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A Dragon Lantern
The fifteenth day of the first month of the Chinese year is known as the “Feast of Lanterns.” For centuries Chinese in many parts of the country have observed the evening of the fifteenth with lantern parades. One of the most spectacular of the lanterns usually exhibited is made in the form of a huge dragon. Before the Republic was established dragon lanterns were not infrequently seventy-five to one hundred feet in length. These were supported by from twenty-five to thirty men. Occasionally those lanterns were used at other times of the year, more particularly on the fifth of the fifth month of the lunar calendar, a holiday known as the “Dragon Boat Festival.”
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CHAPTER NINE
THE HOLD OF THE DRAGON ON CHINA
The word “dragon” occupies a prominent place in the common phraseology of the country. Some illustrations of this fact are as follows:
Deaf people are called “lung,” a character formed by the combination of the dragon and ear characters signifying a person with ears like a dragon (which we are informed is deaf).