Yinglong

Yinglong () is a winged dragon and rain deity in ancient Chinese mythology.

Name

This legendary creature's name combines ''yìng'' "respond; correspond; answer; reply; agree; comply; consent; promise; adapt; apply" and ''lóng'' "Chinese dragon". Although the former character is also pronounced (with a different tone) ''yīng'' "should; ought to; need to; proper; suitable", ''yinglong'' definitively means "responsive dragon; responding dragon" and not "proper dragon".

Classical usages

The Chinese classics frequently mention ''yinglong'' "a winged rain-dragon" in myths about the Three Sovereigns and Five Emperors, especially the Yellow Emperor and his alleged descendant King Yu. The examples below, limited to books with English translations, are roughly arranged in chronological order, although some heterogeneous texts have uncertain dates of composition.

''Chuci''

The (3rd–2nd centuries BCE) ''Chu Ci'' "Songs of Chu" mentions Yinglong helping King Yu , the legendary founder of the Xia dynasty, to control the mythic Great Deluge. According to Chinese mythology, Emperor Yao assigned Yu's father Gun , who was supposedly a descendant of the Yellow Emperor, to control massive flooding, but he failed. Yao's successor, Emperor Shun , had Gun executed and his body exposed, but when Gun's corpse did not decompose, it was cut open and Yu was born by parthenogenesis. Shun appointed Yu to control the floods, and after succeeding through diligently constructing canals, Yu divided ancient China into the Nine Provinces.

The '' Heavenly Questions'' section (3, ) asks about Yinglong, in context with Zhulong "Torch Dragon". ''Tianwen'', which Hawkes characterizes as "a shamanistic catechism consisting of questions about cosmological, astronomical, mythological and historical matters", and "is written in an archaic language to be found nowhere else in the Chu anthology" excepting "one or two short passages" in the '' Li Sao'' section.

The (early second century CE) ''Chuci'' commentary of Wang Yi answers that Yinglong drew lines on the ground to show Yu where to dig drainage and irrigation canals.

''Classic of Mountains and Seas''

The (c. 4th century BCE – 1st century CE) '' Classic of Mountains and Seas'' records variant Yinglong myths in two chapters of "The Classic of the Great Wilderness" section. The "Responding Dragon" is connected with two deities who rebelled against the Yellow Emperor: the war-god and rain-god Chiyou "Jest Much" and the giant Kua Fu "Boast Father".

"The Classic of the Great Wilderness: The East" (14, ) mentions Yinglong killing both Chiyou "Jest Much" and Kua Fu "Boast Father", and describes using Yinglong images in sympathetic magic for rainmaking.

Guo Pu's (early 4th century CE) commentary mentions ''tulong'' "earth/clay dragon", "The earthen dragons of the present day find their origin in this."

"The Classic of the Great Wilderness: The North" (17, ) mentions ''Yinglong'' in two myths about killing Kua Fu "Boast Father". The first version says Yinglong killed him in punishment for drinking rivers and creating droughts while chasing the sun.

The second mythic version says the Yellow Emperor's daughter Ba "Droughtghoul" killed Chiyou "Jest Much" after Yinglong failed. Ba is a drought-demon analogous with Kua Fu.

Based on textual history of Yinglong, Chiyou, Kua Fu, and related legends, Bernhard Karlgren concludes that "all these nature myths are purely Han-time lore, and there is no trace of them in pre-Han sources", with two exceptions. Ba, who is "a very old folk-lore figure", already occurs in the c. Spring and Autumn period ''Classic of Poetry'', and Yinglong, "who directed the flow of rivers and seas", occurs in the c. Warring States period ''Tianwen''.

''Huainanzi''

The (2nd century BCE) ''Huainanzi'' uses Yinglong in three chapters. ''Ying'' also occurs in '' ganying'' (lit. "sensation and response") "resonance; reaction; interaction; influence; induction", which Charles Le Blanc posits as the ''Huannanzi'' text's central and pivotal idea.

"Forms of Earth" (4, ) explains how animal evolution originated through dragons, with Yinglong as the progenitor of quadrupeds. Carr notes this Responsive Dragon is usually pictured with four wings, perhaps paralleling four legs.

All creatures, winged, hairy, scaly and mailed, find their origin in the dragon. The ''yu-kia'' () produced the flying dragon, the flying dragon gave birth to the phoenixes, and after them the ''luan-niao'' () and all birds, in general the winged beings, were born successively. The ''mao-tuh'' (, "hairy calf") produced the ''ying-lung'' (), the ''ying-lung'' gave birth to the ''kien-ma'' (), and afterwards the ''k'i-lin'' () and all quadrupeds, in general the hairy beings, were born successively. …

Wolfram Eberhard suggests this "otherwise unknown" ''maodu'' "hairy calf" alludes to the "water buffalo".

"Peering into the Obscure" (6, ) describes Fuxi and Nüwa being transported by ''yinglong'' and ''qingqiu'' "green qiu-dragons", while accompanied by ''baichi'' "white chi-dragons" and ''benshe'' "speeding snakes".

They rode the thunder chariot, using winged dragons as the inner pair and green dragons as the outer pair. They clasped the magic jade tablets and displayed their charts. Yellow clouds hung inter-woven (to form a coverlet over the chariot) and they (the whole retinue) were preceded by white serpents and followed by speeding snakes.

Gao Yu's (2nd century CE) ''Huainanzi'' commentary glosses ''yinglong'' as a "winged dragon" and ''qiu'' as a "hornless dragon".

"The Art of Rulership" (9, ) parallels the ''yinglong'' with the '' tengshe'' "soaring snake" dragon. "The ''t'eng'' snake springs up into the mist; the flying ''ying'' dragon ascends into the sky mounting the clouds; a monkey is nimble in the trees and a fish is agile in the water." Ames compares the '' Hanfeizi'' attribution of this ''yinglong'' and ''tengshe'' metaphor to the Legalist philosopher Shen Dao.

Shen Tzu said: "The flying dragon mounts the clouds and the ''t'eng'' snake wanders in the mists. But when the clouds dissipate and the mists clear, the dragon and the snake become the same as the earthworm and the large-winged black ant because they have lost that on which they ride.

Other texts

''Yinglong'' occurs in various additional Chinese texts. For instance, the ''Records of the Grand Historian'', ''Book of Han'', and ''Book of the Later Han'' histories.

The early third century CE '' Guangya'' dictionary defines ''yinglong'' "winged dragon" as one of the principal dragons. "If a dragon has scales, he is called ''jiaolong'' []; if wings, ''yinglong'' (); if a horn, ''qiulung'' (); and if he has no horn, he is called ''qilong'' ()".

The early sixth century CE ''Shuyiji'' "Records of Strange Things" lists ''yinglong'' as a 1000-year-old dragon. "A water snake ( ''shui hui'') after five hundred years changes into a ''jiao'' (), a ''jiao'' after a thousand years changes into a ''long'' (), a ''long'' after five hundred years changes into a ''jiulong'' (, "horned dragon") and after a thousand years into a ''yinglong'' ()".

In the Book of the Later Han, Yinglong was connected as a companion to Nüba in the myth. They fought simultaneously against Chiyou's forces. This relationship led to the mythological romance of Nüba and Yinglong in later centuries.

Comparative mythology

The ''yinglong'' mythically relates with other Chinese flying dragons and rain deities such as the '' tianlong'' ("heavenly dragon"), '' feilong'' ("flying dragon"), '' hong'' ("rainbow dragon"), and '' jiao'' ("flood dragon").

Flying dragons

Visser mentions that texts like the Daoist '' Liexian Zhuan'' often record "flying dragons or ''ying-lung'' drawing the cars of gods or holy men". Besides the ''Huainanzi'' (above) mentioning a pair of ''yinglong'' pulling the chariot of Fuxi and Nüwa, analogous examples include legends of Huangdi ascending to heaven on a dragon (''Shiji'') and Yu riding a carriage drawn by two flying dragons (''Bowuzhi''). Carr compares pairs of ''Yinglong'' with motifs on Chinese bronzes showing two symmetrical dragons intertwined like Fuxi and Nüwa.

Porter interprets the tail of the terrestrial ''Yinglong'', which "uses its tail to sketch on the land a map of channel-like formations whereby the floodwaters were allowed to drain", as the tail of the celestial dragon Scorpius, which is "situated precisely where the Milky Way ''splits into two branches''". The (4th century CE) Shiyiji retells the Yu flood-control myth in terms of the Four Symbols, namely, the Yellow Dragon or Azure Dragon and the Black Tortoise. "Yü exhausted his energy creating channels, diverting the waters and establishing mountains as the yellow dragon dragged its tail in front and the black turtle carried green-black mud (used to build the channels) in back."

Rain dragons

Eberhard wrote that "All traditions about Ying-lung are vague". Although the legendary Yinglong dragon helped Yu to control floods, "Yü was frequently bothered by dragons", most notably the flood-deity Gonggong's minister Xiangliu . Eberhard, based on Sun Jiayi's identification of Xiangliu as an eel, concludes that Yinglong was an eel as well:

Eberhard concludes that Yinglong and the mythic elements about Yu "testify to the connection between Yü and the cultures of the south, which differ from Yü myths of the Ba culture". Carr cites Chen Mengjia's hypothesis, based on studies of Shang dynasty oracle bones, that Yinglong was originally associated with the ''niqiu'' "loach".

Yinglong representations were anciently used in rain-magic ceremonies, where Eberhard says "the most important animal is always a dragon made of clay". Besides controlling rain and drought, the Yinglong Responsive Dragon did something else: "With his tail he drew lines in the earth and thus created the rivers … In other words, the dragon made the waterways – the most important thing for all cultivators of rice.

References

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External links

More about Yinglong

{{Chinese mythology

Chinese dragons
Dragon deities
Four Holy Beasts
Rain deities