Editing Chinese dragon (section)

=== Origin ===
The ancient Chinese self-identified as "the gods of the dragon" because the Chinese dragon is an imagined reptile that represents evolution from the ancestors and ''[[qi]]'' energy.<ref name="Zai 2015">Dr Zai, J. [https://books.google.com/books?id=-WzMCQAAQBAJ ''Taoism and Science: Cosmology, Evolution, Morality, Health and more'']. Ultravisum, 2015.</ref> Dragon-like motifs of a [[zoomorphic]] composition in reddish-brown stone have been found at the Chahai site (Liaoning) in the Xinglongwa culture (6200–5400 BC).{{sfn|Meccarelli|2021|pp=123–142}}
The presence of dragons within Chinese culture dates back several thousands of years with the discovery of a dragon statue dating back to the fifth millennium BC from the [[Yangshao culture]] in Henan in 1987,<ref>{{cite book |author=Howard Giskin and Bettye S. Walsh |title=An introduction to Chinese culture through the family |publisher=[[State University of New York Press]] |year=2001 |isbn=0-7914-5047-3 |page=126}}</ref> and jade badges of rank in coiled form have been excavated from the [[Hongshan culture]] {{Circa|4700}}–2900 BC.<ref>[http://www.nga.gov/education/chinatp_sl01.htm "Teaching Chinese Archeology"] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080211223345/http://www.nga.gov/education/chinatp_sl01.htm |date=11 February 2008}}, National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.</ref> Some of the earliest Dragon artifacts are the [[pig dragon]] carvings from the Hongshan culture.

The coiled dragon or snake form played an important role in early Chinese culture. The character for "dragon" in the earliest [[Chinese character|Chinese writing]] has a similar coiled form, as do later jade dragon amulets from the Shang period.<ref>Salviati, Filippo (2002). ''The Language of Adornment: Chinese Ornaments of Jade, Crystal, Amber and Glass'', Fig. 17. Ten Speed Press. {{ISBN|1-58008-587-3}}.</ref>

Ancient Chinese referred to unearthed fossil bones as "[[dragon bones]]" and documented them as such. For example, [[Chang Qu]] in 300 BC documents the discovery of "dragon bones" in [[Sichuan]].<ref>{{cite book |author=Dong Zhiming |year=1992 |title=Dinosaurian Faunas of China |publisher=China Ocean Press, Beijing |isbn=3-540-52084-8 |author-link=Dong Zhiming}}</ref> "Dragon bones" have been used both historically and in modern times in [[Traditional Chinese Medicine|traditional Chinese medicine]]. Scientific examination of "dragon bones" from the 19th century to the present suggests they most commonly are remains of fossil [[Cenozoic]] mammals, such as the extinct horse ''[[Hipparion]]''.<ref>von Koenigswald, G. H. R. (1952). [https://digitallibrary.amnh.org/bitstreams/40fb1156-b20c-4039-a334-c0b2f83faa0a/download ''Gigantopithecus blacki'' von Koenigswald, a giant fossil hominoid from the Pleistocene of southern China]. Anthropological papers of the AMNH; v. 43, pt. 4.</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Oguri |first1=Kazuki |last2=Nishioka |first2=Yuichiro |last3=Kobayashi |first3=Yoshitsugu |last4=Takahashi |first4=Kyoko |date=July 2017 |title=Taxonomic examination of longgu (Fossilia Ossis Mastodi, "dragon bone") and a related crude drug, longchi (Dens Draconis, "dragon tooth"), from Japanese and Chinese crude drug markets |url=http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s11418-016-1062-5 |journal=Journal of Natural Medicines |language=en |volume=71 |issue=3 |pages=463–471 |doi=10.1007/s11418-016-1062-5 |pmid=28220276 |issn=1340-3443}}</ref>