Page 75 - Sotheby's May 10th 2017 London Animal Menagerie, Chinese Art

Unlike in the West where the dragon is often depicted as an evil creature, in China it
is regarded as a benevolent and auspicious being. The fantastic nature of these mythical
creatures is reflected in how they are born: carps swim against the current of the Yellow
River and leap over the Dragon Gate to transform into a supernatural dragon, a theme
symbolic of successfully passing the civil service examinations. A variety of dragons were
developed from the original concept of the celestial dragon including the Spiritual Dragon,
shenlong, associated with wind and rain, the Dragon of Hidden Treasures, fucanglong, the
Winged Dragon, yinglong, and the Hornless Dragon, chilong.
One of the most important animals in the Daoist pantheon, the earliest reference to the
dragon appears in the Yijing [Book of Changes] where it is associated with qian (pure
yang) in the hexagram and is described as a creature that inhabits the sea, land and sky.
The dragon is diametrically opposite the phoenix, which symbolises the yin principle. Early
depictions of dragons often appeared in funerary contexts, as on the Western Han banner
recovered from tomb 1 at Mawangdui, Changsha, Hunan province, suggesting that at the
time the dragon exemplified the belief that a person’s yin and yang principles were eventually
absorbed by the yin and yang essences of the universe.
As a creature of the sky, the dragon was often depicted moving through clouds and
ascending upwards through heaven; hence it became associated with attaining immortality
as well as procuring rain. As a creature of the sea, the dragon was the ruler of fish and thus
symbolised the Emperor and his infinite power.

(Le ) Zhang Yucai, Bene cent Rain, ink on silk, handscroll, Yuan dynasty, late 13th early 14th century.
Courtesy of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.