. Its mouth is square and is in its belly. There is a sting in its tail which is very poisonous and hurtful to men. Its skin can be made into sword grips", which may refer to a sting ray.

Derivative names

Usage

Jiaolong occurs in Chinese toponyms. For example, the highest waterfall in Taiwan is Jiaolong Dapu (), "Flood Dragon Great Waterfall" in the Alishan National Scenic Area.

The deep-sea submersible built and tested in 2010 by the China Ship Scientific Research Center is named '' Jiaolong'' (Broad 2010:A1).

The 7th Marine Brigade of the People's Liberation Army Navy Marine Corps is often known as the "Jiaolong Commandos".

The 2025 film '' Operation Hadal'' takes its Chinese name () from this creature.

See also

* Jiaolong (album), an album by DJ Daphni (musician)
* Mizuchi, Japanese dragon whose name is sometimes represented using the same Chinese character

Explanatory notes

References

Citations

Bibliography

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2011 edition
previewable via Google.
* Broad, William J.
"China Explores a Frontier 2 Miles Deep"
''The New York Times'', September 11, 2010. Retrieved 2010-09-12.
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External links

entry
Chinese Etymology
entry page
1716 CE Kangxi Dictionary
Flood Dragon Waterfall
{{Webarchive, url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111005025716/http://tiscsvr.tbroc.gov.tw/en/photo.asp?phrfnbr=5992 , date=2011-10-05 , Alishan National Scenic Area

Chinese dragons
Creatures described in the Classic of Mountains and Seas