Name
Long
Chinese / East Asian
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Dragon Myth Entry
Chinese / East Asian
Long
China & East Asia
A dragon of movement rather than heaviness - serpentine, celestial, and deeply tied to water and sky. Here, the dragon rises with rain, rivers, clouds, and imperial imagination.
Associated With
Rain, rivers, clouds, power, auspicious force
Atmosphere
In East Asia, the dragon rises with rain, rivers, clouds, and imperial imagination.
Region
China & East Asia
Neolithic origins to living tradition
Atlas Context
This entry is part of Where Dragons Dwell, an interactive atlas of dragon myths and sacred serpent traditions across world cultures.
Sources & Further Reading
Every reference below was verified against a live URL or a standard published edition. Primary texts and foundational ethnographic records are marked primary; modern academic studies and museum resources follow.
c. 4th c. BCE – Han (compiled)
Early mythographic geography full of dragon and serpent beings, including the winged Yinglong.
- Primary
Xu Shen 許慎 · c. 100 CE
Contains the classic definition of 龍: chief of scaled creatures, ascending to heaven at the spring equinox and diving into the deep at the autumn equinox.
- Scholarship
M. W. de Visser · 1913
Standard early scholarly survey of Chinese dragon lore drawn from classical texts.
current online edition
Reference entry on the long as a rain- and water-linked auspicious being.