For thousands of years, the Chinese have regarded themselves as “the descendants of the dragon”. Unlike the European dragons, the Chinese dragons symbolize good omen with auspicious power and wisdom. It is the link between mankind and the gods of the heaven. With this, the Emperor of China used the dragon as a symbol of his imperial power.

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In a dragon dance, the dragon is held on a number poles by trained performers choreograph in undulating movement mimicking this mythical reptilian. It is really fascinating to watch the dragon dance performed in black light giving a luminous glow on the dragon (left).



When I was girl and even now, I tend to view the lion dance as a mythical creature, partly because the two performers’ faces are covered and their pants are usually part of the lion’s costume. It is a traditional Chinese cultural dance with symbolic connotation. The performers mimic a lion’s movements with a knowledge and skills in martial arts. The video of the lion dance performed by Mak Fai Kung Fu Club with fire crackers to ward off evil spirits and welcome the new year (left) shows an amazing skills and agility.

The story as told thousand of years that a monk had a dream  of sorrows and evils plaguing the land. The monk then prayed to the gods of how he could prevent these evils from occurring. The gods told him that a lion would protect the people and defeat the evils. The Chinese people had never seen a lion before, but had heard stories that the lion was the king of the animal kingdom, so the monk combined all the image of mythical animals and conjured up a pretty looking creature, so cute I would want to have as a house pet. Sources: Wikipedia