"Dragon Lady" in Chinese Culture
Whereas "Dragon lady" is a stereotype in Western culture, it is not in Eastern culture. For one thing, Western dragons are fire-breathing. Eastern dragons mostly live in water and their job is to bring rain. The term sometimes has a positive connotation in Chinese.
Longnü (龍女, dragon girl) is a disciple of the bodhisattva Guanyin in folklore. In The Return of the Condor Heroes, Xiaolongnü (Little Dragon Maiden) is the female main character.
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Famous quotes containing the words dragon, lady, chinese and/or culture:
“And then at last our bliss
Full and perfect is,
But now begins; for from this happy day
The old Dragon underground,
In straiter limits bound,
Not half so far casts his usurped sway,
And, wroth to see his kingdom fail,
Swinges the scaly horror of his folded tail.”
—John Milton (1608–1674)
“London Bridge is broken down,
Dance o’er my lady lee,
London Bridge is broken down,
With a gay lady.
How shall we build it up again?
Dance o’er my lady lee,”
—Unknown. London Bridge (l. 1–6)
“Elsa Bannister: The Chinese say “It is difficult for love to last long; therefore one who loves passionately is cured of love, in the end.”
Michael O’Hara: That’s a hard way of thinking.
Elsa: There’s more to the proverb: “Human nature is eternal; therefore one who follows his nature keeps his original nature, in the end.””
—Orson Welles (1915–1985)
“Whatever offices of life are performed by women of culture and refinement are thenceforth elevated; they cease to be mere servile toils, and become expressions of the ideas of superior beings.”
—Harriet Beecher Stowe (1811–1896)