Dragon Gateway
Within the main entrance to Nanking’s Examination Hall, where the Master’s Degree was earned, stood a long “spirit wall.” Upon the front of this structure was painted a dragon gate, beneath which was shown a carp changing into a dragon. A Bachelor of Arts, according to China’s ancient system of education, upon becoming a Master, was congratulated by his friends as having passed through the “Dragon Gate.” The implication was that it was as difficult for a Bachelor of Arts to become a Master as for a carp to be transformed into a dragon.
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All true dragons are of two kinds: those which are such by birth and those which become dragons by transformation from fish of the carp species. The transformed variety become dragons by leaping up the waters of a certain cataract upon a western mountain stream. Large numbers of carp swim once each year, we learn, to this waterfall [[19]]known as the “Dragon’s Gate.” Here under the cataract they flounder about, jumping and springing up out of the swirling waters; a few of them succeed in getting over the falls to the higher waters above. Those which are successful in this effort become dragons. After the story of this strange occurrence became known to the public, it was incorporated into the life of the people in a popular saying, and scholars who succeeded in passing the great triennial literary examinations were said to have “passed the Dragon Gate.” The use of this figure was doubtless to illustrate the difficulty of passing the examinations, for it implied that it was as difficult a task for a man to succeed at these examinations as it was for the carp to leap up over the falls. This figure has, in addition, the happy inference that even as the carp, an ordinary fish, might become a mighty dragon, just so by this supreme effort a scholar might become a master of arts, thus placing the value of the transformation on a very high scale.
One ancient authority tells us that there is a class of these great saurians which are known as “lazy dragons.” These do not like to exert themselves in the task of directing clouds which carry rain over the surface of the earth. They sometimes make themselves small in size, drop [[20]]to the surface of the earth and hide in trees, under roofs of houses, and even in the clothing of unsuspecting countrymen. The Thunder God, learning of their desertion from their posts of duty, sends his messengers to search for them and when he discovers their location, kills them with thunderbolts during an electric storm, after the manner of Zeus. This explains to many an unsophisticated man the frequent destruction of life and property during thunderstorms. An epithet that in some parts of the country is often hurled at lazy people is “Lan Lung,” or “lazy dragon.” [[21]]
The Dragon Stone
In the city of Kaifengfu, Honan, the first capital of the Sung emperors, is a sacred building known as the “Dragon Pavilion.” Within this structure, which stands on an eminence high above most of the buildings of the city, is a large basaltic stone known as the “Dragon Throne.” This is cut in the form of a cube of about six feet in each dimension and rests to-day under the shrine of the Pearly Emperor. Nine hundred years ago the Sung emperors doubtlessly placed their lacquered thrones upon its upper surface. In order to protect it from vandal hands, the historic stone is now incased within wooden walls, which form a cavelike room about it. Fourteen dragons in deep relief surround the outer edge: five on the front and back faces, and two on either end. Visitors must use candles in order to see at all in the inky darkness. Because of the narrow quarters no photograph can be taken. This drawing by a Kaifengfu artist was made under the greatest difficulties and is probably the first reproduction ever attempted.
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