SPC Traditional Chinese Culture Seminar Series – Dragon

Dragon is a prominent image in the Chinese culture. Chinese people sometimes refer themselves as the descendants of the dragon. How did the concept of dragon appear? What is the significance of dragon to most Chinese? On January 31, 2018, Shiu Pong College invited Professor Wang Zhisheng from the Faculty of Education, an expert of traditional Chinese culture, as our seminar speaker to broaden SPCer’s knowledge of this important legend from the ancient Chinese culture. The seminar attracted the attendance of 33 SPCers to learn about the history of dragon in China.

At the beginning of the talk, according to Professor Wang, the earliest mention of the concept of dragon appeared in ancient Chinese astrology. As China had long been an agricultural society, Chinese people used to mark farming cycle by the seasons of a year through identifying the star locations in the sky. Stars in proximity were grouped and mapped into different imaginary figures. Dragon was one of the four mythical mascots in the Twenty-Eight Mansions in ancient Chinese astrology.  The contours of the “dragon” star group in the night sky evolved as the prototype of the ancient Chinese character of “Dragon”. Professor Wang explained how the dragon image and the Chinese character of “Dragon” gradually evolved in different regions and times of Chinese history. Students were fascinated by the stories behind the Chinese “dragon”. At the end of the seminar, SPC College Master, Professor Kenneth Leung, encouraged students to maintain a high level of curiosity in their academic works by learning from our ancestors who observed the universe with continuous curiosity.


紹邦書院中國傳統文化系列 – 龍

龍是中國文化中一個突出的形象。中國人有時把自己稱為龍的傳人。龍的概念是如何形成的？它有什麼意義呢？ 1月31日，紹邦書院邀請了對中國傳統文化有深厚認識的教育學院王志勝教授，擴大了紹邦人對中國文化中這一重要的傳統民族象徵的認識。本次講座吸引了33位紹邦學生以來了解龍的歷史。

演講首段，王教授追溯了龍在中國文化天象概念中最早的使用。由於星在天空的位置是中國古代農業社會用作分別一年中耕作週期時間    的重要標誌，所以位於附近的星星根據其分佈形狀被組成不同的抽象之物，龍便被界定為中國古代天象二十八星宿中的四種吉祥物之一。漸漸地，天上的“龍”的星象輪廓被勾劃成古代漢字“龍”的雛形。王教授解釋了天象中龍的形象和“龍”這個詞在中國歷史上不同時代的演變。學生們對“龍”歷史背後的故事都深感興趣。講座結束前，梁院長鼓勵學生學習先人觀察宇宙的好奇心。


Prof. Wang (left) chatting with SPC Master Prof. Leung (right) before the talk/王志勝教授（左）和紹邦院長梁偉賢教授（右）在講座之前討論中國文化


SPC Master Leung and students were engaged by how the ancient Chinese agricultural society determined the farming seasons by observing stars. 紹邦院長和學生們被中國古代農業社會通過觀察星象來決定農業季節的計算所吸引


Prof. Wang showing a student how to identify the Big Dipper stars 王教授向學生展示如何識別北斗星


Prof. Wang explaining the contours of the star group of the “dragon” 王教授說“蒼龍”星象的輪廓


Master Leung encouraged students at the end of seminar to learn from ancestors in observing the universe with curiosity 講座結束前梁院長鼓勵學生學習先人觀察宇宙的好奇心