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A pig dragon or zhūlóng (simplified Chinese: 玉 猪龙; traditional Chinese: 玉 豬龍) [1] is a type of jade artifact from the Hongshan culture of neolithic China. Pig dragons are zoomorphic forms with a pig-like head and elongated limbless body coiled around to the head and described as "suggestively fetal". [ 2 ]
The famous Hongshan pig-dragon jade pendant signifies a dragon assisting the mother goddess and as such being a symbol of fertility. The mythical dragon was integrated with the pig image as a result of the Hongshan culture being dependent on agricultural and domestic fortune which the pig symbolized. [64]
Zhulong / ˈ dʒ uː l ɒ ŋ / or Zhuyin / ˈ dʒ uː j ɪ n /, also known in English as the Torch Dragon, was a giant red solar dragon and god in Chinese mythology. It supposedly had a human's face and snake's body, created day and night by opening and closing its eyes, and created seasonal winds by breathing.
Hongshan burial artifacts include some of the earliest known examples of jade working. The Hongshan culture is known for its jade pig dragons and embryo dragons. Clay figurines, including figurines of pregnant women, are also found throughout Hongshan sites. Small copper rings were also excavated. [citation needed] [12]
Small collections of symbols have been found at several archeological sites dating to the Neolithic period in what is now China. The symbols are either pictorial in nature, or are simple geometric figures, [a] and have either been incised into or drawn onto artifacts—mostly pottery, but sometimes also turtle shells, animal bones or other items made of bone or jade.
The Hongshan culture sites in present-day Inner Mongolia produced jade dragon objects in the form of pig dragons which are the first 3-dimensional representations of Chinese dragons. [29] One such early form was the pig dragon. It is a coiled, elongated creature with a head resembling a boar. [30]
The Liangzhu (/ ˈ l j ɑː ŋ ˈ dʒ uː /) culture or civilization (3300–2300 BC) was the last Chinese Neolithic jade culture in the Yangtze River Delta.The culture was highly stratified, as jade, silk, ivory and lacquer artifacts were found exclusively in elite burials, while pottery was more commonly found in the burial plots of poorer individuals.
A Chinese Neolithic (Hongshan culture) jade ornament in the form of a curled pig dragon. Depictions of Chinese dragons (龍, lóng) first appear in the archaeological record circa 3000 BC, before any literary descriptions appear. [7]