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Zhulong (mythology)

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Zhulong (mythology)

Zhulong (Chinese: 燭龍; pinyin: zhúlóng; Wade–Giles: chu-lung; literally: "torch dragon") or Zhuyin (Chinese: 燭陰; pinyin: zhúyīn; Wade–Giles: chu-yin; literally: "illuminating darkness", or "Torch Shadow") was a giant red draconic solar deity in Chinese mythology. It supposedly had a human's face and snake's body, created day and night by opening and closing its eyes, and created seasonal winds by breathing.

Contents

Names

The keyword in the names Zhuyin and Zhulong is zhu 燭 (simplified 烛) "torch; candle; shine upon; illuminate; light up" (cf. zhuo 灼 "burn; illuminate; bright"). One alternate Chuci name below writes zhu with the variant Chinese character zhuo 逴 or 趠 "quarrel, squabble; distant, far".

Zhuyin uses zhu as a verb "illuminate; brighten" with yin 陰 (simplified 阴) "dark; shady; cloudy; overcast", which is the feminine principle of Yin and Yang. Yin recurs below in the term jiuyin 九陰 "ninefold darkness".

Zhulong uses zhu as a modifier "torch; candle" with long 龍 (simplified 龙) "Chinese dragon". Compare the homophone zhulong 燭籠 "lantern" with long 籠 "basket; cage; receptacle".

Interpretations

Zhuyin 燭陰 or Zhulong 燭龍 was not the only serpent-bodied celestial deity in Chinese folklore, other examples include Pangu, Fuxi, and Nüwa.

The mythic Torch Dragon embodied sunlight. Carr (1990:155) cites a Chinese-language article by Kwang-chih Chang characterizing it with the Eastern Zhou "Transformation Thesis" that natural elements transform out of the bodily parts of mythical creatures.

Major (1993:203-4) describes the Torch Dragon as "well-known in early Chinese mythology" and suggests it is probably "a mythical interpretation of the aurora borealis."

References

Zhulong (mythology) Wikipedia