Panlong (; lit. "coiled dragon") is an aquatic

dragon A dragon is a Magic (supernatural), magical legendary creature that appears in the folklore of multiple cultures worldwide. Beliefs about dragons vary considerably through regions, but European dragon, dragons in Western cultures since the Hi ...

resembling a '' jiaolong'' 蛟龍 "river dragon; crocodile" in

Chinese mythology Chinese mythology () is mythology that has been passed down in oral form or recorded in literature throughout the area now known as Greater China. Chinese mythology encompasses a diverse array of myths derived from regional and cultural tradit ...

, an ancient motif in

Chinese art Chinese art is visual art that originated in or is practiced in China, Greater China or by Chinese artists. Art created by Chinese residing outside of China can also be considered a part of Chinese art when it is based on or draws on Chine ...

, and a

proper name A proper noun is a noun that identifies a single entity and is used to refer to that entity (''Africa''; ''Jupiter''; ''Sarah''; ''Walmart'') as distinguished from a common noun, which is a noun that refers to a class of entities (''continent, pl ...

Word

The Chinese compound ''panlong'' combines ''pan'' "coiling; curling; curving; bending; winding; twisting" and ''long'' or "dragon". ''Longpan'' "dragon coiling", the reverse of ''panlong'', is a literary metaphor for "person of unrecognized talent" (see the ''Fayan'' below). ''Panlong'' "coiled dragon" can be written or , using ''pan'' 's homophonous

variant Chinese character Chinese characters may have several variant forms—visually distinct glyphs that represent the same underlying meaning and pronunciation. Variants of a given character are ''allographs'' of one another, and many are directly analogous to allog ...

''pan'' or "tray; plate; dish". Another example of this graphic interchangeability is ''panrao'' or "twine round; surround; fill". Two

Classical Chinese Classical Chinese is the language in which the classics of Chinese literature were written, from . For millennia thereafter, the written Chinese used in these works was imitated and iterated upon by scholars in a form now called Literary ...

''panlong'' idioms are ''panlongpi'' ("coiling dragon habit") "gambling addiction" (alluding to 5th-century gambler Liu Yi or Liu Panlong of Eastern Jin ) and ''panlong-wohu'' (lit. "coiling dragon crouching tiger") "talented people remaining concealed". In Fengshui and Four Symbols theory, the

Dragon A dragon is a Magic (supernatural), magical legendary creature that appears in the folklore of multiple cultures worldwide. Beliefs about dragons vary considerably through regions, but European dragon, dragons in Western cultures since the Hi ...

and

Tiger The tiger (''Panthera tigris'') is a large Felidae, cat and a member of the genus ''Panthera'' native to Asia. It has a powerful, muscular body with a large head and paws, a long tail and orange fur with black, mostly vertical stripes. It is ...

are symbolic opposites. Take for instance, ''longtan-huxue'' ("dragon's pond and tiger's cave") "dangerous places" or ''Wohu canglong'' Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon.

Textual usages

Chinese classic texts The Chinese classics or canonical texts are the works of Chinese literature authored prior to the establishment of the imperial Qin dynasty in 221 BC. Prominent examples include the Four Books and Five Classics in the Neo-Confucian tradi ...

began using ''panlong'' in the

Han dynasty The Han dynasty was an Dynasties of China, imperial dynasty of China (202 BC9 AD, 25–220 AD) established by Liu Bang and ruled by the House of Liu. The dynasty was preceded by the short-lived Qin dynasty (221–206 BC ...

(206 BCE – 220 CE). The (2nd century BCE) ''

Huainanzi The ''Huainanzi'' is an ancient Chinese text made up of essays from scholarly debates held at the court of Liu An, Prince of Huainan, before 139 BCE. Compiled as a handbook for an enlightened sovereign and his court, the work attempts to defi ...

'' first records ''panlong'' as a decorative style on Chinese bronzes.

Great bells and tripods, beautiful vessels, works of art are manufactured. The decorations cast on these have been superb. The mountain dragon, or pheasant, and all animals of variegated plumage, the aquatic grass, flamboyants and grains of cereals were engraven on them, one symbol interwoven with another. The sleeping rhinoceros and crouching tiger, the dragon, wreathed in coils, were wrought.

The later term ''panlongwen'' "coiled-dragon pattern/design (on bronzes, pillars, etc.)" compares with ''panchiwen'' (see '' chilong'' ) and ''panqiuwen'' (see '' qiulong'' ). Another ''Huainanzi'' context lists ''longshepan'' (lit. "dragon snake coiling") "serpentine passage" as a good ambush location.

An exiguous pass, a ferry pontoon, a great mountain, a serpentine defile, a cul-de-sac, a dangerous pitfall, a narrow ravine, full of winding ways like the intestines of a sheep, a hole like a fisher's net, which admits, but from which there is no exit, are situations in which one man can hold back a thousand.

The

materialist Materialism is a form of philosophical monism according to which matter is the fundamental substance in nature, and all things, including mental states and consciousness, are results of material interactions. According to philosophical materia ...

philosopher Yang Xiong (53 BCE – 18 CE) used both ''panlong'' and ''longpan''. His '' Fangyan'' "Regional Speech" dictionary defined ''panlong'' "coiled/curled dragon", "Dragons which do not yet ascend to heaven f. ''tianlong'' "heavenly dragon"">tianlong.html" ;"title="f. ''tianlong">f. ''tianlong'' "heavenly dragon"are called ''p'an-lung''." His ''Fayan'' "Words to Live By" anthology coined the metaphor ''longpan'' (lit. "dragon coiling") "person of unrecognized talent", "'a dragon coiled in the mud will be insulted by a newt,' meaning 'a sage will be ridiculed by a fool'." The (2nd century CE) ''Shangshu dazhuan'' commentary to the ''Classic of History'' parallels ''panlong'' and ''jiaoyu'' (or ''jiaolong'' ), "the 'coiled dragon' was greatly trusted in its lair, the ' dragon; crocodile' leaped in its pool." The (12th century CE) Song dynasty ''Biji manzhi'' "Random Jottings from the Green Rooster Quarter" by Wang Zhuo describes using ''panlong'' dragons in

sympathetic magic Sympathetic magic, also known as imitative magic, is a type of Magic (paranormal), magic based on imitation or correspondence. Similarity and contagion James George Frazer coined the term "sympathetic magic" in ''The Golden Bough'' (1889); Rich ...

for rainfall, "where a mirror, adorned on the backside with a "coiled dragon", ''p'an lung'', , is said to have been worshipped (rather used in a magical way) in order to cause rain."

Proper names

Warship Banryu bombards and sinks Choyo 1869 Naval Battle of Hakodate

In addition to the ancient decorative style mentioned above, ''Panlong'' or "Coiled Dragon" is used in several names. *''Panlong'' or ,

pen name A pen name or nom-de-plume is a pseudonym (or, in some cases, a variant form of a real name) adopted by an author and printed on the title page or by-line of their works in place of their real name. A pen name may be used to make the author's na ...

of Huan Xuan *''Panlongmu'' or ,

Pelycosaur Pelycosaur ( ) is an older term for basal or primitive Late Paleozoic synapsids, excluding the therapsids and their descendants. Previously, the term mammal-like reptile was used, and Pelycosauria was considered an order, but this is now thoug ...

(from Greek "bowl lizard") *''Panlongqu'' or , Panlong District in Kunming Prefecture,

Yunnan Yunnan; is an inland Provinces of China, province in Southwestern China. The province spans approximately and has a population of 47.2 million (as of 2020). The capital of the province is Kunming. The province borders the Chinese provinces ...

*''Panlongjiang'' or , Panlong River in Kunming City,

*''Panlongxia'' or , Panlong Gorge (with a famous waterfall) in

Zhaoqing Zhaoqing ( zh, c=肇庆), alternately romanized as Shiuhing, is a prefecture-level city in Guangdong Province, China. As of the 2020 census, its population was 4,113,594, with 1,553,109 living in the built-up (or metro) area made of Duanz ...

Guangdong ) means "wide" or "vast", and has been associated with the region since the creation of Guang Prefecture in AD 226. The name "''Guang''" ultimately came from Guangxin ( zh, labels=no, first=t, t= , s=广信), an outpost established in Han dynasty ...

*''Panlongcheng'' or , Panlongcheng archeological site of Erligang culture in

Hubei Hubei is a province of China, province in Central China. It has the List of Chinese provincial-level divisions by GDP, seventh-largest economy among Chinese provinces, the second-largest within Central China, and the third-largest among inland ...

*''Panlongzhen'' a township on the Panlong table hill (蟠龙山) in Shaanxi. The

Japanese language is the principal language of the Japonic languages, Japonic language family spoken by the Japanese people. It has around 123 million speakers, primarily in Japan, the only country where it is the national language, and within the Japanese dia ...

borrowed ''banryū'' or "coiled dragon" as a

loanword A loanword (also a loan word, loan-word) is a word at least partly assimilated from one language (the donor language) into another language (the recipient or target language), through the process of borrowing. Borrowing is a metaphorical term t ...

from Chinese ''panlong''. Banryu names a Taikyoku shogi chess-piece and a

Bakufu , officially , was the title of the military rulers of Japan during most of the period spanning from 1185 to 1868. Nominally appointed by the Emperor, shoguns were usually the de facto rulers of the country, except during parts of the Kamak ...

schooner warship ''Banryū''.

References

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External links

P'an Basin with Dragon Motif
,

Shang dynasty The Shang dynasty (), also known as the Yin dynasty (), was a Chinese royal dynasty that ruled in the Yellow River valley during the second millennium BC, traditionally succeeding the Xia dynasty and followed by the Western Zhou d ...

National Palace Museum The National Palace Museum, also known as Taipei Palace Museum, is a national museum headquartered in Taipei, Taiwan. Founded in Beijing in 1925, the museum was re-established in Shilin District, Shilin, Taipei, in 1965, later expanded with a S ...

Qing dynasty The Qing dynasty ( ), officially the Great Qing, was a Manchu-led Dynasties of China, imperial dynasty of China and an early modern empire in East Asia. The last imperial dynasty in Chinese history, the Qing dynasty was preceded by the ...

agate bottle with coiled-dragon pattern {{in lang, zh Chinese dragons fr:Dragon oriental#Variétés