The Asian Dragon

The Chinese long dragon has a long serpentine body, covered with scales, wingless but capable of flight, a head with a broad jaw, bearing deer horns and long whiskers, and lion paws ending in talons. Its function is related to water, rain, the agricultural cycle; it brings good luck and prosperity. Fuchur, the dragon of The Never Ending Story, has popularized this image of the dragon as a good luck charm, an ally and not an adversary. The Chinese pantheon lists other dragons, linked to different elements and rivers, like Haku in The Journey of Chihiro, a dragon that personifies a river into which the heroine once fell.