Chinese Dragons vs. Western Dragons + Other Mythical Beasts

Dragons, whether you believe it or not, are in both Eastern and Western culture. To me, dragons have always been a symbol of divinity and honor. People who's a dragon in the Chinese zodiac always brag about it. And in ancient China, only the emperor was allowed to wear the dragon robe. Now, imagine my shock when I move to the West and dragons over here are all scary and evil with wings and breathes fire. Today, we're going to look at different mythical creatures that exist in both Eastern and Western culture and how they differ, or maybe how they're similar. Before we begin, please smash that like button for the YouTube algorithm. It really helps more people see the video. Let's start right from the beginning of time. Ancient Chinese believed that Fuxi and Nuwa created mankind. Both of them have human heads and dragon bodies. In other words, since the dawn of history, Chinese people already associate dragons with the divine. The ancient Chinese text, the Classics of Mountains and Seas, is one of the earliest geography books in the world. It recorded mountains, rivers, animals, plants, medicine, folklore, and even mythical beasts. The book said that the dragon helped the Yellow Emperor defeat the barbaric Chiyou. It also helped Dayu to control water and manage floods. So dragons are not only deities from heaven, but also protect and help people out. The dragon is the official emblem for the royal family and a symbol for the emperor. Starting from the Song Dynasty, the imperial court tried to forbid the use of dragons by ordinary people. But by then, dragons are already a huge part of people's lives. People prayed to dragons for rain and blessings. So it was almost impossible to ban the use of the dragon imagery completely. On the other hand, in the West, people got to know the dragon through Revelation Chapter 12 in the Bible. It describes an enormous red dragon with seven heads, ten horns, and seven crowns on its heads. The dragon is seen as the devil or Satan, and it causes havoc in the human world, quite the opposite of the Chinese dragon. In Beowulf, a fire-breathing dragon terrorizes the realm. It was eventually slayed by the Brave King, who also tragically died in battle. Ever since then, you would see many Western tales depicting a hero slaying a greedy, evil dragon. Next is the phoenix. There is a Chinese phoenix, or feng huang, feng wang, and a Western phoenix. No, not her. This one. Hmm, maybe it is her. The Chinese phoenix symbolizes virtue and grace, but it doesn't have any magical powers. The Western phoenix, however, can be reborn from ashes. Because of its ability to resurrect from the dead, the phoenix in Egyptian culture is associated with Osiris, who is the lord of the underworld. There is, however, another Chinese bird that can compare with the Western phoenix. The vermilion bird, or zhu que, zhu zhe, is one of the four auspicious beasts in Taoism. It actually looks like a phoenix, and some people even call it the fire phoenix, but it's far from it. The vermilion bird is actually one of the guardians of heaven and earth, so that means it's not just a mythical beast, but also a divine being. In ancient China, people believed that the vermilion bird could guide the souls of the dead up into the heavens and grant people immortality. So, if you input jiao ren, gao ren, into Google Translate, it comes out as shark. Which is completely wrong, and I cannot find a proper English translation anywhere, so I'll just say it's in Chinese. In ancient Chinese myths and legends, jiao ren is described as a human with a fishtail body, kind of like a mermaid. Anyway, jiao ren is good at weaving and can make waterproof silk. Now, imagine a diving suit that's as thin as cicada wings. What do cicada wings even look like? Thanks, editor. And light can shine right through it. Jiao ren is also known to cry tears of pearls. As magical as they sound, they're actually classified as a type of human species in ancient legends. When most of us think of mermaids, we probably think of something like Ariel. In Chinese, mermaids are called meiren yu, meiyan yu. The literal translation is beautiful person fish. But one of the earliest mermaids, or should I say mermen, is ons, a Babylonian creature that has the body of a fish but the head and legs of a man. Not much of a meiren yu, but it had a pleasant voice and taught people wondrous things related to arts and science. Later on, the female form of the mermaid, which we came to know, started to appear in folklore all over the world, from Europe to Japan to Africa. Centaurs have a human body above the waist and a horse body for the rest. They're often depicted as wild and untamed, stealing wine and lusting over women. But there are good centaurs too, and Chiron is one of them. Chiron was the son of Titan Cronus, the second king of Greek gods, and Phalera, a water nymph. Apollo taught Chiron the art of medicine, music, archery, gymnastics, and prophecy to make him rise above his beastly nature. He was a kind man and only used his weapons for hunting. Chiron was a devout believer in justice, and he became the teacher for many Greek heroes like Achilles, Perseus, and even Hercules. When Chiron died, he passed into the stars and became the constellation Centaurus. The Chinese version of a centaur is yīng zhāo, yīng jiāo, but it is a little bit different from a western one. It also has a human head and a horse body, but it has wings on its back so it can fly freely across the skies and heavens. Yīng zhāo is a guardian of the heavenly ruler's garden. It has fought in hundreds of wars against evil gods and protected people from human-eating beasts. Maybe calling it the Chinese version of a guardian angel is more fitting. Now what I find the most fascinating is how despite not having much communication back in the day, these mythical creatures have so many similarities. Maybe back then, they did roam the world. If you like this video, make sure to hit that subscribe button and the notification bell so you see more of these videos. Thanks for watching and I'll see you later.