Beijing
A Shanghai professor who said that the dragon symbol gives foreigners a "misleading" impression of China was subjected this week to a national drubbing. Wu Youfu, party secretary of Shanghai University, recently told Guangming Daily that he fears that Westerners interpret the Chinese dragon as an aggressive icon. In Chinese culture, the dragon is not a fire-breathing monster, as it is in the West. Instead, it is a peaceful creature that brings rain and represents prosperity. Many bloggers and local newspapers attacked Wu for his perceived slight to the 7,000-year-old national symbol. But the Chinese government implicitly backed him: Officials announced that they would not use the dragon as one of the mascots for the 2008 Olympic Games.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
-
What taxes do you pay on a home sale?The Explainer Some people — though not many — will need to pay capital gains taxes upon selling their home
-
Schools: The return of a dreaded fitness testFeature Donald Trump is bringing the Presidential Fitness Test back to classrooms nationwide
-
An insatiable hunger for proteinFeature Americans can't get enough of the macronutrient. But how much do we really need?
