Drawing on Roland Barthes’s theory of myth, this article argues that the Chinese dragon can be read as a mythical signification deeply entwined with Confucianism, the dominant ideology in traditional China. It is not fortuitous that the dragon, rather than the t’ao-t’ieh, became an enduring emblem of imperial power in feudal China. The Chinese dragon as a powerful, capricious, but basically beneficent divine creature lends itself to a perfect analogy with the ideal Confucian ruler who practiced jen (benevolence) and li (rites).

The emperor, who was supposed to treat his subjects kindly while maintraining the existing sociopolitical hierarchy, and who combined favors and graces with power and authority, was equated with the dragon. Dragon worship is in essence a form of authority worship, which is responsible for many serious defects in the Chinese national character.

This article also proposes that traditional Chinese society was also a privileged field of mythical signification, semiologically comparable to modem bourgeois society in the West, where bourgeois norms assume a “natural” and “rational” form. Both jen and li, according to Confucianism, may be traced to the “natural” human emotions that the individual experiences in the family. In addition, Confucianism also appeals to a pragmatic rationalism based on the individual’s intuitive judgments and experiential knowledge.

The dragon is a complex sign in Chinese culture, susceptible to appropriation by various political and cultural forces in contemporary China. But so long as feudal practices still linger in Chinese society, one must not embrace this sign uncritically.

semiology, myth, dragon, t'ao-t'ieh, Confucianism, emperor, jen (benevolence), power, li (rites), Chinese national character