We Are All Descendants of the Dragon

The Yellow Emperor had made both political and military achievements, he unified the country, and soon won over all the clans and tribes. Now they were all members of one family, but their signs still varied a lot, which meant a lack of solemnity and was not good for solidarity. Some ministers proposed to use the bear image of the tribe of the Yellow Emperor as the unified totem.

黄帝文治武功，统一天下，很快让所有的部族心悦诚服。都是一家人了，但是标志弄得五花八门，很不严肃，也不利于团结。有些大臣提议，用黄帝部落的熊作为统一图腾。

 

The Yellow Emperor thought it over and said, “The totem should be accepted by all the tribes. Don’t mention the bear any more. Whoever proposed the bear will be scolded.”

黄帝想了想说，图腾需要所有的部落都接受才行，不要提熊了，谁再提我熊谁。

 

When they were brainstorming, suddenly dark clouds were rolling in the sky and soon there were rumbling thunder and lightning, as if a message was going to be revealed.

正在大家展开头脑风暴的时候，突然天上乌云翻滚，不一会儿轰轰隆隆电闪雷鸣，仿佛在预示着什么。

 

Something appeared in a flash in the mind of the Yellow Emperor, and he was suddenly enlightened: the lightning looks like a snake, so let’s take it as the body, then we use the scales of the fish, the head of the horse, the nose of the lion, the eyes of the tiger, the tongue of the ox, the horns of the deer, the teeth of the elephant, the whiskers of the sheep and the claws of the eagle…all the tribal elements are included, and then we do a good Photoshop, can my idea get a 99? Then we give this great idea a name that strikes the ears like the roar of thunder, and that means full marks!

黄帝脑海里电光石火，豁然开朗，闪电如蛇，就用它做身子，鱼的鳞，马的头，狮的鼻，虎的眼，牛的舌，鹿的角，象的牙，羊的须，鹰的爪……各个部落的元素都加齐全了，再好好地PS一下，我这个创意能打99分不?再给这个倍儿牛的创意起个如雷贯耳的名字，那就是满分嘛!

 

Then they all looked at the Yellow Emperor, expecting but ashamed. The Yellow Emperor looked up at the sky at the angle of 45 degrees: those bursts of thunder coming from there, isn’t that the name? Rumbling, rumbling…

大家于是都看着黄帝，期待而又惭愧。45度角，黄帝仰望天空：那里传来的一阵阵雷声，不就是名字吗?轰隆隆隆……

 

In order to snatch the last point, the ministers threw out a lot of names, but none was satisfactory and all were passed.

各位大臣为了抢这最后一分，七嘴八舌说了一堆名字，结果都不如人意，被PASS掉了。

 

Excellent! How didn’t we think of it? The ministers spoke a series of glowing terms to the Yellow Emperor. The latter ordered Cang Jie: create a special character for this sound. Thus, the word “dragon” was born. Ever since then, the dragon has become a symbol of the auspicious authority of the Chinese nation. Even the Yellow Emperor took the lead in worshipping it.

妙啊，我们怎么没想到呢?大臣们向黄帝投出了一连串的彩虹。黄帝命令仓颉：给这个声音造个专门的字!于是，龙就诞生了。从此以后，龙就成为中华民族吉祥权威的象征物，就连黄帝也带头崇敬它。