As the Year of the Dragon approaches, there has been a heated debate among mainland netizens about whether the English translation of “龍” (“龙” in Simplified Chinese) should be “dragon” or “loong”. This topic has even topped the trending list on Weibo for a while.
The reason behind this discussion is that Beijing officials have started using “loong” in translations for Lunar New Year activities and reports this year. Not long after the new year began, China Global Television Network (CGTN), targeting English-speaking audiences, translated the Year of the Dragon as “Year of the Loong” when reporting on the introduction of Spring Festival items with dragon elements in Yiwu International Trade City. Later, they also translated “龍舞” as “Loong Dance” in other reports. The English name of the CCTV Spring Festival Gala mascot “龍辰辰” was also translated as “Loong Chenchen”.
An article by the Shanghai Writers Association points out that “loong” is similar in pronunciation to “long”, and the two “o”s in the middle resemble the bright and shining eyes of a dragon, embodying the characteristics of Chinese characters’ pictographs and semantics. The “elongated” form of “long” also better describes the elongated shape of a dragon or dragon boat.
As for why “龍” was translated as “dragon” in the past, the Xinhua News Agency quotes Peng Ping, vice dean of the School of English Studies at Beijing Foreign Studies University, who analyzed that the term “dragon” already existed in Marco Polo’s travelogue. He may have observed from the appearance that the dragons in Chinese architecture have some similarities to Western dragons.
Later, the British missionary Robert Morrison compiled the “English-Chinese Dictionary” and also translated “龍” as “dragon”. Peng Ping said that this dictionary had a profound influence, and this translation spread among most Westerners and continues to this day. Therefore, since the 13th century, foreigners have translated the dragons in Yuan Dynasty palaces as “dragons”.
However, the use of “loong” has also been around for a long time. In the early 19th century, British missionary William Milne, in his book “The Sounds and Meanings of Chinese”, used the term “dragon” in translation but annotated “龍” as “loong”. From this, it can be seen that “loong” is not a term recently proposed by the Chinese, and it’s not uncommon for foreigners to transliterate the names of unique things from other countries. The image of Chinese dragons is positive, while Western dragons are often portrayed as monsters.
So what are the differences between Western dragons and Chinese dragons? Luca Nurmio, a scholar at the University of Luxembourg, told Xinhua that the image of Chinese dragons is more friendly and benevolent, while Western dragons are often depicted as monsters, indicating obvious differences between the two. He therefore believes that translating “龍” as “loong” is appropriate because the term “dragon” in the West does not accurately reflect the meaning of the Chinese cultural “龍”.
Frances Wood, a renowned sinologist in the UK, also pointed out that in China, the dragon is a symbol of nobility with a very positive image, unlike the image of Western dragons. She believes that considering the current understanding and acceptance of the audience, it may be appropriate to translate it as “Chinese dragon”. The Oxford English Dictionary previously included “Chinese dragon” as a standard term and added annotations about the positive meaning of dragons in Chinese culture.
Mainland media also generally pointed out that Western dragons typically breathe fire, have huge wings, and are fierce in nature, with a generally negative image; while Chinese dragons usually consist of features such as a horse head, eagle claws, fish scales, deer antlers, and a snake-like body, and do not have wings, representing good luck and auspiciousness. The differences between the two are significant, so translating “龍” as “loong” is closer to the original meaning of Chinese dragons, while “dragon” is inaccurate, especially since there are precedents for translating “loong”. The discussion on how to translate “龍” in the Chinese academic community has been going on for decades.
In fact, mainland scholars have been discussing how to translate “龍” for decades. According to research conducted more than 20 years ago by Huang Ji, then an associate professor at the School of Communication at East China Normal University, Professor Lu Binghong was the earliest scholar in China to point out that “龍” should not be translated as “dragon”.
In 1987, Lu Binghong wrote that in Chinese culture, dragons represent emperors and symbolize nobility; there are dragon boats, dragon lanterns, and the saying “龍鳳呈祥”, where dragons symbolize auspiciousness. There are many legends and metaphors related to dragons in China, and the Chinese nation is “descendants of the dragon”, for example: “He is a dragon in the county, but a worm in the province”. Here, “dragon” metaphorically represents power and authority, but in English, “dragon” represents fierceness. If you say “his wife is a dragon”, this metaphor has a rather derogatory meaning.
Later, prominent Chinese anthropologist Professor Yan Yunxiang, English expert Ge Chuanguan, and others successively proposed that “龍” and “dragon” should not be translated interchangeably.
The public’s focus on the translation of “龍” became widespread in November 2005, when the mascot for the 2008 Beijing Olympics, which was expected to be a dragon, unexpectedly was not chosen. The explanation given by the Olympic Organizing Committee was that dragons have different interpretations worldwide, and the Western perception of dragons does not match the emotional attachment that Chinese people have to them, leading to misunderstandings, making it unsuitable as the Olympic mascot.
It can be said that the dragon is the most important symbol in Chinese culture, and the Olympic Games are a globally significant sporting event and an excellent opportunity to promote Chinese culture. The dragon’s failure to become the Olympic mascot at that time suddenly made people realize the significance of the translation issue.
Since then, there have been frequent discussions about the translation of the dragon. During the two sessions (the National People’s Congress and the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference) in 2015, a member of the CPPCC proposed further clarifying the English translation of “龍” and advocated for translating it as “loong”.
Gradually, “loong” has been transliterated
In recent years, many Chinese companies and institutions have begun to do so. For example, the English name of China’s first CPU chip “龍芯” is Loongson; Zhejiang Loong Airlines is the English name of Zhejiang Changlong Airlines; and the English title of the movie “龍之戰” produced by the State Administration of Press, Publication, Radio, Film and Television and other units is “The War of Loong”.
As “loong” gradually becomes transliterated, some institutions in the mainland have also changed some culturally loaded terms to transliterations. In 2009, the General Administration of Sport of China announced that to promote the popularity and promotion of Chinese chess worldwide, the English translation would use “xiangqi” instead of the previously common “chinese chess”. Another example is “粽子”, whose English translation was confirmed as “zongzi” in 2020, instead of the previously used “rice dumpling”.
Yangzi Evening News quoted Cheng Shuiying, an English professional teacher at the School of Foreign Languages of Nanjing University of Finance and Economics, as saying that when translating into English, transliteration is a more ingenious translation method for some proper nouns with Chinese traditional cultural marks in Chinese, which can input cultural information of the source language to the target language readers. In addition to “zongzi”, other examples include “功夫” (kungfu) and “豆腐” (tofu).
Cheng Shuiying said that today, translating “龍” as “loong” is increasingly accepted by more people.
Hu Xijin, former editor-in-chief of Global Times, wrote on February 8 that as China moves towards the world and embraces the world, the reshaping of the image of “loong” will continue, “This is a long-term and challenging process of conceptual adjustment.”
Hu Xijin wrote that the entire world, including the West, now has a demand to understand the Chinese “loong”, even though some still view China’s rise as a threat from the “dragon”. But whether they like it or not, they must enter and adapt to the new globalization where they coexist with China. “In the end, they will realize from China’s development practices that ‘loong’ is not ‘dragon’.”
Hong Kong current affairs commentator Liu Ruishao believes that changing “dragon” to “loong” reflects China’s desire to control discourse but is mostly self-indulgent. He explained in an interview with BBC Chinese that such practices violate the established language conventions, and he believes it’s unlikely for “loong” to become the mainstream usage worldwide. “Language is alive and will evolve with the times. If all words have to be traced back to the original text, this is not a modern way of thinking.”
Nevertheless, discussions on the translation of the dragon issue in Western academia have been increasing, indicating that the dissemination of Chinese culture is becoming more widespread.
Someday, if the English translation of the Chinese dragon is indeed determined to be “loong” instead of “dragon”, then how should the Western dragon be translated into Chinese at that time?