Dragon asa culture symbol in Chinese culture.docVIP

Dragon as a Cultural Symbol in Chinese Culture 龙的文化象征 专业：_______________ 姓名：_______________ 班级：_______________ 2012年7月5日 Dragon as a Cultural Symbol in Chinese Culture I. Introduction. China is an old civilization with 5,000 years of splendid traditional culture. Chinese culture is universally acknowledged as the oldest continuous culture in the world. Though in history China was more than once under the rule of border ethnic minorities, the essential qualities of Chinese culture remained unchanged. Chinese culture is unique in that it flourished while absorbing the cultures of those ethnic minorities. Nowadays, there are many people of the western countries who celebrate the Spring Festival, the most important festival of China. However, with the communication of different cultures, a phenomenon appears at the same time. What’s the phenomenon? It’s that there are more and more people who start to address Chinese Long as dragon, including Chinese. In fact, with the development of the whole world, as Chinese people, not only should we absorb other cultures’ essences, but we should persist in and encourage our own particular, unique culture. In the traditional Chinese culture, Long is the symbol of Chinese culture, is also the symbol of Chinese spirit, and even is an important complex of nation. Long is the Chinese totem. As Chinese people, as descendents of Long, what should we do, addressing Long as dragon or Long, throwing away or developing and expecting our traditional, unique culture—the culture of Chinese Long ? II. Embodiments of Chinese Long in folkway culture Since China had been under the rule of feudalism for thousands of years, “power” and “monopoly” were the first priorities for the whole state. At that time, Long was also monopolized by emperors, just because Long was the symbol of power. However, from ancient times to now, Long is always considered as a god and a lucky symbol in the folkway culture, for Long can bring harvest and w