Chinese Dragon King's Nine Sons
2024 is the year of the dragon. The Chinese Dragon is a legendary creature. All legendary stories about Chinese dragons are from the sky. In Chinese the sky is the place of the heaven. The image of dragon is blurred, misty, mystic, occulted, noble and untouchable. Dragon becomes the symbol of power from heaven. The Chinese emperor was considered the son of heaven. An emperor has the authority to send command to Dragons. One Chinese story mentioned an emperor killed a dragon in his dream. After 581 AD, Chinese emperors began to wear imperial robes with dragon symbols. During the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911 AD), the dragon can be seen everywhere on the roofs, doors, pillars, bridges, utensils in the Forbidden City. The most powerful dragon is the five-clawed dragon. It appears only on the yellow imperial robe. Because of this, Dragon is one of most auspicious animals in China.
Chinese Dragon King has Nine Sons & the legendary story
Chinese didn't know too much about the Nine Dragons until Ming Dynasty (1368-1644 AD). There is more than one version of the Nine Dragons stories. One story is the following.
The Dragon King in the heaven sent its nine sons to help the first emperor to conquer China. After completing the mission, nine dragons were preparing their journey to return to heaven. But the emperor wanted them to stay and played a trick on the most powerful dragon, the 6th dragon. The emperor asked the 6th son to carry a magic stele with a carved inscription, which could suppress any ghost, spirit or evil creature. The 6th dragon couldn't move under the magic stele, and all of his other brothers wouldn't leave without the 6th dragon. As a result of this, nine dragons wouldn't work for the emperor anymore. They decided to no longer show their dragon identities and turned themselves into evil creatures. Since then, the nine dragons still stay in China.
- The 1st son loves music. It becomes a decoration for music instrument
- The 2nd son loves fighting. It's good decoration for the handles of weapons
- The 3rd son loves adventure and keeping guard. It's a symbol of safety and peace
- The 4th son loves howling. The symbol can be found on the big bells
- The 5th son loves quietness, fire and smoke. Its image is often found in temples
- The 6th son loves to carry heavy stuff. It is a symbol of longevity and good luck
- The 7th son loves to seek justice. Its symbol is around law's court or jail
- The 8th son loves literature. It's a symbol of knowledge or education
- The 9th son loves water. It's a symbol to prevent fire disasters
Dragon Philosophy, I-Ching and Chinese Astrology