Jorge Luis Borges, in his Book of the Imaginary Beings, explains that “the Chinese cosmology teaches us that the Ten Thousand Beings (the world) are born from the rhythmical game between two complementary and eternal principles, which are the Yin and the Yang. The concentration of the dark, passivity, numbers and the cold correspond to the Yin; growth, light, impetus, numbers and the heat correspond to the Yang. Symbols of the Yin are the woman, the Earth, the orange, the valleys, the rivers, and the tiger; the Yang is represented by the man, the sky, the mountains, and the dragons”.

In China the Dragon is associated to the white color or warm colors, like the Yellow, that symbolizes the purity and the light, in addition to the death. It is needed to indicate that the Eastern meaning of the death is positive, diametrically moved away from the tragic connotation that it acquires at the West. The identification of the dragon with these colors is based on the belief that it was a kind animal and was member of the group composed by four magical animals: the Phoenix, the Turtle and the Unicorn.

Mythological stories considered this fabulous animal to be the father of the old emperors. One said that one of the original dragons arose from the Yellow River and it told the monarchs about the famous circular scheme that symbolizes the harmonic game of the Yin and the Yang.

It must be emphasized that the I Ching: Canon of the Dragon Mutations can be considered like an allegory to wisdom.

THE DRAGON COLORS

The Chinese dragons adopted different colors according to the circumstances that they had to represent. They appeared as black dragons to reveal the arrival of Destruction, while the yellow dragons appeared for Death. On the contrary, the blue dragons communicated the birth of a famous leader. One said that when Confucius was born, approximately at the year 550 BC., two blue dragons flew over the house in which the event took place.

Each river or lake had a protective dragon, according to Korean mythology. At the northern and central zones of China, dragons were considered rain divinities that watered the rice fields and were able to create clouds with the exhalation of their breath. In addition, they could generate terrible twisters, or destroy clouds with their claws and, after tearing them to shreds, they could create horrible tempests.

Documents that go back to the year 503 BC., indicate that two dragons fought in the proximities of a lagoon. They breathed fire and expulsed a thick mist that left the Liang city in shadows.

During centuries, popular mythology maintained that the stones and pebbles in the streams located between mountains (valleys) were dragon eggs. Whenever those eggs were hit by lightning, small dragons were released and flew to the sky.

During centuries, the Dragon was the imperial emblem. The emperor throne was known as the Dragon Throne; his face was called the Dragon Face. In order to announce that the Chinese Emperor was dead, it was announced that he ascended the skies by riding a dragon.