Colorful Chinese dragon material with black background

on (龍; pinyin: lóng; Cantonese: loong; Hokkien: leng) is a mythical creature. Long a potent symbol of auspicious power in Chinese folklore and art, it is the embodiment of the concept of yang and associated with the weather and water as the bringer of rain. Chinese dragons are strongly associated with water in popular belief. They are believed to be the rulers of moving bodies of water, such as waterfalls, rivers, or seas. They can show themselves as water spouts (tornado or twister over water). The dragon is sometimes viewed in the West as a national emblem of China. However, this usage within both the People's Republic of China and the Republic of China on Taiwan is extremely rare, both because the dragon has monarchist connotations which run counter to recent Chinese ideologies, and because the dragon has aggressive, warlike connotations which Chinese governments wish to avoid. It is for the latter reason that the giant panda is far more often used within China as a national emblem than the Chinese dragon. See more at Wikipedia.org...