Vietnam Discovery: The Four sacred animal - Dragon (Episode 2) | VTV World

Dragons
According to the nation’s founding myth, Vietnamese people are the offspring of a sea dragon and a mountain fairy. As such, dragons have a special place in the nation’s psyche. Unlike the dragons depicted in the West, Vietnamese dragons have lithe, sinuous bodies. They rise out of water and bestow good luck-and rain-upon humanity.
To understand the importance of dragons in Vietnamese culture, take a look at the names of locations. Having freed the nation from colonial rule in 1010, King Lý Thái Tổ is said to have seen a dragon take flight on the banks of the Red River. He chose this spot as the site of his capital, which he christened “Thăng Long”-Rising Dragon. The site has now been renamed as Hanoi. Meanwhile, Hạ Long Bay, which translates to The Bay of the Descending Dragon, gets its name from a legend about a dragon that dove into the sea and churned up countless islands with its thrashing tail.
In the 15th century, when Confucianism reached its peak in Vietnam, the dragon became a symbol of feudal power. The dynasty issued strict rules governing dragon images-only kings could use five-clawed dragon motifs. In Hanoi’s Thăng Long Citadel, the stone dragon staircase of Kính Thiên Palace is a wonderful example of a 15th century dragon design. In Huế, the Palace of Supreme Harmony, built in 1805, features columns, roof ridges and eaves decorated with golden Nguyễn Dynasty dragons. Dragon motifs continue to evolve and remain relevant today-as shown by Đà Nẵng’s popular Dragon Bridge, which opened in 2013 and emits bursts of fire and jets of water at 9pm on Saturday and Sunday nights.