The manifestation of culture influence by comparing images of dragons in western literature works

路瑤

【摘要】當人們說到文化滲透的時候，大多人更多注意的是西方文化對中方文化的影響和西方文化在這個過程中帶來的不好的影響。事實上，這些看法對文化滲透而言是不公平的。文章將會向讀者展示，文化滲透是一個相互的過程。通過對文學作品里的“中國龍”和“歐洲龍”的形象比較。文章將對比兩個詞的起源與他們在傳統和現代文學作品里的形象，從而展示他們之間的改變，也通過這個比較來展現文化的互相滲透。

【關鍵詞】中國龍 歐洲龍 形象 文化 聯想意義

Many years ago， most of western people has a disillusion about loong. They thought that loong is similar with dragon. However this is wrong and this misunderstanding is widely released in recent years.

1. The relationship of Dragon and Loong

Dragon and loong are different symbols of their people.

1.1 The meanings of Dragon and Loong

As OALECD recorded， dragon means that in stories and legends its the fabulous creature like a crocodile or snake， often with winds and claws and breathes out fire， and also means the fierce person. However， in Modern Chinese Dictionary （Edition V）， Loong have five aspects to use which could be checked， including， firstly， sacred legendary animal， secondly， a symbol of the traditional King， thirdly， the sacred totem and symbol， fourthly， the animal in Archaeology （such as dinosaur）， and last the family name.

From the meanings from dictionary， its not difficult to find some details about their associative meanings， such as， the evil sides of dragon and the sacred sides of loong.

1.2 The translation about Loong

From the coming of Morrison， the loong was directly regarded as the dragon， which brought some misunderstandings about Chinese culture to the western people. Therefore， there are many scholars and professor showing their different ideas about this improper translation way. Just as He Xingliang （Li， 2012） said， “ The ‘Loong shouldnt be translated as the ‘Dragon. We need do some changes， which is a chance to release the misunderstanding of Western to Chinese.” So many authorities give many advice about the translation of loong， and they take some methods to publicize the Chinese culture. So is there any effects？ This article will analyze this question by comparing the images of dragon and loong in literature works.

2. The images of dragon and loong in Literature works

2.1 The traditional literature works

In traditional western literature works， such as Beowulf and King Arthur， the epic stories and legends always write about the dragon， which is powerful， greedy and opposite with people. It likes treasures and the symbol of evil. Meanwhile there must be a hero or knight， who will kill the dragon with a sacred sword， such as Excalibur， and lead the people to the peaceful life. Especially in Bible， dragon is the embodiment of Satan， which is the devil in Bible.endprint

However in traditional Chinese literature works， the Classic of Mountains and Rivers， the loong is from totem. Meanwhile loong is the kindness feature to give a favour and protect the people. Loong isnt the evil things， which is the guardian of people. And people worship it. In other literature works， such as Eryayi， loong is also the sacred creature.

2.2 The modern literature works

Something has changed with the development. During the process， the formation of literature works is becoming more and more digital. It is not only novels， poems and dramas but also television serials， movies and so on. All of these shouldnt be ignored as the literature works containing the different thoughts and different culture in this period.

At first， Mulan （1998） is a movie made by The Walt Disney Company that should be mentioned. The scriptwriter SanSouci adds a role- Muxu， who isnt existing in traditional Chinese story and is a loong. Its the guardian of Mulan without any power， but it is full with kindness and wisdom. Then it companies with Mulan crossing obstacles， winning the battle and returning their hometown. Through this movie， its clearly find that the images of loong in western people have changed.

Then the stage is to the American television serials （TV play）. Because the American TV plays and American movies account for a large proportion of the market. So choosing the American TV play as an example is decided by its popularity and representative. Talking about American TV plays， Supernatural and Game of Thrones are excellent. Especially Game of Thrones is famous all around the world， which is rearranged from the book- A Song of Ice and Fire. Both of them are mysterious theme， and dragons are mentioned in these two TV plays.

Supernatural （2005） is a story about“the two heroes saving people and hunting things.” to continue their family business that is dealing with the supernatural things. In this TV plays， there are many mysterious creature from myths， such as Bible， Greek myths and North European myths and so on. In the twelfth episode and twenty-first episode in season six （2010）， the mysterious creature is dragons. Although the director Robert Singer doesnt give a specific images of dragon， he portrays dragons in the vessel of people. But the qualities of the dragons are unchanging， they love treasure and persecute people. Just as the recording in the traditional books， the heroes as the hero stand out to find a divine sword， Bruncvik， to kill these evil dragons. Then they borrow the sword from Doctor Visyak， who also is a dragon. But she is different with the dragons mentioned above. She doesnt bloody and harm other people， meanwhile she loves the life with human beings. For keeping this peaceful life， she lends Bruncvik to Dean who is one of heroes to kill these evil dragons. Her image differs with the traditional dragon.endprint

Game of Thrones （2011） is a medieval epic fantastic TV play. Daenerys is one of heroes of this story who is a survivor from royal Stormborn. After a series of things， she owns three dragons. Through the scenario until now， the essential feature of dragon is humanity. From owning the dragons in season one （2011）， those three dragons rely on their mother Daenerys. Then with their growing， they begins to protect their mother. Although in season three （2013） they are in rebellious phase， when their mother in dangerous， they come back and save their mother. All of these aspects manifest the emotion like family affection， which make the image of dragon becoming more and more specific and humanity.

3. The conclusion of the differences images of dragon

From above mentioned， its not difficult to find that in nowadays the images of dragon have many changes contrasting with the old time.

The dragon in traditional is always evil， powerful， bloody and greedy. All of the darkness sides of humans thought are included. Meanwhile， there must be a hero who will kill the dragon， protect the normal and lead them to the peaceful life. However， in modern life， dragon isnt just the combination of the evilness and darkness. Dragon has became humanity with gentle and watch man. It becomes a company of human beings， which is the feature of long.

As the American linguistist Sapir pointed （Lu， 1985）， “There is something behind the language， and language can not leave the cultural existence. The so-called culture is the social habits and beliefs inherited the sum of， from that they can determine our organizational life.” Although there are some possibility that these changes are at service of their articles， the influences from culture are existing. The new thoughts， concepts and worldviews have became an essential part for people in nowadays. It could get some hints from the images changing of dragon in western literature works. Meanwhile it proves that the efforts to release the misunderstanding of loong and public the culture of Chinese by Chinese authorities and scholars is functional. When people focuses on the question of publicity and translation of loong， its clear that during the process of assimilating the western culture the Chinese culture also has influence to the western culture. So these efforts by the authorities to western couldnt be ignored.

In a word， when we tackle with this situation， it need the find some proper ways to explore and deal with this problem with confidence.

References：

[1]Beeson，C.，Fitzpatrick，J.，Manners，K.，Singer，R.（Director）.Supernatural Season One[Television series].New York：The CW Television Network，2005.

[2]Beeson，C.，Fitzpatrick，J.，Manners，K.，Singer，R.（Director）.Supernatural Season Three[Television series].New York：The CW Television Network，2010.

[3]Benioff，D.，Taylor，A.，Weiss，D.B.（scriptwriter）.Game of Thrones Season One[Television series].New York：Home Box Office，2011.

[4]Benioff，D.，Taylor，A.，Weiss，D.B.（scriptwriter）.Game of Thrones Season Three[Television series].New York：Home Box Office，2013.

[5]SanSouci，R.B.（scriptwriter）.Mulan[Movie].United States：The Walt Disney Company，1998.

[6]李慶英.世界視野中的龍文化[N].北京日報，2012（A20）.

[7]陸卓元.語言論[M].北京：商務印書館，1985.endprint