13 Symbolism of Chinese Dragons and Phoenixes and How They’re Connected

The Chinese lóng 龍 and fèng huáng 鳳凰, often translated as “dragon” and “phoenix” respectively, are very powerful symbols both in myth and symbolism as well as cultural impact. They are often seen as counterparts of one another, representing opposite sides of the same thing in many ways, such as dragons being associated with the element water while phoenixes are associated with fire. This is not to say that they are in opposition with one another, and the connection between the two is often used as an allusion for a harmonious and fortunate relationship. However, dragons are very common in stories, whether it is mythology about origins of the world, or stories in the more modern sense, such as in Journey to the West or the many variations on the Dragon Lady stories, whereas phoenixes have no such presence. Despite dragons having a very strong idea of symbolic significance created through stories and art, the phoenix’s symbolic significance is, for the most part, only in how they relate to that of dragons.

The words “dragon” and “phoenix” aren’t exactly perfect translations for lóng and fèng huáng. The western conceptions of these words are very far from what they describe in Chinese, but they are the closest equivalent, so they are the commonly accepted translations. Dragons are described, by an unknown Han dynasty writer, compiled in a Song dynasty text called the Erya Yi 爾雅翼, with: “Dragons have horns like a deer, a muzzle like a camel, eyes like a demon, a body like a snake, a belly like a crab, scales like a carp, claws like a hawk, legs like a tiger, and ears like an ox.”^[1] Phoenixes are described in a similar way in the Shuōwén Jiězì 說文解字, a dictionary for Chinese terms and cultural symbols written in the Han dynasty, which approximately reads (I wasn’t able to find a translation anywhere, so this is my attempt at a translation of the original Chinese):

Phoenix. A divine bird. As old as the heavens are, so is the phoenix, goose in the front and deer behind, a snake’s neck and a fish’s tail, head of a stork, the shell of a tortoise, the forehead of a swallow, beak of a chicken, with five-colored feathers, from the country of gentlemen (uses jūnzǐ 君子), a Confucian idea of the ideal, noble man) to the east (presumably Japan), flying over four seas (allusion for the whole world or generally large distance), crossing the Kunlun mountains, using water to wash its feathers, never stopping to rest (I’m really not sure on this line), if one is seen then all under the heavens will be safe and peaceful. . . [When the phoenix] flies a group of ten thousand (generally large number) birds follow.  (Original text: 凤 “神鸟也。天老曰, 凤之象也, 鸿前鹿后, 蛇颈鱼尾, 鹳鸳思, 龙文龟背, 燕额鸡喙, 五色备举, 出于东方君子之国, 翱翔四海之外, 过昆仑, 饮砥柱, 濯羽弱水, 莫宿风穴, 见则天下大安宁。凤飞群鸟从以万数。) ^[2]

For both the dragon and phoenix, they are described as an almost chimeric mix of traits from a variety of different creatures, which all creates a very different visual image than what comes with the western dragon or phoenix. Additionally, their symbolism is pretty different. Dragons in the west are often associated with breathing fire and having wings, and western phoenixes have imagery of the rebirth from the ashes, neither of which follow for the Chinese dragon and phoenix.

Dragons can symbolize a wide variety of things, and phoenixes represent their counterpart in almost all of them. Dragons, as mentioned previously, are associated with the element water, while phoenixes represent their opposite fire. J. Keith Wilson discusses in his article on dragon symbolism in Asian art and legends that: “Like the well known symbol of yin and yang, masculine dragons and feminine birds stand alone but interdependent. . . the dragon and phoenix also serve as emblems of the Chinese emperor and empress.”^[3] The phrasing is a little awkward, as it implies that dragons are yin while phoenixes are yang, which is not the case, and is just this way because yin and yang are always referred to in that order. Regardless, the point he is making is that they are opposites of one another, but they are inextricably linked as all of their symbols relate to one another. The specific case he is writing about is a vase that depicts both a dragon and a phoenix, in two separate areas, mirroring one another. It shows a duality, the simultaneous difference and sameness between the two.

The fact that dragons are associated with both yang and water, while phoenixes have yin and fire, may seem a little strange, given the associations yin and yang have with heavy and light, darkness and brightness, respectively. It is possible, however, that this works through a similar logic as the trigrams of the Yijing 已經. That isn’t to say that this aspect of dragon and phoenix symbolism is based on the text, especially considering dragons actually appear in the Yijing with some of the forms of symbolism they carry to this day, but rather that both the text of the Yijing and the symbolism of the dragon and phoenix were changing and evolving over a long period of time, and even if one didn’t directly influence the other, they may have been influenced by other sources or beliefs together. In the Yijing, eight trigrams made up of three lines, all of which can be either yin or yang, each contain a central line which the whole trigram is focused around. For the trigrams that are mixed between the types of lines, meaning they have two lines of one type and one of the other, the line that there is only one of determines the attribute of the trigram. The trigrams for water (kan 坎, yin-yang-yin) and fire (li 離, yang-yin-yang) are yang and yin respectively, because those are the lines that are alone in their graphs, so the opposite typed (gendered) lines are attracted to them.

Dragons and phoenixes are placed together in many ways, like idioms such as, but not limited to, wàng zǐ chéng lóng / wàng nǚ chéng fèng 望子成龍 / 望女成鳳 (to wish for a son or daughter to become a dragon or phoenix, to wish for a son or daughter to be successful), lóng fēi fèng wǔ 龍飛鳳舞 (dragon flies and phoenix dances, flamboyant and bold (usually when describing calligraphy)), and lóng yuè fèng míng 龍躍鳳鳴 (dragon leaps and phoenix cries, way of describing someone who is very intelligent). In all of these idioms the two are paired together or placed in contrast with one another, which shows that their complementing imagery is something that is absolutely vital to their individual symbolism. They are also often depicted side by side in art, whether that be paintings or pottery, and even in how they relate to the imperial family. This is where the two of them being seen as harmonious together comes in. They both have their individual symbolic meanings, but when used together they represent far more.

Both dragons and phoenixes are heavily associated with the imperial family, to the extent that the throne upon which the emperor sat was referred to as the dragon throne. There is no such throne for the Empress, but for imperial weddings the attire of the empress, from clothing to accessories, would be in the image of a phoenix. Additionally, sightings of either would be considered good omens relating to the imperial family in some way or another. There are many legends of dragons being seen flying high in the sky, and that being a sign that the emperor is doing a good job and that his nation is thriving. The same can be said for phoenixes, although the number of stories is far fewer and much less prevalent in the culture. Lastly, another association with the emperor that dragons sometimes have is the phrase “dragon emperor”. Depending on the context, this can be a metaphorical thing saying that the emperor is like a dragon, or it could be referring to the dragon emperor himself, which is a very common representation of dragons in stories, that will be discussed later. It could also be the idea that certain historical but deified emperors, such as Fuxi 伏羲, Shennong 神農, and Huangdi 黃帝, were themselves dragons in human form. However, this is pretty vague, as the nature of all historical deified figures in Chinese history and stories is that there are an unknowable number of interpretations of what they were such as Fuxi being a four-eyed man who invented written Chinese or Shennong inventing agriculture. The association with the imperial family is based on a lot of different sources, but the connection is undeniable.

The image of the dragon emperor in stories is one largely unaffiliated with the image of the real world emperor. For example, Journey to the West includes the dragon emperor as a part of Sun Wukong’s story from before he joined the monk Xuanzang. Here, the dragon emperor is named Ao Guang, and lives in a massive palace at the bottom of the eastern sea. Sun Wukong is sent to him so that he may receive a weapon to wield, and the dragon emperor does his best to fulfill his request. None of the weapons he has are good enough for Sun Wukong though, until he eventually goes and takes a pillar used to seal the world’s waters as a cudgel. While this entire scenario is in large part to depict the immense power of Sun Wukong as well as to come off as somewhat humorous that even the dragon emperor has nothing that is good enough for him, the fact that the dragon emperor is considered to be someone with all these powerful weapons and mystical items is very significant, and is an example of the extreme power he wields and his extreme wealth. The fact that he specifically has weapons could also be read as a sign of his masculinity. Of course, the fact that he lives under the sea is directly related to the connection between dragons and the element water.

Li Chaowei’s “Tale of the Transcendent Marriage of Dongting Lake” also shows a lot of dragon symbolism hidden behind the main plot of the story. The daughter of the dragon lord of Dongting lake is set to be married off to “the second son of the River Ching,” who would also be a dragon. Additionally, her father’s younger brother Qiantang is said to be the now retired lord of Qiantang river. Through this, it is implied that every body of water is ruled over by a dragon. Connecting this with the dragon emperor of Journey to the West, it places the dragon lords of these smaller bodies of water as something like smaller individual nations of their own, or possibly subdivisions of the larger nation ruled by the dragon emperor himself. However, the first seems more likely, as the power of the dragon emperor beyond his own territory is never really mentioned in Journey to the West. Again, in the Dongting Lake story there is this idea of dragons being immortal (in the Daoist sense), and being incredibly powerful. However, in this they are much more explicitly anthropomorphized than they are in Journey to the West; in that story there isn’t really anything that points to whether the dragons stay in a dragon form or transform into a human, whereas in Dongting Lake the dragons seem to be for all intents and purposes the same as humans appearance wise. Stories written about dragons don’t necessarily include all of the symbolism that dragons have been given over the years, as given the breadth of that symbolism, that would likely be impossible, but they tell a certain story with what is included, showing certain sides of the symbolism that aren’t as applicable to the real world symbolism such as the actual emperor. However, there are almost no stories of a similar kind for phoenixes, so any of the direct connections that stories can grant between dragons and the symbolism they carry is just not present for phoenixes; by and large, the symbolism of the phoenix is known for how it contrasts that of the dragon, because there aren’t many sources that establish it independently.

Even within Chinese culture there are some things that complicate the symbolism of the dragon and phoenix. One of the major things in Chinese mythology is the idea of the four divine or auspicious beasts. While their exact role can change depending on which version of the mythology they’re being drawn from, most of the descriptions of the beasts are pretty consistent. Of the four beasts, two of them are relevant to the discussion of dragons and phoenixes, being the Azure Dragon of the East and the Vermillion Bird of the South. Starting with the Azure Dragon, the fact that it is a dragon and is associated with the east conflates a lot with the dragon emperor seen in Journey to the West, but they are different beings. The biggest difference is that the Azure Dragon is not associated with the water element like pretty much all other dragons are, and is instead associated with wood. Four of the five elements are represented in the four divine beasts, and water is actually represented by the White Tiger of the West. The Vermillion Bird can sometimes be conflated with the phoenix, especially considering they are both birds, associated with fire, and are generally very auspicious. However, they are still considered distinct beings. For both the Azure Dragon and Vermillion Bird, they should not be conflated with dragons and phoenixes, because the Four Divine Beasts are all specific beings, rather than a general idea or species of creatures. Both dragons and phoenixes are often referred to in a way that implies or directly states the existence of many of them, very similar to one another, which is just not the case for the Divine Beasts.

While it is to some extent unknowable exactly why phoenixes are so much less represented in stories than dragons, guesses can be made. It is probably at some level misogyny, where the feminine phoenix is just thought of and referred to much less than the masculine dragon. However, this is probably not the only reason why phoenixes are so often thought of only in the context of their relationship to dragons. A possible second reason for this is that phoenixes weren’t always thought of in relation to dragons. The common way of referring to a phoenix is fèng huáng 鳳凰 which is often shortened to fèng 鳳 but originally both fèng 鳳 and huáng 凰 would refer to the general species fèng huáng, where fèng is the male and huáng is the female. At this time, the phoenix was largely not associated with dragons in any way. The relationship between phoenixes and dragons necessitates that because dragons are masculine, then phoenixes must be feminine to be their counterpart, and if phoenixes can be either masculine or feminine, then they don’t fit into that framework. Because of this, the imagery associated with phoenixes changed from that original idea of them being an independent creature with their own symbolism and imagery to have a new set of images that are specifically tailor made to be in conversation and counterpoint with the images held by dragons. Even if they weren’t the original symbols that came with the phoenix, the symbols that come with it today were specifically manufactured to be opposite those of the dragon, so it is much easier to discuss phoenixes in that relationship with dragons. Of course, this is speculation, and there are likely more reasons, but it’s complicated and isn’t so simple as a misogynistic culture not writing stories about a powerful mythological figure of femininity.

There is very little academic focus on the phoenix, especially in relation to the dragon. What little there is tends to be focused on smaller things, such as trying to figure out what the origin of the phoenix was. Cang Linzhong 仓林忠’s article, for example, comes to the conclusion that, based on descriptions from multiple different scholars across dynasties, that the phoenix originates from a Japanese red chicken or long-tailed pheasant, or possibly a combination of the two. There is some that focuses on the art, but again, a good chunk of that uses the art to try to figure out what bird it draws from. There is nothing that analyzes their place in stories. And that isn’t academia’s fault, there just aren’t any stories out there, at least none that are easily accessible, about the phoenix, especially when separated from the idea of the dragon. However, phoenixes have been worked into a lot of stories that have some basis in Chinese mythology as of late, be it historical fiction that takes historical and mythological stories and rewrites them or modern wuxia as a bastardization of many aspects of Chinese culture from mythos to religion, quite possibly because of authors trying to move away from the classic imagery of the dragon and trying to move into more feminist spaces, therefore wanting a counter-narrative to that of the man who is like a dragon. The dragon and the phoenix are at their most powerful when they are in harmony with one another, and while history can’t be rewritten, new stories can fill in the gaps.

Bibliography

Wilson, J. Keith, “Powerful Form and Potent Symbol: The Dragon in Asia,” The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art, Vol. 77, No. 8, (1990): 286-323, www.jstor.org/stable/25161297

Cang Linzhong 倉林忠, “Guanyu zhongguo lishi chuanshuo zhongwen de fenghuang kao bian” 關於中國歷史傳說中的鳳凰攷辯 [An Investigation on the Phoenix in Chinese Historical Stories], 江蘇廣播電視大學學報 [Journal of Jiangsu Radio & Television University], Vol. 16, No. 5, (2005).