I was born in the year of the Dragon (January 31st, 1976 to February 17th, 1977). This lunar year is also specially noted as the year of the Fire Dragon. I think this last picture best embodies the fire dragon (gold or 'jin-se').
I was told that most monestaries will emplore the depiction of only one type of dragon. For instance this temple emplores the water dragon as water sprays from the mouth of many of the dragon sculptures. You will see the second temple I attended chose the laughing dragon.
While blogging my friend Henry sent me this description of the 'long' or 'loong' or 'dragon'. This is a usefull more precise description:
n. c. a mythological creatures, with the head of a camel, the horns of a deer, the eyes of a rabbit, the ears of a cow, the neck and body of a snake, the belly of a kind of huge clam, the scales of a carp, the claws of a hawk, the palm of a tiger, and without wings. It has whiskers and a beard, and is deaf. It is generally regarded as benevolent but is also the source of thunder and lightning.The loong is a spiritual tie linking the Chinese people. The loong, as the symbol of the Chinese nation, has become part of the Chinese culture. Chinese people are proud to call themselves "the offspring of the Loong".The loong is translated as "dragon" wrongly now. In fact, loong is so different in nature from Western Dragons that it may be more reasonable to consider them as dissimilar creatures, rather than as the same creature interpreted differently.
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