Dragon | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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![]() "Dragon" in traditional (top) and simplified (bottom) Chinese characters | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Traditional Chinese | 龍 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Simplified Chinese | 龙 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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The dragon (simplified Chinese: 龙; traditional Chinese: 龍; pinyin: lóng; Jyutping: lung; Cantonese Yale: lùhng) is the fifth of the 12-year cycle of animals that appear in the Chinese zodiac related to the Chinese calendar. The Year of the Dragon is associated with the Earthly Branch symbol 辰 (pinyin: chén).
It has been proposed that the Earthly Branch character may have been associated with scorpions; it may have symbolized the star Antares.[1] In the Buddhist calendar used in Thailand, Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, and Sri Lanka, the dragon is replaced by the nāga.[2] In the Gurung zodiac, the dragon is replaced by the eagle.[3] In the Old Turkic calendar it is replaced by a fish or crocodile. Early Persian translations of the medieval period change the dragon to a sea serpent, although in current times[when?] it is generally referred to as whale.[4][5]
During China's Cultural Revolution, there was an attempt to replace the dragon with the giant panda; however, the movement was short lived.[6][7]
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