Panlong

The panlong, or "coiled dragon," is a Chinese dragon that lies curled up on earth or in water and has not yet ascended to heaven, a favorite motif on bronzes, pillars, and roof beams.

A Dragon Waiting to Rise

The Fangyan, a Han dynasty dictionary of regional words attributed to the scholar Yang Xiong, gives the classic definition: dragons "which do not yet ascend to heaven are called panlong." Pan means to coil or curl up, so the panlong is a dragon lying low, wrapped around itself, gathering its strength.

The idea fits an old Chinese way of thinking about dragons as creatures that move between the depths and the sky. The first hexagram of the Yijing (Book of Changes) begins with a "hidden dragon" that should not yet act and ends with a dragon flying in the heavens. A Japanese Buddhist dictionary consulted by the scholar M. W. de Visser listed the panlong as a fifth kind of dragon beside the scaly, winged, horned, and hornless kinds named in Chinese sources.

In Art

The coiled dragon is far more common in art than in stories. Ancient bronze vessels and mirrors carry coiled dragon designs, and art historians use the term panchi for the patterns of small, interlaced, hornless dragons that cover many bronzes of the Spring and Autumn and Warring States periods. Later, coiled dragons wrapped around stone columns became a mark of the highest-ranking buildings. The carved dragon pillars of the Hall of Great Achievement at the Temple of Confucius in Qufu are a famous example.

Because the panlong is shown wrapped around something, it suits round objects: bowls, pillars, the bosses of mirrors, and the centers of ceilings. Our Chinese dragons page describes the panlong as a water dragon of lakes. Sources differ on its home, and in practice the name describes a pose more than a habitat.

Meaning

A dragon that has not yet risen became a natural image for a gifted person who has not yet had a chance to shine, much like the "hidden dragon" of the Yijing or the nickname "Sleeping Dragon" given to the strategist Zhuge Liang before he entered public life. The coiled dragon carries patience and potential: it is not weak, only waiting.

Legacy

The name lives on in places such as Panlongcheng, the "Coiled Dragon City," a major Shang dynasty archaeological site near Wuhan. In Western dragon books, the panlong usually appears in lists of the classical types of Chinese dragons. See types of Chinese dragons for the full list.

Related

• Lóng (Chinese dragon): The lóng is the Chinese dragon: a long, scaly, usually wingless creature with four clawed legs that rules rain, rivers, and seas and became the emblem of the emperor and of Chinese culture.
• Jiaolong: The jiaolong, or jiao, is a Chinese water dragon of rivers, lakes, and floods, often described as scaly and not yet fully a dragon, and feared for drowning people and overturning boats.
• Yinglong: Yinglong is the winged dragon of ancient Chinese myth, a rain-bringing servant of the Yellow Emperor who killed the rebel Chiyou and, in other accounts, used its tail to help Yu the Great channel the Great Flood.
• Imugi: The imugi is a great serpent of Korean folklore that has not yet become a true dragon and must live a thousand years, or catch a wish-granting jewel fallen from heaven, before it can ascend as a yong.
• Dragon Species
• Chinese Dragons

Sources and Further Reading

• M. W. de Visser, The Dragon in China and Japan (Amsterdam: Johannes Müller, 1913)
• Richard John Lynn, trans., The Classic of Changes: A New Translation of the I Ching as Interpreted by Wang Bi (Columbia University Press, 1994)
• Jessica Rawson, Chinese Bronzes: Art and Ritual (British Museum Publications, 1987)

Cite this entry: “Panlong,” Draconika Encyclopedia of Dragons, https://www.draconika.com/dragons/panlong.