Panlong (mythology)
Panlong (; lit. "coiled dragon") is an aquatic dragon resembling a "jiaolong" 蛟龍 "river dragon; crocodile" in Chinese mythology, an ancient motif in Chinese art, and a proper name. Word. The Chinese compound "panlong' combines "pan" "coiling; curling; curving; bending; winding; twisting" and "long" or "dragon". "Longpan" "dragon coiling", the reverse of "panlong", is a literary metaphor for "person of unrecognized talent" (see the "Fayan" below). "Panlong" "coiled dragon" can be written or , using "pan" 's homophonous variant Chinese character "pan" or "tray; plate; dish". Another example of this graphic interchangeability is "panrao" or "twine round; surround; fill". Two  Classical Chinese "panlong" idioms are "panlongpi" ("coiling dragon habit") "gambling addiction" (alluding to 5th-century gambler or Liu Panlong of Eastern Jin ) and "panlong-wohu" (lit. "coiling dragon crouching tiger") "talented people remaining concealed". In Fengshui and Four Symbols theory, the Dragon and Tiger are symbolic opposites. Take for instance, "longtan-huxue" ("dragon's pond and tiger's cave") "dangerous places" or "Wohu canglong" Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon. Textual usages. Chinese classic texts began using "panlong" in the Han Dynasty (206 BCE – 220 CE). The (2nd century BCE) "Huainanzi" (8, tr. Morgan 1934:95) first records "panlong" as a decorative style  on Chinese bronzes. Great bells and tripods, beautiful vessels, works of art are manufactured. The decorations cast on these have been superb. The mountain dragon, or pheasant, and all animals of variegated plumage, the aquatic grass, flamboyants and grains of cereals were engraven on them, one symbol interwoven with another. The sleeping rhinoceros and crouching tiger, the dragon, wreathed in coils, were wrought. The later term "panlongwen" "coiled-dragon pattern/design (on bronzes, pillars, etc.)" compares with "panchiwen" (see "chilong" ) and "panqiuwen" (see "qiulong" ). Another "Huainanzi" context (15, tr. Morgan 1934:199) lists "longshepan" (lit. "dragon snake coiling") "serpentine passage" as  a good ambush location. An exiguous pass, a ferry pontoon, a great mountain, a serpentine defile, a cul-de-sac, a dangerous pitfall, a narrow ravine, full of winding ways like the intestines of a sheep, a hole like a fisher's net, which admits, but from which there is no exit, are situations in which one man can hold back a thousand. The materialist philosopher Yang Xiong (53 BCE – 18 CE) used both "panlong" and "longpan". His "Fangyan" "Regional Speech" dictionary (12, tr. Visser 1913:73) defined "panlong" "coiled/curled dragon", "Dragons which do not yet ascend to heaven [cf . "tianlong" "heavenly dragon"] are called "p'an-lung"." His "Fayan" "Words to Live By" anthology (4, tr. Carr 1990:112) coined the metaphor "longpan" (lit. "dragon coiling") "person of unrecognized talent", "'a dragon coiled in the mud will be insulted by a newt,' meaning 'a sage will be ridiculed by a fool'." The (2nd century CE) "Shangshu dazhuan" commentary to the "Classic of History" (1, tr. Carr 1990:113) parallels "panlong" and "jiaoyu" (or "jiaolong" ), "the 'coiled dragon' was greatly trusted in its lair, the ' dragon; crocodile' leaped in its pool." The (12th century CE) Song Dynasty "Biji manzhi" "Random Jottings from the  Green Rooster Quarter" by Wang Zhuo (tr. Visser 1913:117) describes using "panlong" dragons in sympathetic magic for rainfall, "where a mirror, adorned on the backside with a "coiled dragon", "p'an lung", , is said to have been worshipped (rather used in a magical way) in order to cause rain." Proper names. In addition to the ancient decorative style mentioned above, "Panlong" or "Coiled Dragon" is used in several names. The Japanese language borrowed "banryū" or "coiled dragon" as a loanword from Chinese "panlong". Banryu names a Taikyoku shogi chess-piece and a Bakufu schooner warship "Banryū".