While Westerners celebrated the New Year last week, the Chinese New Year is a few weeks away (beginning on January 23rd in accordance with the lunar calendar). In China, 2012 is the year of the dragon and according to an ABC news article, the recent release of a commemorative postage stamp featuring a dragon design is causing a bit of controversy.
Most Westerners would probably view the stamp as a nothing too unusual for a dragon. However, Chinese perceptions of dragons are much different from the Western view of dragons as evil monsters. Accordingly, some Chinese people feel that the dragon depicted on the stamp is too ferocious and not appropriate as a symbol of the Chinese New Year. Previous dragon stamps in 1988 and 2000 consisted of more traditionally friendly and gentler looking dragons.
According to Wikipedia, "the word dragon entered the English language in the early 13th century from Old French dragon, which in turn comes from Latin draconem (nominative draco) meaning 'huge serpent, dragon,' from the Greek word δράκων, drakon (genitive drakontos, δράκοντος) 'serpent, giant seafish' which is believed to have come from an earlier stem drak-, a stem of derkesthai, 'to see clearly,' from Proto-Indo-European derk- 'to see' or 'the one with the (deadly) glance'" The Greek and Latin term referred to any great serpent, not necessarily mythological, and this usage was also current in English up to the 18th century."
In China, the dragon (龙) is viewed not as a monster to be killed by brave humans, but as a gentle and wise creature and not an enemy of mankind. The dragon zodiac symbol is also thought to bring luck, wealth and power. While some Chinese people believe dragons are better depicted as cute and graceful, the stamp's designer, Chen Shaohua, claims that his dragon represents the confidence and might of modern China.
In recent years, China has tried to portray itself as non-aggressive and asserting itself through what has become known as soft power despite its rapidly growing economy and increasing military power. While China has been generally non-aggressive in its international affairs, there have been some exceptions such as its aggressive stance on control over disputed islands in the South China Sea which have made neighbors such as the Philippines and Vietnam nervous. Regardless of how the Chinese dragon is depicted on a stamp, it is clear that China has become a more confident country and will increasingly assert itself and its interests internationally. Most economically powerful countries tend to do this to at least some extent and, as long as its done peacefully, there's probably not much to fear about the Chinese dragon.
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