Jiaolong (traditional Chinese:蛟龍;simplified Chinese:蛟龙;pinyin:jiāolóng;Wade–Giles:chiao-lung) orjiao (chiao,kiao) is adragon inChinese mythology, often defined as a "scaled dragon"; it is hornless according to certain scholars and said to be aquatic or river-dwelling. It may have referred to a species ofcrocodile.
A number of scholars point to non-Sinitic southern origins for the legendary creature and ancient texts chronicle that theYue people oncetattooed their bodies to ward against these monsters.
In English translations,jiao has been variously rendered as "jiao-dragon", "crocodile", "flood dragon", "scaly dragon", or even "kraken".
Thejiao蛟 character combines the "insectradical"虫, to provide general sense of insects, reptiles or dragons,[a] etc., and the right radicaljiao交 "cross; mix", etc. which supplies thephonetic element "jiao". The original交pictograph represented a person with crossed legs.
TheJapanese equivalent term iskōryō orkōryū (蛟竜).[b] TheVietnamese equivalent isgiao long, considered synonymous to VietnameseThuồng luồng.
ThePiya dictionary (11th century) claims that its common name wasmaban (馬絆).[1][2]
Thejiao is also claimed to be equivalent toSanskrit宮毗羅 (modern Chinese pronunciationgongpiluo) in the 7th-century Buddhist dictionaryYiqiejing yinyi.[c][3] The same Sanskrit equivalent is repeated in the widely usedBencao Gangmu orCompendium of Materia Medica.[4] In Buddhist texts this word occurs as names of divine beings,[d][e] and the Sanskrit term in question is actuallykumbhīra[7] (कुम्भीर). As a common nounkumbhīra means "crocodile".[8]
Schuessler reconstructsLater Han Chinesekau andOld Chinese *krâu for modernjiao蛟.[9]Pulleyblank providesEarly Middle Chinese kaɨw/kɛːw and Late Middle Chinese kjaːw.[10]
The formkău is used as theTang period pronunciation by American sinologistEdward H. Schafer.[11] The transliterationkiao lung was given by Dutch orientalistMarinus Willem de Visser [de]'s book on dragons.[12]
Jiao's (蛟)etymology is obscure. Michael Carr, usingBernhard Karlgren's reconstruction ofOld Chinese *kǒg蛟, explains.
Most etymologies forjiao < *kǒg蛟 are unsupported speculations upon meanings of its phonetic *kǒg交 'cross; mix with; contact', e.g., the *kǒg蛟 dragon can *kǒg交 'join' its head and tail in order to capture prey, or moves in a *kǒg交 'twisting' manner, or has *kǒg交 'continuous' eyebrows. The only corroborated hypothesis takes *kǒg交 'breed with' to mean *kǒg蛟 indicates a dragon 'crossbreed; mixture'. (1990:126-7)
The word has "mermaid" as one possible gloss,[13] and Schuessler suggests possible etymological connections withBurmesekhruB orkhyuB "scaly, furry beast" andTibetanklu "nāga; water spirits", albeit theTibeto-Burman are phonologically distant fromOC.[9]
The explanation that its name comes from eyebrows that "cross over" (交jiao) is given in the ancient textShuyi ji [zh] "Records of Strange Things" (6th century).[14][f][g]
It has been suggested thatjiaolong might have referred to a pair of dragonsmating, with their long bodies coiled around each other (Wen Yiduo 2001a:95–96[17])
Thus in the legend around thejiaolong蛟龍 hovering above the mother giving birth to a future emperor i.e., Liu Bang, thefounding emperor of Han, r. 202-195 BCE[h] (Sima Qian,Records of the Grand Historian),[18] the alternative conjectural interpretation is that it was a pair of mating dragons.[16]
The same legend occurs in nearly verbatim copy in theBook of Han, except that the dragons are given as交龍 "crossed dragons".[18] Wen noted that in early usejiaolong交龍 "crossed dragons" was emblematic of the mythological creatorsFuxi andNüwa, who are represented as having a human's upper body and a dragon's tail.[19]
In textual usage, it may be ambiguous whetherjiaolong蛟龍 should be parsed as two kinds of dragons or one, as Prof. Zhang Jing (known in Japan asChō Kyō [ja]) comments: "It is difficult to determine whetherjiaolong is the name of a type of dragon, or [two dragons] "jiao" and "long" juxtaposed蛟龍はそもそも龍の一種の名称なのか、それとも「蛟」と「龍」からなる複合なのかは判断しにくい。.[20]
Zhang cites as one example ofjiaolong used in the poemLi Sao (inChu Ci), in which the poet is instructed by supernatural beings to beckon thejialong and bid them build a bridge.[20] Visser translated this as one type of dragon, thejiaolong orkiao-lung.[21] However, it was the verdict ofWang Yi, an early commentator of this poem that these were two kinds, the smallerjiao and the largerlong.[22][23]
Since the Chinese word for the generic dragon islong (龍), translatingjiao as "dragon" is problematic as it would make it impossible to distinguish which of the two is being referred to.[24] The termjiao has thus been translated as "flood dragon"[25][26] or "scaly dragon",[27][28] with some qualifier to indicate it as a subtype. But on this matter, Schafer has suggested using a name for various dragon-like beings such as "kraken" to stand forjiao:
The word "dragon" has already been appropriated to render the broader termlung. "Kraken" is good since it suggests a powerful oceanic monster. ... We might name thekău a "basilisk" or a "wyvern" or a "cockatrice." Or perhaps we should call it by the name of its close kin, the double-headed crocodile-jawed Indianmakara, which, in ninth-century Java at least, took on some of the attributes of the rain-bringinglung of China. (1967:218)
Some translators have in fact adopted "kraken" as the translated term,[18][29] as Schafer has suggested.
In some contexts,jiao has also been translated as "crocodile"[30][31][i] (See§Identification as real fauna).
TheShuowen Jiezi dictionary (121 CE) glosses thejiao as "a type of dragon (long),[32][33] as does thePiya dictionary (11th c.), which adds that thejiao areoviparous (hatch from eggs).[2][15] TheBencao Gangmu states this also,[34] but also notes this is generally true of most scaled creatures.[35]
Jiao eggs are about the size of a jar of 1 or 2hu [zh] capacity inChinese volume measurement, according toGuo Pu's commentary;[36][37] a variant text states that the hatchlings are of this size.[38][39] It was considered that while the adult jiao lies in pools of water, their eggs hatched on dry land, more specifically on mounds of earth (Huainanzi).[40][41]
Thejiao did eventuallymetamorphose into a form built to fly, according toRen Fang [zh]'sShuyi ji [zh] ("Records of Strange Things"), which said that "a water snake (hui虺) after 500 years transforms into ajiao (蛟); ajiao after a millennium into a dragon (long), along after 500 years a horned dragon (角龍), a horned dragon after a millennium into ayinglong (a winged dragon)".[32][42][j]
Thehujiao虎蛟 or "tigerjiao"[k] are described as creatures with a body like a fish and a tail like a snake, which made noise likemandarin ducks. Although this might be considered a subtype of thejiao dragon, a later commentator thought this referred to a type of fish (see#Sharks and rays section).[29]
The foregoing account occurs in the early Chinese bestiaryShanhaijing "Classic of Mountains and Seas" (completed c. 206–9 BCE), in its first book "Classic of the Southern Mountains".[44][l][m]
The bestiary's fifth book, "Classic of the Central Mountains"[n][45] records the presence ofjiao in the Kuang River (貺水, "River Grant") and Lun River (淪水, "River Ripple").[46][o]Guo Pu (d. 324)'s commentary to Part XI glossesjiao as "a type of [long龍] dragon that resembles a four-legged snake".[48] Guo adds that thejiao possesses a "small head and a narrow neck with a white goiter" and that it is oviparous, and "large ones were more than ten arm spans in width[p] and could swallow a person whole".[36][50]
A description similar to this is found in thePiya dictionary, but instead of a white "goiter (ying)" being found on its neck, a homophone noun of a different meaning is described, rendered "white necklace" around its neck by Visser.[15] Other sources concurs with the latter word meaning white "necklace" (or variously translated as white "tassels"), namely, theBencao Gangmu quoting at length fromGuangzhou Ji (廣州記) by Pei Yuan (裴淵, 317–420):[q]
蛟長丈餘，似蛇而四足，形廣如楯, 小頭細頸，頸有白嬰。胸前赭色, 背上靑斑, 脇邊若錦, 尾有肉環,
Thejiao measures 10chi or more in length. Snake-like in appearance, but it has four feet. The shape broad and shield-like, it is small-headed and thin-necked. On the neck there are white tassels. Its chest issienna brown and its back flecked with blue-green spots. Its flanks resemblebrocade-work. On its tail there are fleshy rings. The largest attain several arms' spans around.
A later text describedjiao "looks like a snake with a tiger head, is several fathoms long, lives in brooks and rivers, and bellows like a bull; when it sees a human being it traps him with its stinking saliva, then pulls him into the water and sucks his blood from his armpits". This description, in theMoke huixi墨客揮犀 (11th century CE), was considered the "best definition" of ajiao byWolfram Eberhard.[48]
The description as "scaly" or "scaled dragon" is found in some medieval texts, and quoted in several near-modern references and dictionaries.
TheGuangya (3rd century CE) definesjiaolong as "scaly dragon; scaled dragon", using the wordlin鱗 "scales".[51] The paragraph, which goes on to list other types of dragons, was quoted in theKangxi Dictionary compiled during the Manchurian Qing dynasty.[51] A similar paragraph occurs in theShuyi ji [zh] (6th century) and quoted in theBencao Gangmu akaCompendium of Materia Medica:[34]
蛟龍.. 【釋名】時珍曰︰按任昉《述異記》云, 蛟乃龍屬, 其眉交生, 故謂之蛟, 有鱗曰蛟龍, 有翼曰應龍, 有角曰虯龍, 無角曰螭龍也。
Jiaolong.. [Explanation of Names] [Li] Shizhen says: The bookShuyi Ji by Ren Fang:: Thejiao is a kind of dragon. As its eyebrows cross each other, it is calledjiaolong. (jiao ≅ come across). Thejiaolong has scales. The variety with wings is calledyinglong. The variety with horns is calledqiulong. The variety without horns is calledchilong ...[r]
Several texts allude to thejiao being the lord of aquatic beings. Thejiaolong is called the "god of the water animals".[54][s] TheShuowen jieji dictionary (beginning of 2nd c.) states that if the number of fish in a pond reaches 3600, ajiao will come as their leader, and enable them to follow him and fly away".[32] However, "if you place a fish trap in the water, thejiao will leave".[33] A similar statement occurs in the farming almanacQimin Yaoshu (6th c.) that quotes theYangyu-jing "Classic on Raising Fish", a manual onpisciculture ascribed to Lord Tao Zhu (Fan Li).[56] According to thisYangyu-jing version, when the fish count reaches 360, thejiao will lead them away, but this could be prevented by keepingbie鱉 (variant character鼈, "soft-shelled turtle").[t][57][58]
Jiao andjiaolong were names for a legendary river dragon.Jiao蛟 is sometimes translated as "flood dragon". The (c. 1105 CE)Yuhu qinghua玉壺清話 Carr says people in the southern state ofWu called itfahong發洪 "swell into a flood" because they believed flooding resulted whenjiao hatched.[59] The poemQijian ("Seven Remonstrances") in theChu Ci uses the termshuijiao水蛟 or waterjiao.[60][u]
TheShuowen Jiezi does not commit to whether thejiāo蛟 has or lacks a horn.[v][33] However the definition was emended to "hornless dragon" byDuan Yucai in his 19th-century edited version.([61] A somewhat later commentary byZhu Junsheng [zh] stated the contrary; in hisShuowen tongxun dingsheng (説文通訓定聲) Zhu Junsheng explained that only male dragons (long) were horned, and "among dragon offspring, the one-horned are calledjiāo蛟, thebicorned are calledqiú虯, and the hornless are calledchì螭.[62]
Note the pronunciation similarity betweenjiāo蛟 andjiǎo角 "horn", thusjiǎolóng角龍 is "horned dragon".[w]
Lexicographers have noticed that according to some sources, thejiao was a dragoness, that is, a dragon of exclusively female gender.[13][x]
Jiao as female dragon occurs in the glossing ofjiao蛟 as "dragon mother" (perhaps "dragoness" or "she-dragon") in the (c. 649 CE) Buddhist dictionaryYiqiejing yinyi,[y] and the gloss is purported to be a direct quote fromGe Hong (d. 343)'sBaopuzi抱朴子.[3] However, extant editions of the Baopuzi does not include this statement.[citation needed] The (11th century CE)Piya dictionary repeats this "female dragon" definition.[dubious –discuss]
As aforementioned,jiao is fully capable of devouring humans, according to Guo Pu's commentary.[39][50]
It is also written that a greenjiao which was a man-eater dwelt in the stream beneath the bridge inYixing County [zh] (present-day city ofYixing,Jiangsu) according to a story inZu Taizhi [zh] (祖臺之; fl. c. 376–410)'s anthology,Zhiguai.[38] The war-generalZhou Chu (周處; 236–297) in his youth, who was native to this area, anecdotally slew this dragon: when Zhou spotted the man-eating beast he leaped down from the bridge and stabbed it several times; the stream was filled with blood and the beast finally washed up somewhere inLake Tai where it finally died.[38] This anecdote is also recounted in theShishuo Xinyu (c. 430; "A New Account of Tales of the World")[28] and selected in theTang period primerMengqiu [zh].[38]
Other early texts also mention the hunt or capture of thejiao.Emperor Wu of Han inYuanfeng 5 or 106 BCE reportedly shot ajiao in the river.[63][59][39] TheShiyiji拾遺記 (4th century CE) has ajiao story aboutEmperor Zhao of Han (r. 87-74 BCE). While fishing in theWei River, he
...caught a whitekiao, threechang [ten meters] long, which resembled a big snake, but had no scaly armour The Emperor said: 'This is not a lucky omen', and ordered the Ta kwan[z] to make a condiment of it. Its flesh was purple, its bones were blue, and its taste was very savoury and pleasant.[15]
Three classical texts (Liji 6,[64]Huainanzi 5, andLüshi Chunqiu 6) repeat a sentence about capturing water creatures at the end of summer;伐蛟取鼉登龜取黿 "attack thejiao蛟, take theto鼉 "alligator", present thegui龜 "tortoise", and take theyuan黿 "soft-shell turtle"."
There is a legend surrounding theDragon Boat Festival which purports to be the origin behind the offering ofzongzi (leaf-wrapped rice cakes) to the drowned noblemanQu Yuan during its observation. It is said that at the beginning of theEastern Han dynasty (25 A. D.), a man fromChangsha named Ou Hui had a vision in a dream of Qu Yuan instructing him that the naked rice cakes being offered for him in the river are all being eaten by the dragons (jiaolong), and the cakes need to be wrapped in chinaberry (Melia;Chinese:楝;pinyin:liàn) leaves and tied with color strings, which are two things the dragons abhor.[65][66][aa]
It has been suggested that thejiao is not a creature ofSinitic origin, but something introduced from the Far South orYue culture,[69] which encompasses the people of the ancientYue越 state), as well as theHundred Yue people.[70]
Eberhard concludes (1968:378-9) that thejiao, which "occur in the whole of Central and South China", "is a special form of the snake as river god. The snake as river god or god of the ocean is typical for the coastal culture, particularly the sub-group of the Tan peoples (theTanka people)". Schafer also suggests, "The Chinese lore about these southern krakens seems to have been borrowed from the indigenes of the monsoon coast".[71]
Theonomastics surrounding theLong Biên District (now inHanoi,Vietnam) is that it was so-named from ajialong "flood dragon" seen coiled in the river (Shui jing zhu or theCommentary on the Water Classic 37).[26][72][73]
It is recorded that in southern China, there had been the custom of wearingtattoos to ward against thejiaolong. The people in Kuaiji (old capital ofYue; present-dayShaoxing City) adopted such a custom during theXia dynasty according to theBook of Wei (3rd c.).[ab][ac][74][75][76] The Yue created this "apotropaic device"[77] by incising their flesh and tattooing it with red and green pigments.[78][79][80]
Thejiao seems to refer to "crocodiles", at least in later literature of theTang andSong dynasties, and may have referred to "crocodiles" in early literature as well.[69]
Aside from thiszoological identification,paleontological identifications have also been attempted.
The termjiao e or "jiao crocodile" (蛟鱷; Tang period pronunciation: kău ngak)[81][ad] occurs in the description ofHan Yu's encounter with crocodiles according toZhang Du [zh]'sXuanshi zhi [zh] or "Records of the House of Proclamation" written in the late Tang period.[83][84][ae]
As noted theCompendium of Materia Medica identifiesjiao with Sanskrit宮毗羅,[4][85] i.e.,kumbhīra[7] which denotes a long-snoutedcrocodylid.[8] The 19th-centuryherpetologistAlbert-Auguste Fauvel concurred, stating thatjiaolong referred to a crocodile orgavialclade of animals.[86]
TheCompendium also differentiates betweenjiaolong蛟龍[4] andtuolong鼉龍,[87] Fauvel adding thattuolong (鼉;t'o2) should be distinguished as "alligator".[86][88]
Fauvel noted that thejiao resembled the dinosaur genusIguanodon,[af] adding that fossil teeth were being peddled byChinese medicine shops at the time(1879:8).[89]
In the foregoing example of thehuijiao in the "Classic of the Southern Mountains" III,[44] the 19th-century sinologist treated this a type of dragon, the "tigerkiao",[43] while a modern translator as "tiger-crocodile".[30] However, there is also an 18–19th-century opinion that this might have been a shark. AQing dynasty period commentator,Hao Yixing [zh] suggested thathuijiao should be identified asjiaocuo蛟錯[ag] described in theBowuzhi博物志,[29][91] and thisjiaocuo in turn is considered to be a type of shark.[29][93]
As in the above examplejiao蛟 may be substituted forjiao鮫 "shark" in some contexts.[92]
Thejiao鮫 denotes largersharks and rays,[94] the character for sharks (and rays) in general beingsha鯊, so-named ostensibly due to their skin being gritty and sand-like[ah][ai] Compare the supposed quote from theBaopuzi, where it is stated that thejialong is said to have "pearls in the skin"皮有珠.[3][92]
Schafer quotes aSong dynasty description, "Thekău (jiao) fish has the aspect of a round fan. Its mouth is square and is in its belly. There is a sting in its tail which is very poisonous and hurtful to men. Its skin can be made into sword grips", which may refer to asting ray.[99]
Jiaolong occurs in Chinesetoponyms. For example, the highest waterfall inTaiwan is Jiaolong Dapu (蛟龍大瀑), "Flood Dragon Great Waterfall" in theAlishan National Scenic Area.
The deep-seasubmersible built and tested in 2010 by theChina Ship Scientific Research Center is namedJiaolong (Broad 2010:A1).
The7th Marine Brigade of thePeople's Liberation Army Navy Marine Corps is often known as the "Jiaolong Commandos".
The 2025 filmOperation Hadal takes its Chinese name (simplified Chinese:蛟龙行动;traditional Chinese:蛟龍行動;pinyin:Jiāolóng Xíngdòng;lit. 'Operation Jiaolong') from this creature.
Citations
Jialong: in Sanskrit guanpiluo, pronounced jiao. Scaled ones are calledjiao dragon.Baopuzi: mother dragons are calledjiao, dragon offspring [or dragonets] are calledqiu. Its form is like unto a fish's body with a snake's tail; its skin is [studded] with pearl[y beads]蛟龍: 梵言宮毗羅，音交。有鱗曰蛟龍。《抱朴子》曰：母龍曰蛟，龍子曰虯。其狀魚身如蛇尾，皮有珠。
{{cite encyclopedia}}:|script-work= ignored (help) via Kotobank accessed 2019-07-30【麾蛟龍使梁津兮，】舉手曰麾。小曰蛟，大曰龍。
{{cite encyclopedia}}:|journal= ignored (help)郭曰似蛇而四脚小頭細頸頸有白癭大者十數圍卵如一二石甕能吞人
dragon in the river
Zhengyi says, considering theHan shuDili zhi (Geography treatise)'s text that the Yue people crop their hair and tattoo their bodies, thus averting harm fromjiaolong, etc.正義曰：按《漢書•地理志》文，越俗斷髮文身，以辟蛟龍之害，故刻其肌，以丹青涅之
Bibliography
From Hsün-yang he [Emperor Wu] traveled on the [Yang-tze] River in person and shot an alligator in the river
