by Judy Joyce

Created on: November 12, 2008

The largest Chinese community outside of China itself is in San Francisco. California. Named one of the world's top ten parades.and the largest celebration of it's kind outside of Asia has over 100 units composed of floats and themes. The major attraction of the parade is a golden paper dragon representative of the importance of the dragon in Chinese myth, legend, and culture.

DRAGON MASTERS - CULTURAL

Chinatown's promoters of the parade explain that the Golden Dragon is over 201 feet long and is always featured at the end of the parade as the grand finale and will be accompanied by over 600,000 firecrackers! This Dragon was made in a small town in China called Foshan. The Foshan dragon masters use to make all the costumes for the Cantonese opera. This is why San Francisco's Golden Dragon bears many operatic touches. The Golden Dragon has the rainbow colored pompoms on its 6 foot-long head. From nose to tail, the dragon is ablaze with colored lights. It is decorated with silver rivets on both scaly sides and trimmed in white rabbit fur. The dragon has 29 sections. The skeleton is made of bamboo and rattan taking a team of 100 men and women to carry the Golden Dragon. This is also considered an honor to be chosen for the grand finale.

TYPES OF DRAGONS

Color is not the only consideration when reviewing the dragons of Chinese legends. In the case of the chiao type its back is striped with green, its sides are yellow, and it is crimson underneath

There are nine major types. The celestial dragon is believed to support and protects the mansions of the gods. There are spiritual dragon which generate wind and rain for the benefit of mankind. The dragon of hidden treasures protects concealed wealth, the coiling dragon lives in water, and the yellow dragon which once emerged from water and presented the legendary Emperor Fu Shi with the elements of writing. There are also the horned dragon and the winged dragon.

DRAGONS ARE BELOVED

Western dragons are often treated as dark creatures invoking fear. However, Chinese dragons are energetic, decisive, optimistic, intelligent and ambitious. most Eastern Dragons are beautiful, friendly, and wise. They are the angels of the Orient. They are loved and worshiped. There are temples, and shrines named for and honoring dragons. They are believed to control the rain, rivers, lakes, and seas. Chinese cities have pagodas where people used to burn incense and pray to dragons.

CHINESE NATURE SIGNS AS DEPICTED BY DRAGONS

The signs of nature for

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