Mike Pflueger
Asian Dragons: Chinese

I have had several requests for this information.  Most of it comes from
_Dragons_ by Peter Hogarth and Val Clercy.

The Chinese dragons were ruled by the Lung Wang, or Dragon Kings,
of which there were four.  The dragons of China were patron
divinities of rivers, lakes and the sea.  They were sort of like
major water elemental in this respect.  If pleased they would give rain,
but if displeased they could withhold rain or cause storms and floods.
They had a great pearl which they carried in thier throats, and lived in
magnificent underwater palaces.  They were (or, I suppose, are) deathly
afraid of centipedes (who wouldn't be--nasty things).

There are four major kinds of Chinese dragon:  the t'ien lung, who support
the mansion of the gods; the shen lung who bring rain; the ti lung who
control rivers; and the fu-ts'ang lung who guard hidden treasures and
deposits of precious metal.

Male dragons have undulating, concave and steep horns.  Female dragons
have straight noses, round manes, thin scales and a strong tail.  Some
dragons lay their eggs on hillsides, but most lay them near water.  Some
eggs take 1000 years to hatch.  When they do, water will run from the eggs
then the parents will cry out.  The cry of the male makes the wind rise,
while the cry of the female makes the wind calm.  This has a tendency to
screw up local climactic conditions, resulting in thunder and lightning,
darkness and torrential rain.  The eggs then break open and teh young launch
themselves into the sky.  I'm not really sure how the young'uns do this,
though, because it seems they usually hatch in the form of small water
snakes and lizards.  They grow rapidly and visibly toward maturity, as long
as you think it is rapid to take 500 years to turn into a Kiao (I think
this is a scaled dragon), 1000 more years to become a lung (a proper 
dragon), 500 more to become a kioh-lung (horned dragon), and a further 1000
years to become a ying-lung (winged dragon).

There are several subdivisions of dragon.  K'iu-lung have horns (I am not
sure if this is the same os the stage of maturity, kioh-lung), p'an-
lung do not ascend to heaven (who knows, maybe this refers to their slow,
dumb European cousins), ch'i-lung have no wings and  are red, white and
green (I assume these are dragons that never grow wings as opposed to dragons
that have not yet reached maturity).  Oh, by the way, k'iu-lung are blue.

And speaking of color, dragons can be black, white, red or yellow, with
yellow being superior (and, I suppose, black being the most inferior).  
Dragons have four legs and a long, sinous body with a snakelike tail.  Its
horns resemble those of a stage, its head resembles that of a camel, its 
eyes resemble those of a demon (or a rabbit, presumably because they glow
red), its nech that of a snake, its belly a clam, its scales those of a 
carp, its claws those of an eagle, its soles those of a tiger, and its ears
those of a cow.

Only ying-lung have wings.  Other dragons have a large lump on their head
called a ch'ih-muh that lets them fly.  Those that don't have these (p'an
lung?) carry a wand (po-shan) that lets them levitate.

(I have wondered if the ch'ih-muh might be an overdeveloped pineal gland.
After all, we still haven't figured out what the damn thing does, and some
people think is is the source of psychic power.)

Imperial dragons have five claws.  Lesser dragons have three or four.
Dragons have excellent vision and are able to spot a straw from 100 miles
away.  We are unsure about their hearing:  reports vary from those of 
deafness to excellent hearing.  

Dragons can shapechange except when being born, sleeping, lustful or angry,
which suggests that it takes some concentration (not to mention bringing
up the question of what the heck a dragon thinks he is going to do with 
a virgin--maybe European dragons have overcome this problem).  One became
a beautiful woman and apparently joined the court of the Hsia dynasty.  I
hear she spent her time munching suitors.  Dragons have also been known to 
turn into fish, snakes, dogs, rats and cows.

Dragons are said to like precious stones and roasted swallows but to be afraid
of the leaves of the wang plant, leaves of the lien tree, quintuple colored
silk thread, wax, iron and centipedes.  

Dragons have blue bones and purple meat and are apparently yummy to eat
(yeh, like anyone knows).  In ethe East, dragon teeth and saliva are used
in medicine (in the West it is usually the blood).  Bowdered dragon bones 
cure dysentery, gallstones, infaltile fever and convulsions, boils of the 
bowels, intestinal ulcers, paralysis of the legs, the illnesses of pregnant
women, remittant fever and bleeding noses and ears.  Their shed skin glows
in the dark.  Dragon fat can be used for asbestos-wicked candles that light
up the countryside for 100 miles.  Fat is also good to waterproof silk.
The teeth cure epilepsy and fits, convulsions, madness, headaches, liver
disease, melancholy and possession by demons.  The brain is also good for 
dysentary.  The saliva is used as a fixative in perfume manufacture
(similar to ambergris) and can sometimes be found floating on the sea.

Dragons could grant the ability to tell the future, and they could get fish
to dance for people.

Dragons are notoriously lewd and are fond of women (which brings up the 
shapechanging question again).

Dragons could be induced to make rain by certain ceremonies.