Save the dragon

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.

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