Jiaolong
Encyclopedia
Jiaolong or jiao is a polysemous aquatic dragon
in Chinese mythology
. Edward H. Schafer
describes the jiao.
, jiao 蛟 is a "radical-phonetic" or "phono-semantic character", combining the "insect radical
" 虫 with a jiao 交 "cross; mix; mingle; mate with; exchange" phonetic. This 虫 radical is frequently used in characters for insects, worms, and reptiles, and occasionally for dragons (e.g., shen
蜃 and hong
虹). This phonetic jiao 交 (originally a pictograph of a person with crossed legs) is also used with the "fish radical" 魚 in jiao 鲛 "shark" (see below) and the "horse radical" 馬 in bo 駮, which is a variant Chinese character
for bo 駁 "mixed colors; piebald; confused".
In the Japanese writing system
, the kanji
蛟 can be read mizuchi
"a Japanese river dragon
" in native kun'yomi or kō in Sino-Japanese on'yomi (e.g., kōryō 蛟竜 "flood dragon: hidden genius" from jiaolong).
is obscure. Carr, using Bernhard Karlgren
's reconstruction of Old Chinese
*kǒg 蛟, explains.
Compare the "tiger jiao" below. In addition, Carr cites Wen Yiduo
that jiaolong 交龍 "crossed dragons"' or jiaolong 蛟龍 were emblems of the mythological creators Fuxi and Nüwa
, who are represented as having a human's upper body and a dragon's tail.
Schuessler (2007:308) reconstructs modern jiāo 蛟 "scaly dragon", "alligator", or "mermaid" as Middle Chinese
kau and Old Chinese *krâu. He suggests possible Tibeto-Burman
etymological connections with Burmese
khruB or khyuB "mermaid; serpent" and Tibetan
klu "nāga
; water spirits".
jiaolong with the -long 龍 "dragon" suffix than by itself. Take, for example, familiar chengyu "set phrases; 4-character idioms". Jiaolong occurs in several such as jiaolongdeshui 蛟龍得水 (lit. jiao-dragon obtains water", from the Guanzi below) "in the most congenial surroundings; bold person getting a good opportunity" and jiaolongzhizhi 蛟龍之志 (jiao-dragon's ambition") "a person with great ambitions". Jiao occurs abbreviating jiaolong with feng abbreviating fenghuang
鳳凰 "Chinese phoenix" in tengjiaoqifeng 騰蛟起鳳 ("soaring jiao rising feng") "a rapidly rising literary/artistic talent; a genius".
Jiaolong occurs in Chinese toponyms. For example, the highest waterfall in Taiwan
is Jiaolong Dapu 蛟龍大瀑 "Flood Dragon Great Waterfall" in the Alishan
National Scenic Area.
The deep-sea submersible
built and tested in 2010 by the China Ship Scientific Research Center is named Jiaolong (Broad 2010:A1).
In some textual usages, differentiating these jiao meanings is problematic. For instance, jiaolong 蛟龍 can be parsed as two kinds of dragons or one. Some contrastive contexts clearly use the former meaning "jiao and long dragons"; the Zhuangzi
(17, tr. Watson 1968:185) parallels "the sea serpent or the dragon" with "the rhinoceros or the tiger." The latter meaning of "jiao dragon" is evident from usages such as the Guanzi
(1, tr. Visser 1913:77), "The kiao-lung is the god of the water animals. If he rides on the water, his soul is in full vigour, but when he loses water (if he is deprived of it), his soul declines. Therefore I (or they) say: 'If a kiao-lung gets water, his soul can be in full vigour'."
Schafer notes the problems with translating jiao as "dragon".
The mythological Shanhaijing "Classic of Mountains and Seas" mentions jiao and hujiao 虎蛟 "tiger jiao", but notably not jiaolong. The "Classic of Southern Mountains" (1, Visser 1913:76) records hujiao in the Yin River 泿水.
The commentary of Guo Pu
glosses hujiao as "a type of [long 龍] dragon that resembles a four-legged snake." The "Classic of Central Mountains" (5, tr. Birrell 2000:93, 97) records jiao in the Kuang River 貺水 and Lun River 淪水: "There are numerous alligators in the River Grant" and "The River Ripple contains numbers of alligators". Guo adds that the jiao "has a small head, narrow neck, white scales, is oviparous, can grow up to ten meters long, and eats people."
Wolfram Eberhard
(1968:378) quotes the (11th century CE) Moke huixi 墨客揮犀 for the "best definition" of a jiao, "looks like a snake with a tiger head, is several fathoms long, lives in brooks and rivers, and bellows like a bull; when it sees a human being it traps him with its stinking saliva, then pulls him into the water and sucks his blood from his armpits." He concludes (1968:378-9) that the jiao, which "occur in the whole of Central and South China", "is a special form of the snake as river god. The snake as river god or god of the ocean is typical for the coastal culture, particularly the sub-group of the Tan peoples."
Jiao 蛟 is sometimes translated as "flood dragon". The (c. 1105 CE) Yuhu qinghua 玉壺清話 (Carr 1990:128) says people in the southern state of Wu
called it fahong 發洪 "swell into a flood" because they believed flooding resulted when jiao hatched. The Chuci (13, tr. Hawkes 1985:255) uses the term shuijiao 水蛟 "water jiao": "Henceforth the water-serpents must be my companions, And dragon-spirits lie with me when I would rest."
, Crocodylus porosus" and tolong 鼉龍 "Chinese Alligator
, Alligator sinensis". Most early references describe the jiaolong as living in rivers, which fits not only this freshwater "Chinese alligator" but also the "Saltwater crocodile" that spends the tropical wet season in freshwater rivers and swamps. Comparing maximum lengths of 6 and 1.5 meters for this crocodile and alligator respectively, "Saltwater crocodile" seems more consistent with descriptions of jiao reaching lengths of several zhang 丈 "approximately 3.3 meters".
Three classical texts (Liji 6, tr. Legge 1885:1:277, Huainanzi
5, and Lüshi Chunqiu
6) repeat a sentence about capturing water creatures at the end of summer; 伐蛟取鼉登龜取黿 "attack the jiao 蛟, take the to 鼉 "alligator", present the gui 龜 "tortoise", and take the yuan 黿 "soft-shell turtle"."
Early texts frequently mention capturing jiao. The (ca. 111 CE) Hanshu (6, Carr 1990:128) records catching a jiao 蛟in 106 BCE. The (4th century CE) Shiyiji 拾遺記 has a jiao story about Emperor Zhao of Han
(r. 87-74 BCE). While fishing in the Wei River
, he
The historicity of such accounts can be dubious. The (ca. 109-91 BCE) Shiji biography of Emperor Gaozu of Han (r. 202-195 BCE) recounts a legend that his mother dreamed of a jiaolong before his birth.
dictionary defines jiao 蛟 as "A kind of dragon, a hornless dragon is called jiao. It explains that "if the number of fish in a pond reaches 3600, a jiao will come as their leader, and enable them to follow him and fly away." However, "if you place a fish trap in the water, the jiao will leave." According to the Chuci commentary of Wang Yi 王逸 (d. 158 CE), the jiao is a "hornless dragon" or a "small dragon", perhaps implying a young or immature dragon.
Note the pronunciation similarity between jiao 蛟 and jiao 角 "horn". Jiaolong 角龍 "horned dragon", which is the Chinese name for the Ceratops
dinosaur, occurs in Ge Hong
's Baopuzi
(10, tr. Ware 1966:170) "the horned dragon can no longer find a place to swim."
's Baopuzi 抱朴子 that jiao 蛟 means "dragon mother, dragoness" and qiu
虯 "horned dragon" means "dragon child, dragonet". However, the received edition of the Baopuzi does not include this statement. The (11th century CE) Piya
dictionary repeats this "female dragon" definition.
defines jiaolong as "scaly dragon; scaled dragon", using the word lin 鱗 "scales (of a fish, etc.)". Many later dictionaries copied this meaning, but it lacks textual corroboration.
made strong armor with skin from jiao sharks and hides from rhinoceros. Schafer (1973:26) suggests, "The Chinese lore about these southern krakens seems to have been borrowed from the indigenes of the monsoon coast."
s and stingray
s (see Elasmobranchii
). Schafer (1967:221) quotes a Song Dynasty
description, "The kău fish has the aspect of a round fan. Its mouth is square and is in its belly. There is a sting in its tail which is very poisonous and hurtful to men. Its skin can be made into sword grips."
鮫人) "mermaid" is a later meaning of jiao. This mythical southern mermaid
or merman
is first recorded in the (early 6th century CE) Shuyiji 遹異記 "Records of Strange Things".
These aquatic people supposedly spun a type of raw silk called jiaoxiao 蛟綃 "mermaid silk" or jiaonujuan 蛟女絹 "mermaid woman's silk". Schafer (1967:221) equates "jiao silk" with sea silk
, the rare fabric woven from byssus
filaments produced by Pinna
"pen shell" mollusks. Chinese myths also recorded this "silk" coming from shuiyang 水羊 "water sheep" or shuican 蠶水 "water silkworm".
Chinese dragon
Chinese dragons are legendary creatures in Chinese mythology and folklore, with mythic counterparts among Japanese, Korean, Vietnamese, Bhutanese, Western and Turkic dragons. In Chinese art, dragons are typically portrayed as long, scaled, serpentine creatures with four legs...
in Chinese mythology
Chinese mythology
Chinese mythology is a collection of cultural history, folktales, and religions that have been passed down in oral or written tradition. These include creation myths and legends and myths concerning the founding of Chinese culture and the Chinese state...
. Edward H. Schafer
Edward H. Schafer
Edward Hetzel Schafer, was a leading historian of Tang Dynasty China. He wrote ground-breaking works such as The Golden Peaches of Samarkand: A study of Tang exotics and The Vermilion Bird: T'ang images of the South. Schafer wrote his Ph.D...
describes the jiao.
Spiritually akin to the crocodile, and perhaps originally the same reptile, was a mysterious creature capable of many forms called the chiao (kău). Most often it was regarded as a kind of lung – a "dragon" as we say. But sometimes it was manlike, and sometimes it was merely a fish. All of its realizations were interchangeable. (1967:217-8)
蛟 Character
In traditional Chinese character classificationChinese character classification
All Chinese characters are logograms, but there are several derivative types. These include a handful which derive from pictograms and a number which are ideographic in origin, but the vast majority originated as phono-semantic compounds . In older literature, Chinese characters in general may be...
, jiao 蛟 is a "radical-phonetic" or "phono-semantic character", combining the "insect radical
Radical (Chinese character)
A Chinese radical is a component of a Chinese character. The term may variously refer to the original semantic element of a character, or to any semantic element, or, loosely, to any element whatever its origin or purpose...
" 虫 with a jiao 交 "cross; mix; mingle; mate with; exchange" phonetic. This 虫 radical is frequently used in characters for insects, worms, and reptiles, and occasionally for dragons (e.g., shen
Shen (clam-monster)
In Chinese mythology, the shen or chen is a shapeshifting dragon or sea monster believed to create mirages.-Meanings:Chinese classic texts use the word shen to mean "a large shellfish" that was associated with funerals and "an aquatic monster" that could change its shape, which was later...
蜃 and hong
Hong (rainbow-dragon)
Hong or jiang is a two-headed dragon in Chinese mythology, comparable with rainbow serpent legends in diverse cultures and mythologies.-Chinese "rainbow" names:...
虹). This phonetic jiao 交 (originally a pictograph of a person with crossed legs) is also used with the "fish radical" 魚 in jiao 鲛 "shark" (see below) and the "horse radical" 馬 in bo 駮, which is a variant Chinese character
Variant Chinese character
Variant Chinese characters are Chinese characters that are homophones and synonyms. Almost all variants are allographs in most circumstances, such as casual handwriting...
for bo 駁 "mixed colors; piebald; confused".
In the Japanese writing system
Japanese writing system
The modern Japanese writing system uses three main scripts:*Kanji, adopted Chinese characters*Kana, a pair of syllabaries , consisting of:...
, the kanji
Kanji
Kanji are the adopted logographic Chinese characters hanzi that are used in the modern Japanese writing system along with hiragana , katakana , Indo Arabic numerals, and the occasional use of the Latin alphabet...
蛟 can be read mizuchi
Mizuchi
was a Japanese dragon and water deity.The name mizuchi is written with several Japanese kanji, usually the Chinese characters for jiao 蛟 "4-legged dragon" and qiu 虬 or 虯 "hornless dragon"...
"a Japanese river dragon
Japanese dragon
Japanese dragons are diverse legendary creatures in Japanese mythology and folklore. Japanese dragon myths amalgamate native legends with imported stories about dragons from China, Korea and India. The style of the dragon was heavily influenced by the Chinese dragon...
" in native kun'yomi or kō in Sino-Japanese on'yomi (e.g., kōryō 蛟竜 "flood dragon: hidden genius" from jiaolong).
Etymology
Jiao 蛟's etymologyEtymology
Etymology is the study of the history of words, their origins, and how their form and meaning have changed over time.For languages with a long written history, etymologists make use of texts in these languages and texts about the languages to gather knowledge about how words were used during...
is obscure. Carr, using Bernhard Karlgren
Bernhard Karlgren
Klas Bernhard Johannes Karlgren was a Swedish sinologist and linguist who pioneered the study of Chinese historical phonology using modern comparative methods...
's reconstruction of Old Chinese
Old Chinese
The earliest known written records of the Chinese language were found at a site near modern Anyang identified as Yin, the last capital of the Shang dynasty, and date from about 1200 BC....
*kǒg 蛟, explains.
Most etymologies for jiao < *kǒg 蛟 are unsupported speculations upon meanings of its phonetic *kǒg 交 'cross; mix with; contact', e.g., the *kǒg 蛟 dragon can *kǒg 交 'join' its head and tail in order to capture prey, or moves in a *kǒg 交 'twisting' manner, or has *kǒg 交 'continuous' eyebrows. The only corroborated hypothesis takes *kǒg 交 'breed with' to mean *kǒg 蛟 indicates a dragon 'crossbreed; mixture'. Eberhard (1968:378) notes from an early time, 蛟 was considered an embodiment of the fish, snake, rhinoceros; or the tiger. (1990:126-7)
Compare the "tiger jiao" below. In addition, Carr cites Wen Yiduo
Wen Yiduo
Wen Yiduo , born Wén Jiāhuá , courtesy names Yǒusān , Youshan , was a Chinese poet and scholar.-Biography:Wen was born in Xishui County, Hubei. After receiving a traditional education he went on to continue studying at the Tsinghua University. In 1922, he traveled to the United States to study fine...
that jiaolong 交龍 "crossed dragons"' or jiaolong 蛟龍 were emblems of the mythological creators Fuxi and Nüwa
Nüwa
Nüwa is a goddess in ancient Chinese mythology best known for creating mankind and repairing the wall of heaven.-Primary sources:...
, who are represented as having a human's upper body and a dragon's tail.
Schuessler (2007:308) reconstructs modern jiāo 蛟 "scaly dragon", "alligator", or "mermaid" as Middle Chinese
Middle Chinese
Middle Chinese , also called Ancient Chinese by the linguist Bernhard Karlgren, refers to the Chinese language spoken during Southern and Northern Dynasties and the Sui, Tang, and Song dynasties...
kau and Old Chinese *krâu. He suggests possible Tibeto-Burman
Tibeto-Burman languages
The Tibeto-Burman languages are the non-Chinese members of the Sino-Tibetan language family, over 400 of which are spoken thoughout the highlands of southeast Asia, as well as lowland areas in Burma ....
etymological connections with Burmese
Burmese language
The Burmese language is the official language of Burma. Although the constitution officially recognizes it as the Myanmar language, most English speakers continue to refer to the language as Burmese. Burmese is the native language of the Bamar and related sub-ethnic groups of the Bamar, as well as...
khruB or khyuB "mermaid; serpent" and Tibetan
Tibetan language
The Tibetan languages are a cluster of mutually-unintelligible Tibeto-Burman languages spoken primarily by Tibetan peoples who live across a wide area of eastern Central Asia bordering the Indian subcontinent, including the Tibetan Plateau and the northern Indian subcontinent in Baltistan, Ladakh,...
klu "nāga
Naga
Naga or NAGA may refer to:* Nāga, a group of serpent deities in Hindu and Buddhist mythology.-People:* Nayan / Nayar/Nair people of Kerala Society* Naga people, a diverse ethnic identity in Northeast India...
; water spirits".
Usage
Chinese jiao 蛟 is more frequently used in the compoundCompound (linguistics)
In linguistics, a compound is a lexeme that consists of more than one stem. Compounding or composition is the word formation that creates compound lexemes...
jiaolong with the -long 龍 "dragon" suffix than by itself. Take, for example, familiar chengyu "set phrases; 4-character idioms". Jiaolong occurs in several such as jiaolongdeshui 蛟龍得水 (lit. jiao-dragon obtains water", from the Guanzi below) "in the most congenial surroundings; bold person getting a good opportunity" and jiaolongzhizhi 蛟龍之志 (jiao-dragon's ambition") "a person with great ambitions". Jiao occurs abbreviating jiaolong with feng abbreviating fenghuang
Fenghuang
Fenghuang are mythological birds of East Asia that reign over all other birds. The males are called Feng and the females Huang. In modern times, however, such a distinction of gender is often no longer made and the Feng and Huang are blurred into a single feminine entity so that the bird can be...
鳳凰 "Chinese phoenix" in tengjiaoqifeng 騰蛟起鳳 ("soaring jiao rising feng") "a rapidly rising literary/artistic talent; a genius".
Jiaolong occurs in Chinese toponyms. For example, the highest waterfall in Taiwan
Taiwan
Taiwan , also known, especially in the past, as Formosa , is the largest island of the same-named island group of East Asia in the western Pacific Ocean and located off the southeastern coast of mainland China. The island forms over 99% of the current territory of the Republic of China following...
is Jiaolong Dapu 蛟龍大瀑 "Flood Dragon Great Waterfall" in the Alishan
Alishan
The Alishan National Scenic Area is a mountain resort and natural preserve located in the mountains of Chiayi County in Taiwan. It is 415 km² in area. It includes, among other things, mountain wilderness, four villages, waterfalls, high altitude tea plantations, the Alishan Forest Railway ...
National Scenic Area.
The deep-sea submersible
Submersible
A submersible is a small vehicle designed to operate underwater. The term submersible is often used to differentiate from other underwater vehicles known as submarines, in that a submarine is a fully autonomous craft, capable of renewing its own power and breathing air, whereas a submersible is...
built and tested in 2010 by the China Ship Scientific Research Center is named Jiaolong (Broad 2010:A1).
Meanings
"Jiao < *kǒg 蛟 is defined with more meanings than any other Chinese draconym", writes Carr (1990:126), "(1) 'aquatic dragon', (2) 'crocodile; alligator', (3) 'hornless dragon', (4) 'dragoness', (5) 'scaled dragon', ( 6 ) 'shark' [= 鮫], and (7) 'mermaid'."In some textual usages, differentiating these jiao meanings is problematic. For instance, jiaolong 蛟龍 can be parsed as two kinds of dragons or one. Some contrastive contexts clearly use the former meaning "jiao and long dragons"; the Zhuangzi
Zhuangzi
Zhuangzi was an influential Chinese philosopher who lived around the 4th century BCE during the Warring States Period, a period corresponding to the philosophical summit of Chinese thought — the Hundred Schools of Thought, and is credited with writing—in part or in whole—a work known by his name,...
(17, tr. Watson 1968:185) parallels "the sea serpent or the dragon" with "the rhinoceros or the tiger." The latter meaning of "jiao dragon" is evident from usages such as the Guanzi
Guanzi
Guanzi may refer to:*Guan Zhong , Chinese Legalist philosopher and politician*Guanzi , Chinese text named after Guan Zhong...
(1, tr. Visser 1913:77), "The kiao-lung is the god of the water animals. If he rides on the water, his soul is in full vigour, but when he loses water (if he is deprived of it), his soul declines. Therefore I (or they) say: 'If a kiao-lung gets water, his soul can be in full vigour'."
Schafer notes the problems with translating jiao as "dragon".
The word "dragon" has already been appropriated to render the broader term lungChinese dragonChinese dragons are legendary creatures in Chinese mythology and folklore, with mythic counterparts among Japanese, Korean, Vietnamese, Bhutanese, Western and Turkic dragons. In Chinese art, dragons are typically portrayed as long, scaled, serpentine creatures with four legs...
. "KrakenKrakenKraken are legendary sea monsters of giant proportions said to have dwelt off the coasts of Norway and Iceland.In modern German, Krake means octopus but can also refer to the legendary Kraken...
" is good since it suggests a powerful oceanic monster. … We might name the kău a "basiliskBasiliskIn European bestiaries and legends, a basilisk is a legendary reptile reputed to be king of serpents and said to have the power to cause death with a single glance...
" or a "wyvernWyvernA wyvern or wivern is a legendary winged reptilian creature with a dragon's head, two legs , and a barbed tail. The wyvern is found in heraldry. There exists a purely sea-dwelling variant, termed the Sea-Wyvern which has a fish tail in place of a barbed dragon's tail...
" or a "cockatriceCockatriceA cockatrice is a legendary creature, essentially a two-legged dragon with a rooster's head. "An ornament in the drama and poetry of the Elizabethans", Laurence Breiner described it...
." Or perhaps we should call it by the name of its close kin, the double-headed crocodile-jawed Indian makara, which, in ninth-century Java at least, took on some of the attributes of the rain-bringing lung of China. (1967:218)
Aquatic dragon
Jiao and jiaolong were names for a legendary river dragon.The mythological Shanhaijing "Classic of Mountains and Seas" mentions jiao and hujiao 虎蛟 "tiger jiao", but notably not jiaolong. The "Classic of Southern Mountains" (1, Visser 1913:76) records hujiao in the Yin River 泿水.
The River Bank rises here and flows south to empty into the sea. There are tiger-crocodiles in it. Their bodies look like a fish's, but they have a snake's tail and they make a noise like mandarin ducks. If you eat some, you won't suffer from a swollen abscess, and it can be used to treat piles. (tr. Birrell 2000:8)
The commentary of Guo Pu
Guo Pu
Guo Pu , courtesy name Jingchun , born in Yuncheng, Shanxi, was a Chinese writer.-Biography:Guo Pu was a Taoist mystic, geomancer, collector of strange tales, editor of old texts, and erudite commentator...
glosses hujiao as "a type of [long 龍] dragon that resembles a four-legged snake." The "Classic of Central Mountains" (5, tr. Birrell 2000:93, 97) records jiao in the Kuang River 貺水 and Lun River 淪水: "There are numerous alligators in the River Grant" and "The River Ripple contains numbers of alligators". Guo adds that the jiao "has a small head, narrow neck, white scales, is oviparous, can grow up to ten meters long, and eats people."
Wolfram Eberhard
Wolfram Eberhard
Wolfram Eberhard was a professor Emeritus of Sociology at the University of California, Berkeley focused on Western, Central and Eastern Asian societies.-Biography:...
(1968:378) quotes the (11th century CE) Moke huixi 墨客揮犀 for the "best definition" of a jiao, "looks like a snake with a tiger head, is several fathoms long, lives in brooks and rivers, and bellows like a bull; when it sees a human being it traps him with its stinking saliva, then pulls him into the water and sucks his blood from his armpits." He concludes (1968:378-9) that the jiao, which "occur in the whole of Central and South China", "is a special form of the snake as river god. The snake as river god or god of the ocean is typical for the coastal culture, particularly the sub-group of the Tan peoples."
Jiao 蛟 is sometimes translated as "flood dragon". The (c. 1105 CE) Yuhu qinghua 玉壺清話 (Carr 1990:128) says people in the southern state of Wu
Wu (state)
The State of Wu , also known as Gou Wu or Gong Wu , was one of the vassal states during the Western Zhou Dynasty and the Spring and Autumn Period. The State of Wu was located at the mouth of the Yangtze River east of the State of Chu. Considered a semi-barbarian state by ancient Chinese...
called it fahong 發洪 "swell into a flood" because they believed flooding resulted when jiao hatched. The Chuci (13, tr. Hawkes 1985:255) uses the term shuijiao 水蛟 "water jiao": "Henceforth the water-serpents must be my companions, And dragon-spirits lie with me when I would rest."
Crocodile or Alligator
Besides a legendary dragon, jiao and jiaolong anciently named a four-legged water creature, identified as both "alligator" and "crocodile". The "Dragons and Snakes" section of the (1578 CE) Bencao Gangmu, which is a comprehensive Chinese materia medica, differentiates (tr. Read 1934:314-318) between jiaolong 蛟龍 (or e 鱷) "Saltwater CrocodileSaltwater Crocodile
The saltwater crocodile, also known as estuarine or Indo-Pacific crocodile, is the largest of all living reptiles...
, Crocodylus porosus" and tolong 鼉龍 "Chinese Alligator
Chinese Alligator
The Chinese alligator or Alligator Alligator sinensis) is one of two known living species of Alligator, a genus in the family Alligatoridae. The Chinese alligator is native only to China...
, Alligator sinensis". Most early references describe the jiaolong as living in rivers, which fits not only this freshwater "Chinese alligator" but also the "Saltwater crocodile" that spends the tropical wet season in freshwater rivers and swamps. Comparing maximum lengths of 6 and 1.5 meters for this crocodile and alligator respectively, "Saltwater crocodile" seems more consistent with descriptions of jiao reaching lengths of several zhang 丈 "approximately 3.3 meters".
Three classical texts (Liji 6, tr. Legge 1885:1:277, Huainanzi
Huainanzi
The Huáinánzǐ is a 2nd century BCE Chinese philosophical classic from the Han dynasty that blends Daoist, Confucianist, and Legalist concepts, including theories such as Yin-Yang and the Five Phases. It was written under the patronage of Liu An, Prince of Huainan, a legendarily prodigious author...
5, and Lüshi Chunqiu
Lüshi Chunqiu
The Lüshi Chunqiu is an encyclopedic Chinese classic text compiled around 239 BCE under the patronage of the Qin Dynasty Chancellor Lü Buwei...
6) repeat a sentence about capturing water creatures at the end of summer; 伐蛟取鼉登龜取黿 "attack the jiao 蛟, take the to 鼉 "alligator", present the gui 龜 "tortoise", and take the yuan 黿 "soft-shell turtle"."
Early texts frequently mention capturing jiao. The (ca. 111 CE) Hanshu (6, Carr 1990:128) records catching a jiao 蛟in 106 BCE. The (4th century CE) Shiyiji 拾遺記 has a jiao story about Emperor Zhao of Han
Emperor Zhao of Han
Emperor Zhao of Han was an emperor of the Chinese Han Dynasty from 87 BC to 74 BC.Emperor Zhao was the youngest son of Emperor Wu of Han. By the time Zhao was born, Emperor Wu was already 62. Zhao ascended the throne after the death of Emperor Wu in 87 BC. He was only 8 years old...
(r. 87-74 BCE). While fishing in the Wei River
Wei River
The Wei River is a major river in west-central China's Gansu and Shaanxi provinces. It is the largest tributary of the Yellow River and very important in the early development of Chinese civilization....
, he
caught a white kiao, three chang [ten meters] long, which resembled a big snake, but had no scaly armour The Emperor said: 'This is not a lucky omen', and ordered the Ta kwan to make a condiment of it. Its flesh was purple, its bones were blue, and its taste was very savoury and pleasant. (tr. Visser 1913:79)
The historicity of such accounts can be dubious. The (ca. 109-91 BCE) Shiji biography of Emperor Gaozu of Han (r. 202-195 BCE) recounts a legend that his mother dreamed of a jiaolong before his birth.
Hornless dragon
The (121 CE) Shuowen JieziShuowen Jiezi
The Shuōwén Jiězì was an early 2nd century CE Chinese dictionary from the Han Dynasty. Although not the first comprehensive Chinese character dictionary , it was still the first to analyze the structure of the characters and to give the rationale behind them , as well as the first to use the...
dictionary defines jiao 蛟 as "A kind of dragon, a hornless dragon is called jiao. It explains that "if the number of fish in a pond reaches 3600, a jiao will come as their leader, and enable them to follow him and fly away." However, "if you place a fish trap in the water, the jiao will leave." According to the Chuci commentary of Wang Yi 王逸 (d. 158 CE), the jiao is a "hornless dragon" or a "small dragon", perhaps implying a young or immature dragon.
Note the pronunciation similarity between jiao 蛟 and jiao 角 "horn". Jiaolong 角龍 "horned dragon", which is the Chinese name for the Ceratops
Ceratops
Ceratops is a dubious genus of ceratopsian dinosaur which lived during the Late Cretaceous. Its fossils have been found in Montana. Although poorly known, Ceratops is important in the history of dinosaurs, since it is the type species for which both Ceratopsia and Ceratopsidae are named...
dinosaur, occurs in Ge Hong
Ge Hong
Ge Hong , courtesy name Zhichuan , was a minor southern official during the Jìn Dynasty of China, best known for his interest in Daoism, alchemy, and techniques of longevity...
's Baopuzi
Baopuzi
The Baopuzi , written by the Jin Dynasty scholar Ge Hong 葛洪 , is divided into esoteric Neipian 內篇 "Inner Chapters" and exoteric Waipian 外篇 "Outer Chapters". The Daoist Inner Chapters discuss topics such as techniques for xian 仙 "immortality; transcendence", Chinese alchemy, elixirs, and demonology...
(10, tr. Ware 1966:170) "the horned dragon can no longer find a place to swim."
Female dragon
Jiao meaning "female dragon; dragon mother" is first recorded in the (c. 810 CE) Buddhist dictionary Yiqie jingyinyi 一切經音義 (19). It defines jiaolong as "a fish with a snake's tail," notes the Sanskrit name guanpiluo 官毘羅 "kumbhīra; crocodile; alligator", and quotes Ge HongGe Hong
Ge Hong , courtesy name Zhichuan , was a minor southern official during the Jìn Dynasty of China, best known for his interest in Daoism, alchemy, and techniques of longevity...
's Baopuzi 抱朴子 that jiao 蛟 means "dragon mother, dragoness" and qiu
Qiulong
Qiulong or qiu was a Chinese dragon that is contradictorily defined as "horned dragon" and "hornless dragon".-Name:This Chinese dragon name can be pronounced qiu or jiu and written 虯 or 虬.-Characters:...
虯 "horned dragon" means "dragon child, dragonet". However, the received edition of the Baopuzi does not include this statement. The (11th century CE) Piya
Piya
The Piya was a Chinese dictionary compiled by Song Dynasty scholar Lu Dian . He wrote this Erya supplement along with his Erya Xinyi commentary...
dictionary repeats this "female dragon" definition.
Scaly dragon
The (3rd century CE) GuangyaGuangya
The Guangya was an early 3rd century CE Chinese dictionary, edited by Zhang Yi during the Three Kingdoms period. It was later called the Boya owing to naming taboo on Yang Guang , which was the birth name of Emperor Yang of Sui.Zhang Yi wrote the Guangya as a supplement to the centuries older...
defines jiaolong as "scaly dragon; scaled dragon", using the word lin 鱗 "scales (of a fish, etc.)". Many later dictionaries copied this meaning, but it lacks textual corroboration.
Shark
Jiao 蛟 was an interchangeable graphic loan character for jiao 鮫 "shark", usually called the jiaoyu 鮫魚 or shayu 鯊魚. Jiaoge 鮫革 (with ge "hide; leather") means "sharkskin". Several texts (Hanshi waizhuan 韓詩外傳, Shangzi, Xunzi, Shiji, and Huainanzi) record that soldiers from the southern state of ChuChu (state)
The State of Chu was a Zhou Dynasty vassal state in present-day central and southern China during the Spring and Autumn period and Warring States Period . Its ruling house had the surname Nai , and clan name Yan , later evolved to surname Mi , and clan name Xiong...
made strong armor with skin from jiao sharks and hides from rhinoceros. Schafer (1973:26) suggests, "The Chinese lore about these southern krakens seems to have been borrowed from the indigenes of the monsoon coast."
Stingray
Jiao fish named both sharkShark
Sharks are a type of fish with a full cartilaginous skeleton and a highly streamlined body. The earliest known sharks date from more than 420 million years ago....
s and stingray
Stingray
The stingrays are a group of rays, which are cartilaginous fishes related to sharks. They are classified in the suborder Myliobatoidei of the order Myliobatiformes, and consist of eight families: Hexatrygonidae , Plesiobatidae , Urolophidae , Urotrygonidae , Dasyatidae , Potamotrygonidae The...
s (see Elasmobranchii
Elasmobranchii
Elasmobranchii is a subclass of Chondrichthyes or cartilaginous fish, that includes the sharks and the rays and skates .-Evolution:...
). Schafer (1967:221) quotes a Song Dynasty
Song Dynasty
The Song Dynasty was a ruling dynasty in China between 960 and 1279; it succeeded the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms Period, and was followed by the Yuan Dynasty. It was the first government in world history to issue banknotes or paper money, and the first Chinese government to establish a...
description, "The kău fish has the aspect of a round fan. Its mouth is square and is in its belly. There is a sting in its tail which is very poisonous and hurtful to men. Its skin can be made into sword grips."
Mermaid
Jiaoren 蛟人 "dragon person" or 鮫人 "shark person" (cf. Japanese samebitoSamebito
The is a creature that appears in "The Gratitude of the Samebito", a short story by Lafcadio Hearn. It is described as a humanoid with inky black skin, emerald green eyes, a face like a demon's, and a beard like a dragon's....
鮫人) "mermaid" is a later meaning of jiao. This mythical southern mermaid
Mermaid
A mermaid is a mythological aquatic creature with a female human head, arms, and torso and the tail of a fish. A male version of a mermaid is known as a "merman" and in general both males and females are known as "merfolk"...
or merman
Merman
Mermen are mythical male equivalents of mermaids – legendary creatures who have the form of a human from the waist up and are fish-like from the waist down.-Mythology:...
is first recorded in the (early 6th century CE) Shuyiji 遹異記 "Records of Strange Things".
In the midst of the South Sea are the houses of the kău people who dwell in the water like fish, but have not given up weaving at the loom. Their eyes have the power to weep, but what they bring forth is pearls. (tr. Schafer 1967:220, cf. Eberhard 1968:378)
These aquatic people supposedly spun a type of raw silk called jiaoxiao 蛟綃 "mermaid silk" or jiaonujuan 蛟女絹 "mermaid woman's silk". Schafer (1967:221) equates "jiao silk" with sea silk
Sea silk
Sea silk is an extremely fine, rare and valuable fabric produced from the long silky filaments or byssus secreted by a gland in the foot of several bivalve molluscs by which they attach themselves to the sea bed....
, the rare fabric woven from byssus
Byssus
Byssus means both a silky filament by which certain molluscs attach themselves to hard surfaces, and a rare fabric, also called sea silk and its fibre source.-Word:...
filaments produced by Pinna
Pinna (genus)
Pinna is a genus of pen shells. It is a cosmopolitan genus of bivalve molluscs characterized by elongated, wedge-shaped shells which most commonly stand point-first in the sea bottom in which they live, anchored by a net of byssus threads....
"pen shell" mollusks. Chinese myths also recorded this "silk" coming from shuiyang 水羊 "water sheep" or shuican 蠶水 "water silkworm".
External links
- 蛟 entry, Chinese Etymology
- 蛟 entry page, 1716 CE Kangxi DictionaryKangxi dictionaryThe Kangxi Dictionary was the standard Chinese dictionary during the 18th and 19th centuries. The Kangxi Emperor of the Manchu Qing Dynasty ordered its compilation in 1710. The creator innovated greatly by reusing and confirming the new Zihui system of 596 radicals, since then known as 596 Kangxi...
- Flood Dragon Waterfall, Alishan National Scenic Area
