Seeking Kung Fu Knowledge

December 19, 2005 5:30 PM

What can you tell me about sheng hun kung fu? I'd also appreciate some info on the role of dragons in Chinese history (e.g. are Chinese dragons generally considered benevolent?)
posted by iced_borsch to sports, hobbies, & recreation (5 answers total)

I don't think they played much of a part in Chinese 'history', maybe in stories and whatnot. Most Chinese intellectuals were Daoists. (also spelled taoist). Or Buddhists.
posted by delmoi at 7:34 PM on December 19, 2005

I don't think they played much of a part in Chinese 'history'

To clarify: History in terms of how dragons are traditionally represented in, say, Chinese architecture, folk art, folk tales, symbolism, literature, etc.

Thank you for your insight.
posted by iced_borsch at 8:15 PM on December 19, 2005

http://www.theserenedragon.net/Tales/china.html

http://www.chinapage.com/dragon1.html

http://www.cic.sfu.ca/cchf/dragonInChina.html
posted by tangerine at 9:45 PM on December 19, 2005

If I may tie things together prematurely, I know a little bit about the role of the dragon in martial arts. The dragon was the only mythical member of the five Shaolin animal archetypes. The Shaolin monks studies the movements of animals and derived offensive and defensive techniques from observation. Needless to say, they could not observe dragons, but developed dragon based techniques based on imagination. The dragon was the only animal who could fight in air, water, or on land, making it a very special creature indeed. You may recall that Chinese dragons are represented as very long, flowing, and almost spiral in their movements. Shaolin dragon movements often use spinning motions. This is impressive looking, and sometimes is necessary for taking on multiple opponents, but is risky against a single opponent.
posted by ilsa at 10:23 PM on December 19, 2005

This is probably already explained in the links above, but my personal and not terribly comprehensive knowledge says that dragons in chinese culture seem to combine three facets:

(1) ritualistic forces--less like real creatures, but more like an idea of order itself, for example with regards to cyclical patterns of rainfall.

(2) symbols--five fingers = emperor?

(3) civilized dudes. If you look at the stories, dragons are usually encountered in their mode as humans.
posted by kensanway at 10:28 PM on December 19, 2005