Teng () or Tengshe () is a flying dragon in Chinese mythology.
This legendary creature's names include and tengshe ( or ).
The Chinese character for teng graphically combines a phonetic element of with the "insect radical" . This radical is typically used in characters for insects, worms, reptiles, and dragons, such as in or . The earliest written form of is a 3rd century BCE seal script character written with the same radical and phonetic.
Teng has two etymologically cognate Chinese words written with the same phonetic and different radicals: (written with the "water radical" ) and (written with the "horse radical" ). This latter teng, which is used to write the alternative form , occurs in various four-character idioms such as and .
The (3rdâÂÂ2nd centuries BCE) Erya dictionary (16) defines as , and Guo Pu's commentary glosses it as a " flying dragon that drifts in the clouds and mist".
Some bilingual Chinese dictionaries translate teng as "wingless dragon", but this apparent ghost meaning is not found in monolingual Chinese sources. For instance, the Unihan Database translation equivalent for is "mythological wingless dragon of" . This dangling "of" appears to be copied from Robert Henry Mathews's dictionary "A wingless dragon of the clouds", which adapted Herbert Giles's dictionary "A wingless dragon which inhabits the clouds and is regarded as a creature of evil omen." However, Chinese dictionaries note teng "flying serpents" are (see the Xunzi below) not "wingless".
"The dragon", says Carr, "had a semantically more transparent name of 'rising/ascending snake'." Tengshe is written with either or and .
From the original "flying dragon; flying serpent" denotation, tengshe acquired three additional meanings: "an asterism" in Traditional Chinese star names, "a battle formation" in Chinese military history, and "lines above the mouth" in physiognomy.
First, Flying Serpent (or ) is an asterism of 22 stars in the Chinese constellation , which is the northern 6th of the 7 Mansions in the Black Tortoise constellation. These Tengshe stars spread across corresponding Western constellations of Andromeda, Lacerta, Cassiopeia, Cepheus, and Cygnus. In traditional Chinese art, Xuanwu is usually represented as a tortoise surrounded by a dragon or snake.
Second, Tengshe names "a battle formation". The (643âÂÂ659 CE) Beishi history of Emperor Wencheng of Northern Wei Dynasty (r. 452âÂÂ465 CE) describes a 454 CE battle. The Wei army routed enemy soldiers by deploying troops into over ten columns that changed between feilong "flying dragons", , and (alluding to Shijing 170).
Third, Tengshe "flying dragon" has a specialized meaning in , referring to "vertical lines rising from corners of the mouth".
The earliest occurrence of means "a plant pest" and is pronounced in modern Mandarin Chinese as te instead of teng "a flying dragon". The (ca. 6th century BCE) Shijing (212 ) describes farmers removing plant pests called and in fields of grain. These Shijing names rhyme, and Bernhard Karlgren reconstructed them as Old Chinese *d'ÃÂk and *dz'ÃÂk . The Mao Commentary glosses four insects; the eats hearts, the eats leaves, the eats roots, and the eats joints. Compare these translations:
Han Dynasty Chinese dictionaries write with the variant Chinese character . The Erya defines as "[insect that] eats seedlings and cores" and . Guo Pu's commentary glosses these four pests as types of . The (121 CE) Shuowen Jiezi dictionary defines ming "insect that eats grain leaves" and te as "insect that eats sprout leaves".
The identity of this now-rare ( or , "a grain pest") remains uncertain. In Modern Standard Chinese usage, te only occurs as a literary archaism, while ming is used in words like and .
Chinese classic texts frequently mention ( or , "flying dragons"). The examples below are roughly arranged in chronological order, although some heterogeneous texts are of uncertain dates. Only texts with English translations are cited, excluding tengshe occurrences in texts such as the Guiguzi, Shuoyuan, and Shiji.
The (c. 4th century BCE) Confucianist Xunzi (1 ) first records the Classical Chinese idiom , which figuratively means "success results from concentrating on one's abilities".
The (3rd century BCE) Legalist text Hanfeizi uses in two chapters.
"Ten Faults" (), uses it describing the Yellow Emperor's heavenly music. <blockquote>In by-gone days the Yellow Emperor once called a meeting of devils and spirits at the top of the Western T'ai Mountain, he rode in a divine carriage pulled by dragons, with Pi-fang a tree deity keeping pace with the linchpin, Ch'ih-yu marching in the front, Earl Wind [a wind deity] sweeping the dirt, Master Rain sprinkling water on the road, tigers and wolves leading in the front, devils and spirits following from behind, rising serpents rolling on the ground, and male and female phoenixes flying over the top. </blockquote>
The "Critique on the Concept of Political Purchase" (, quotes Shen Dao contrasting with to explain . <blockquote>Shen Tzu said: "The flying dragon mounts the clouds and the t'eng snake wanders in the mists. But when the clouds dissipate and the mists clear, the dragon and the snake become the same as the earthworm and the large-winged black ant because they have lost that on which they ride. Where men of superior character are subjugated by inferior men, it is because their authority is lacking and their position is low. Where the inferior are subjugated by the superior, it is because the authority of the latter is considerable and their position is high. </blockquote>
The (3rdâÂÂ2nd centuries BCE) Chuci parallels with in the poem "A Road Beyond" (). <blockquote>With team of dragons I mount the heavens, In ivory chariot borne aloft. ... I wander through all the constellations; I roam about round the Northern Pole. My upper garment is of red stuff; Of green silk is my under-robe. I loosen my girdle and let my clothes flow freely; I stretch out my trusty Gan-jiang sword. The Leaping Serpent follows behind me, the Flying Horse trots at my side. </blockquote>
The (2nd century BCE) Huainanzi uses both tengshe graphic variants (with the insect radical, chapters 9 and 18, which is not translated) and (horse radical, chapter 17).
"The Art of Rulership" (9 ), uses with . The t'eng snake springs up into the mist; the flying ying dragon ascends into the sky mounting the clouds; a monkey is nimble in the trees and a fish is agile in the water."
The "Discourse on Forests" (17) , has in the same "drifts into the mist" phrase, "The ascending snake can drift in the mist, yet it is endangered by the centipede."
Tengshe frequently occurs in Chinese poetry. Two early examples are "The Dark Warrior shrinks into his shell; The Leaping Serpent twists and coils itself" ("Rhapsody on Contemplating the Mystery" by Zhang Heng, 78âÂÂ139 CE,) and "Though winged serpents ride high on the mist, They turn to dust and ashes at last" ("Though the Tortoise Lives Long" by Cao Cao, 155âÂÂ220 CE.)
The Chinese books above repeatedly parallel the tengshe "soaring snake; flying dragon" with its near synonym feilong "flying dragon". Like the tianlong "heavenly dragon", these creatures are associated with clouds and rainfall, as Visser explains. <blockquote>The Classics have taught us that the dragon is thunder, and at the same time that he is a water animal akin to the snake, sleeping in pools during winter and arising in spring. When autumn comes with its dry weather, the dragon descends and dives into the water to remain there till spring arrives again. </blockquote>
The (1578 CE) Bencao Gangmu (43), mentions this mythic serpent, "There are flying snakes without feet such as the ." The commentary explains, "The t'eng-she changes into a dragon. This divine snake can ride upon the clouds and fly about over a thousand miles. If it is heard, (this means) pregnancy."
Wolfram Eberhard surveys the cultural background of tengshe "ascending snake" myths. <blockquote>Frequently, in the early literature, the snake steps into the clouds . Here one suspects that the word dragon was taboo and had to be substituted; this is confirmed by Chung-ch'ang T'ung stating that the ascending snake loses it scales. One can hardly speak of scales in the case of a real snake, but a dragon was believed to be scaly. Otherwise this flying snake may be compared with the folktale of the fight between centipede and snake which is associated with Thai culture ⦠The dragon-like snake in the sky is again the dragon lung, again of the Thai cultures. Otherwise the "ascending snake" (t'eng-she) may mean a constellation of stars near the Milky Way . According to Ko Hung it makes lightning, and this again equates it with the dragon lung. </blockquote>
Legends about flying snakes, serpents, and dragons are widespread in comparative mythology, exemplified by the Biblical Fiery flying serpent. Snakes in the genus Chrysopelea are commonly known as "flying snakes".
Footnotes