''Dilong'' (; lit. "earth dragon") is a

Chinese dragon The Chinese dragon, also known as ''loong'', ''long'' or ''lung'', is a legendary creature in Chinese mythology, Chinese folklore, and Chinese culture at large. Chinese dragons have many Outline of life forms, animal-like forms such as Bixi (my ...

name that is also used to mean "

earthworm An earthworm is a terrestrial invertebrate that belongs to the phylum Annelida. They exhibit a tube-within-a-tube body plan; they are externally segmented with corresponding internal segmentation; and they usually have setae on all segments. T ...

" in

traditional Chinese medicine Traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) is an alternative medical practice drawn from traditional medicine in China. It has been described as "fraught with pseudoscience", with the majority of its treatments having no logical mechanism of acti ...

and '' Geosaurus'' in

zoological nomenclature The International Code of Zoological Nomenclature (ICZN) is a widely accepted convention in zoology that rules the formal scientific naming of organisms treated as animals. It is also informally known as the ICZN Code, for its publisher, the In ...

Dragon

Chinese mythology Chinese mythology () is mythology that has been passed down in oral form or recorded in literature in the geographic area now known as Greater China. Chinese mythology includes many varied myths from regional and cultural traditions. Much of ...

, ''dilong'' "earth dragon" is one of many types of ''-long'' dragons such as '' shenlong'' "divine dragon" and ''huanglong'' "

Yellow Dragon The Yellow Dragon ( is the zoomorphic incarnation of the Yellow Emperor of the center of the universe in Chinese religion and mythology. The Yellow Emperor or Yellow Deity was conceived by Fubao, who became pregnant after seeing a yellow ...

". Since '' dì'' "earth; land; soil; ground" semantically contrasts with ''

tian ''Tiān'' () is one of the oldest Chinese terms for heaven and a key concept in Chinese mythology, philosophy, and religion. During the Shang dynasty (17th―11th century BCE), the Chinese referred to their supreme god as '' Shàngdì'' (, "Lor ...

'' "heaven; sky" (e.g., ''tiandi'' "heaven and earth; universe", see

Tiandihui The Tiandihui, the Heaven and Earth Society, also called Hongmen (the Vast Family), is a Chinese fraternal organization and historically a secretive folk religious sect in the vein of the Ming loyalist White Lotus Sect, the Tiandihui's ...

), the ''dilong'' is paired with the ''

tianlong Tianlong (; lit. "heavenly dragon") is a flying dragon in Chinese mythology, a star in Chinese astrology, and a proper name. Word The term ''tianlong'' combines ''tian'' "heaven" and ''long'' "dragon". Since '' tian'' literally means "heaven; t ...

'' "heavenly dragon". Chinese dragons were supposedly able to fly, and thus were considered celestial creatures rather than terrestrial ones like the "earthbound" ''dilong''. Two other exceptions are ''panlong'' "coiled/curled dragon; a dragon that has not ascended to heaven" and ''tulong'' "soil/earth dragon", which refers to the ''tuo'' "

Chinese Alligator The Chinese alligator (; ), also known as the Yangtze alligator (), China alligator, or historically the muddy dragon, is a crocodilian endemic to China. It and the American alligator (''A. mississippiensis'') are the only living species in th ...

" (cf. Japanese ''mogura'' "mole"). ''Dilong'' first occurs in the mid-7th century CE ''

History of the Southern Dynasties The ''History of the Southern Dynasties'' () is one of the official Chinese historical works in the ''Twenty-Four Histories'' canon. It contain 80 volumes and covers the period from 420 to 589, the histories of Liu Song, Southern Qi, Liang dy ...

'' biography of

Liang dynasty The Liang dynasty (), alternatively known as the Southern Liang () in historiography, was an imperial dynasty of China and the third of the four Southern dynasties during the Northern and Southern dynasties period. It was preceded by the South ...

Admiral

Wang Sengbian Wang Sengbian (王僧辯) (5th century-555), courtesy name Juncai (君才), was a general of the Chinese dynasty Liang Dynasty. He came to prominence as the leading general under Emperor Yuan (Xiao Yi)'s campaigns against the rebel general Hou ...

(d. 555 CE). It says witnesses saw ''lianglong'' "two/paired dragons" that ascended into the sky, and this ''dilong'' "earth dragon" leaving Liang territory was interpreted as a portent of their defeat in 550 CE. Ronan and Needham cite another context in Wang's biography that says his boat had ''shuanglong'' "two dragons" on the side, which they construe as a "literary emendation" for ''shuanglun'' "two wheels" describing an early paddleboat.

Earthworm

''Dilong'' or ''dilongzi'' "earth dragon child" is an elegant name for the "earthworm; worm", which is usually called ''qiuyin'' . "''Long'' is employed in Chinese zoological nomenclature in much the same way that English ''dragon'' is used in ''dragonfly'' or ''dragonfish''". First, "''long'' names lifeforms thought to resemble dragons" (e.g., ''hailong'' "sea dragon" "

sea otter The sea otter (''Enhydra lutris'') is a marine mammal native to the coasts of the northern and eastern North Pacific Ocean. Adult sea otters typically weigh between , making them the heaviest members of the weasel family, but among the smal ...

;

pipefish Pipefishes or pipe-fishes (Syngnathinae) are a subfamily of small fishes, which, together with the seahorses and seadragons (''Phycodurus'' and '' Phyllopteryx''), form the family Syngnathidae. Description Pipefish look like straight-bodied se ...

" or ''longluozi'' "dragon fall child" "

seahorse A seahorse (also written ''sea-horse'' and ''sea horse'') is any of 46 species of small marine fish in the genus ''Hippocampus''. "Hippocampus" comes from the Ancient Greek (), itself from () meaning "horse" and () meaning "sea monster" or ...

"); second, "''long'' is closely associated with dinosaurs" (e.g.,

oracle bone Oracle bones () are pieces of ox scapula and turtle plastron, which were used for pyromancy – a form of divination – in ancient China, mainly during the late Shang dynasty. '' Scapulimancy'' is the correct term if ox scapulae were used for ...

s were originally called ''longgu'' "dragon/dinosaur bones"). ''Dilong'' first means "earthworm" in the ''Qixiu Leigao'' written by the

Ming dynasty The Ming dynasty (), officially the Great Ming, was an Dynasties in Chinese history, imperial dynasty of China, ruling from 1368 to 1644 following the collapse of the Mongol Empire, Mongol-led Yuan dynasty. The Ming dynasty was the last ort ...

scholar Lang Ying (1487–1566 CE). The 1578

Bencao Gangmu The ''Bencao gangmu'', known in English as the ''Compendium of Materia Medica'' or ''Great Pharmacopoeia'', is an encyclopedic gathering of medicine, natural history, and Chinese herbology compiled and edited by Li Shizhen and published in the ...

pharmacological entry for ''qiuyin'' "earthworm" lists alternate names of ''dilong'' and ''tulong'' (see above).

Li Shizhen Li Shizhen (July 3, 1518 – 1593), courtesy name Dongbi, was a Chinese acupuncturist, herbalist, naturalist, pharmacologist, physician, and writer of the Ming dynasty. He is the author of a 27-year work, found in the ''Compendium o ...

notes these names derive from the myth that earthworms (like dragons) can create ''yinqing'' "cloudy and clear; unsettled weather". ''Dilongsan'' "earth dragon powder", or Di Long, is used in traditional Chinese medicine. It is prepared from the abdomen of the Red earthworm, '' Lumbricus rubellus'', and has many purported medicinal uses.

Other meanings

''Dilong'' "earth dragon" is the modern Chinese term for the

Mesozoic The Mesozoic Era ( ), also called the Age of Reptiles, the Age of Conifers, and colloquially as the Age of the Dinosaurs is the second-to-last era of Earth's geological history, lasting from about , comprising the Triassic, Jurassic and Cretace ...

crocodilian '' Geosaurus'' (from Greek "earth lizard"). Contrast the feathered tyrannosaurid ''

Dilong paradoxus ''Dilong'' (帝龍, which means 'emperor dragon') is a genus of basal tyrannosauroid dinosaur. The only species is ''Dilong paradoxus''. It is from the Lower Cretaceous Yixian Formation near Lujiatun, Beipiao, in the western Liaoning province ...

'' that was named from Chinese ''dilong'' "emperor dragon". Chinese ''dilong'' or Japanese ''chiryū'' is the name of a

chess piece A chess piece, or chessman, is a game piece that is placed on a chessboard to play the game of chess. It can be either white or black, and it can be one of six types: king, queen, rook, bishop, knight, or pawn. Chess sets generally come with ...

shogi , also known as Japanese chess, is a strategy board game for two players. It is one of the most popular board games in Japan and is in the same family of games as Western chess, '' chaturanga, Xiangqi'', Indian chess, and ''janggi''. ''Shōgi ...

. In

Taikyoku shogi is the largest known variant of shogi (Japanese chess). The game was created around the mid-16th century (presumably by priests) and is based on earlier large board shogi games. Before the rediscovery of taikyoku shogi in 1997, tai shogi was ...

, this piece has "earth dragon" written on one side and ''yulong'' or ''uryū'' "rain dragon" on the obverse. One variety of

Ditangquan Ditangquan, (, literally "ground tumbling boxing") is a category of martial art that originated in the Shandong Province of China during the Song Dynasty (960–1279). History According to the Quanzhou Ditangquan Fa style, a Dishuquan practit ...

martial arts is called ''Shaolin dilongquan'' "Shaolin Earth Dragon Boxing". In the

sexagenary cycle The sexagenary cycle, also known as the Stems-and-Branches or ganzhi ( zh, 干支, gānzhī), is a cycle of sixty terms, each corresponding to one year, thus a total of sixty years for one cycle, historically used for recording time in China and t ...

and

Chinese astrology Chinese astrology is based on the traditional astronomy and calendars. Chinese astrology came to flourish during the Han Dynasty (2nd century BC to 2nd century AD). Chinese astrology has a close relation with Chinese philosophy (theory of the ...

, ''duchen'' "The Year of the Earth

Dragon A dragon is a reptilian legendary creature that appears in the folklore of many cultures worldwide. Beliefs about dragons vary considerably through regions, but dragons in western cultures since the High Middle Ages have often been depicted a ...

" is a recurring combination of Dragon with the Five Elements/Phases, see Chinese calendar correspondence table and

Tibetan calendar The Tibetan calendar (), or Tibetan lunar calendar, is a lunisolar calendar, that is, the Tibetan year is composed of either 12 or 13 lunar months, each beginning and ending with a new moon. A thirteenth month is added every two or three years ...

References

;Sources * *{{cite book , last=Needham , first=Joseph , last2=Ronan , first2=Colin A , title=The Shorter Science and Civilisation in China , publication-place=Cambridge & New York, publisher=Cambridge University Press , year=1995 , volume=5 , isbn=9780521462143 , oclc=769914004 Chinese dragons