Small Seal		Classical Script

Original meaning: Dragon

This mythical animal symbolizes auspiciousness. It suggests something divine and all-powerful. In ancient times, it was believed that when a dragon ascended to heaven, it rained; when it hid in a well, drought occurred. Traditionally it is the symbol associated with the emperors in China. In ancient graphs (circa 2000 B.C.), it was . Then it evolved into in shell-and-bone characters (1400 to 1200 B.C.). Next, the character was abstracted to in the Great Seal (1100 to 300 B.C.), and was further transformed into in Small Seal (221 to 207 B.C.). Then, as the official Hand it was depicted as (200 B.C. to 200 A.D.). Now, in the Classical Script it is . On the left side of this character is , which is and combined. But, is contracted which suggests the phonetic aspect for (Lung2), while the bottom part of is which denotes the body. Its left side is which denotes a contracted form of the flying wings.