The Cultural Comparison of Chinese Loong and Western Dragon.docx

The Cultural Comparison of Chinese Loong and Western Dragon.docx

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TheCulturalComparisonofChineseLoongandWesternDragon

Contents

I.Introduction……………………………………………………………………………………1

II.TheOriginofChineseLoongandWesternDragon…………………………………………..2

A.TheOriginofChineseLoong……………………………………………………………….2

B.TheOriginofWesternDragon………………………………………………………………2

III.TheCulturalComparisonBetweenChineseLoongandWesternDragon…………………..3

A.TheSimilaritiesofChineseLoongandWesternDragon……………………………………3

1.TheSimilaritiesofTheirArchetypes…………………………………………………….3

2.ThePartialSimilaritiesofLoongandDragoninAppearance…………………………...4

3.HavingSomeSimilarAbilities…………………………………………………………..4

B.TheDiscrepanciesBetweenChineseLoongandWesternDragon………………………….4

1.DifferentAppearances…………………………………………………………………...4

2.DifferentCulturalConnotationsandSymbolicMeanings………………………………5

3.People’sDifferentAttitudesTowardChineseLoongandWesternDragon……………..7

4.DifferentUsesofLoongandDragoninChineseandEnglish…………………………..8

5.DifferentTranslationsofLoongandDragoninChineseandEnglish…………………..9

IV.TheCausesoftheCulturalDifferencesBetweenChineseLoongandWesternDragon…………………………………………………………………………….................11

A.TheGeographicalEnvironmentDifferencesoftheOriginofChineseandWesternCivilizations………………………………………………………………………………....11

B.TheIdeologicalDifferencesofChinaandWesternCountries……………………………..11

V.Conclusion…………………………………………………………………………………...12

Notes……………………………………………………………………………………………..13

Bibliography……………………………………………………………………………………..14

Abstract

Chineseloongandwesterndragonaremythologicalanimals,andtheyhavesomethingsincommon,suchastheirarchetypes,someoftheirappearances,etc.Butthereexistconsiderableculturaldifferencesbetweenthem.ChineseloongismainlyapositiveimageandtheincarnationofwisdomandpowerinChineseculture,anditsymbolizedtheemperorwhohadaveryhighstatusinthefeudalsociety.Afterseveralthousandyearsofdevelopment,loonggraduallybecomesasymboloftheChinesenation,andChinesepeoplecallthemselves“thedescendentsoftheloong”.However,dragon,inthewesternmyths,isamonsterofguardingthetreasure,anditistheDevilwhodisobeystheGodintheBible,whichhasanessentialdifferencewithChineseloong.Sinceantienttimes,therehasbeentheinter-translationof“loong”and“dragon”inChinaandwestbecauseofsomereasons.Withtherapiddevelopmentoftheglobalcross-culturalcommunication,nowadaysmoreandmorescholarsrealizethebarriersoftheinter-translation.Therefore,mostofthemadvocatetousetransliterationwhencommunicatingwiththeforeigners,whichismoreconducivetotheculturalexchangeofChinaandwesterncountries.

Thispapertriestoanalyzethesimilaritiesofloonganddragonfromtheirarchetypes,someoftheirappearances,abilities,etc.andthediscrepanciesfromtheirculturalconnotationsandsymbolicmeanings,people’sattitudes,translationsandsoon,andfinallybyanalyzingthecausesoftheculturaldifferencesbetweenloonganddragon,lettingpeoplebetterknowtheculturaldifferencesbetweenloonganddragonandusethecorrecttranslationsinthecross-culturalcommunication,whichisofbenefitforthespreadofChinesecultureandwesternculture,andwhat’smore,promotingthedevelopmentofeconomy.

Keywords:

Chineseloong;westerndragon;similarities;discrepancies;translation

摘要

中国龙与西方的dragon都是传说中的动物，它们存在一定的相似性，但由于中西方文化的差异，二者的文化内涵也存在着巨大的差异。

中国龙主要是正面的形象，在中国文化中是力量，权威的化身，封建帝制社会将龙作为皇帝的象征，具有至高无上的地位。

经过几千年的发展，龙成为中华民族的象征，中国人自称是龙的传人。

Dragon在西方神话中是看守财宝的怪物，凶狠、残暴，危害百姓。

在《圣经》中它是与上帝作对的魔鬼，与中国龙有着本质的区别。

“龙”与“dragon”的互译最初是西方传教士所为，由于某些原因，这种互译一直延续至今。

随着全球跨文化交际的迅速发展，现在许多学者越来越意识到两者间的互译妨碍了中西方文化交流。

多数学者主张采用音译的方式来进行翻译。

从长远来看，音译形式更有利于中西方文化交流。

本文拟从二者的原型、外形、本领来分析其相似性，从文化象征内涵、人们的态度、使用以及翻译来比较二者的不同点，最后分析形成龙与dragon文化差异的原因。

通过对比，让人们更好的了解龙与dragon之间存在的文化差异，以及在跨文化交流中使用正确的翻译，这有利于中西方文化的传播以及促进经济的发展。

关键词：

中国龙；西方dragon；相似性；文化差异；翻译

I.Introduction

Itisacknowledgedthatlanguageiscloselyrelatedtotheculture,anditisalsothecarrierofcultureandamirror.BecauseofthedifferencesofChinaandwesterncountriesinreligions,historicalbackgrounds,geographicalenvironmentsandculturalcustoms,thereexsitconsiderableculturaldifferencesbetweenChinaandwest.Andmanydifferencesreflectontheculture-loadedwordslike“loong”and“dragon”.

Byanalyzingthescholars’discoursesonChineseloongandwesterndragoninrecentyears,peopleknowthatbothofthemaremythologicalanimalswhichdonotexistintherealworld.AndthedragoninwesternlegendshasalotincommonwithChineseloong,suchastheirarchetypes,someoftheirappearancesandsoon.However,thoughtheyhavesomesimilarities,thispapermainlyanalyzestheirdifferences,andthesedifferencesembodyintheappearances,culturalconnotations,symbolicmeaningsandsoon.Asisknowntoall,loongisoneofthemostimportantsymbolsofChinesethroughoutChinesecultureforalmosteightthousandyears.IntraditionalChineseculture,loongisasignofgoodluckandsuccess,asymbolofpower,eleganceandhonor.AndinancienttimesofChina,loongsymbolizedtheimperialpower,andtheemperorscalledthemselves“sonsofloong”,andalmostallthethingsrelatedtotheemperorsareconnectedwithloong,suchastheirbodieswerecalled“loongbodies”,theirclotheswerecalled“loongrobes”andsoon.However,inwesterncountries,dragonisprimarilyanegativeimage,anditistheincarnationofSatan,sinandevil.

Withtherapiddevelopmentofsocietyandeconomy,cross-culturalcommunicationbetweenChinaandwesterncountriesisbecomingmoreandmorefrequent.Sohowtousethelanguagecorrectlyisbecomingincreasinglyimportant.BecauseofthedifferencesbetweenChineseloongandwesterndragon,andtheirimpropertranslations,thereappearsalotofcross-culturalcommunicationbarriers.Scholarsrealizethattranslating“龙”（Chinesecharacter“Long”）intodragonisimproper.Basedontheirresearches,theygetaconclusionthatitismuchmoresuitabletotransliterate“龙”（Chinesecharacter“Long”）intoloong.Fromtheperspectiveofthewordloong,double“o”isonbehalfofthetwobigeyesoftheloong,andthistransliterationbetterexplainsthecharacteristicsoftheloong.ThispaperaimstocompareChineseloongandwesterndragon,andbyanalyzingthesimilaritiesfromtheirarchetypes,someoftheirappearances,abilities,etc.andthediscrepanciesfromtheirculturalconnotationsandsymbolicmeanings,people’sattitudes,translationsandsoon,lettingpeoplebetterknowtheculturaldifferencesbetweenloonganddragon.Aninsightintothesedifferencesplaysasignificantroleinsmoothingthecommunication.

II.TheOriginofChineseLoongandWesternDragon

A.TheOriginofChineseLoong

Whenonearthdidloongoriginate?

Fromthepointofliteraldata,therearesomedescriptionsofloongintheoldestbookslikeShijing（theBookofSongs）,Zhouyi（theBookofChanges）,Chuci（theSongsofChu）,etc.AndtheearliestdictionaryShuoWenJieZihasincludedtheword“loong”andmadetheexplanations.1Theconceptandimageofloongshouldappearearlierthanthesematerials.Fromthearchaeologicaldata,therewasexcavatedacopperpotinthegraveofmonarchoftheZhongshanStateinthewarringstatesperiod,andtherearetwoloongsinthebothsidesofthecopperpot,andalsointheunearthedjadependants.Thesematerialsillustratedthattheappearanceofloongshouldbeinthespringandautumnperiodandthewarringstatesperiod.Withtheconstantdiscoveryandexcavationofthearchaeologicalruins,thetimeofloong’soriginisalsoconstantlygoingbackfurther.In1987,agraveoftheYangshaoculturewasexcavatedinPuyangcity,wherealoongmadeofmusselshellswasfound,andthistombwasthegraveofXiaDynasty.AndanotherdiscoveryisthatthearchaeologistsexcavatedajadeloongandahugesculptureofloongmadebystonesinChahaisiteofFuxinin1994.Andthelatterissculpturedbythesamesizeofreddishbrownstoneswhoselengthisabout20metersandwidthisabout2meters,anditiscleartoseeitshead,tailandlegs.

Accordingtothehistoricaldata,itcangetaconclusionthatthetimeofloong’sorigincandatebacktotheprimitivesocietyofabout8000years.

B.TheOriginofWesternDragon

Thereisalsonotaclearrecordabouttheorigintimeofwesterndragononthehistoricaldocuments.However,theappearanceofdragonislaterthanChineseloongjudgingfromthetime.Inwesternmythologicaltales,thereappearedamonsterabout4000yearsago,andthismonsterwascalleddragon.AndinGreekmyth,thedragonsmentionedearlierweredragon-shapedgiantswhowerethechildrenofGaeaandUranusthatsoughttoruleheavenandwereoverthrownandsupplantedbyZeus.2Becauseofthefar-reachinginfluenceofancientGreekcivilizationonthewest,theimageofdragongottheinheritandcarriedforward.InthemythsandlegendsorfolktalesofItaly,Germany,Englandandothercountries,thefigureofdragonappearedoneafteranother.

III.TheCulturalComparisonBetweenChineseLoongandWesternDragon

Loong,asamascotofChina,hasabout8000yearshistory.Althoughitisthemythologicalanimalintheworld,itisthesymboloftheChinesenation.AndChinesepeoplecallthemselvesthedescendentsofloong.3Sinceancienttimes,Chinesepeopleworshiptheloongandthinkitistheleaderofallthings.Loong,intraditionalChineseculture,isasymbolofluckandhonor.AndinancienttimesofChina,loongsymbolizedtheimperialpower,andtheemperorwasthetrueloongandthesonofHeaven.However,inthewesterncountries,dragonistheincarnationofSatan,sinandevil.Wheneve