![]() Still, this patrician animal owed his unique status to more than his usefulness to the lords of the land. Schafer describes the horse's "tremendous importance" to Tang dynasty rulers for military tactics, diplomatic policy, and aristocratic privilege. The Han dynasty scholar Wang Fu says, "The people paint the dragon's shape with a horse's head and a snake's tail(世俗畫龍之象,馬頭蛇尾。)." Įdward H. Horses up to 8 feet tall are called long 龍 "dragon", those up to 7 feet are called lai 騋, and those up to 6 feet are called ma 馬 "horse". An early example comes from the Zhouli " Rites of Zhou" ( 夏官司馬), which differentiates names for horses of different heights, measured in the chi 尺 "Chinese foot" (historically around 23–33 centimeters, see Chinese units of measurement). Longma interconnects traditional Chinese beliefs about dragons and horses. In addition to naming the mythic creature, longma 龍馬 "dragon horse" can refer to an eminent person, such as in the four-character idiom longma jingshen 龍馬精神 ("vigorous spirit in old age"). "river horse") " hippopotamus" and haima 海馬 ( lit. The Chinese word longma combines long 龍 " dragon" and ma 馬 " horse". Seeing a longma was an omen of a legendary sage-ruler, particularly one of the Three Sovereigns and Five Emperors. The longma is a fabled winged horse with dragon scales in Chinese mythology. Pair of Longma statues at Gióng Temple, Sóc Sơn, Hanoi, Vietnam
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