Hong Kong might pride itself on being a modern,
material metropolis but it is still a city of dragons…

words yvonne teh
photos hktb, peter chan

HC SVNT DRACONES. That Latin phrase appears on the eastern coast of Asia on the 16th century Lenox Globe whose engraver also stressed the dangers of navigating China’s seas with an illustration of a shipwreck off the coast. Perhaps he had first-hand experience of what the giant reptiles can do to overly intrepid sailors, because the phrase denotes dangerous or unexplored territories (much like medieval drawings of sea serpents and other mythological creatures in blank areas of maps) and translates as “Here be dragons”. And that warning must have echoed down through the ages, for much more recently Margo Fallis, children’s book writer and illustrator, remembers her father telling her, “You’ll find a lot of dragons in Hong Kong!” when she was a 10-year-old on her first visit to these shores. And how right he and the engraver were, especially if you know where to look.

They may not blast you with a lungful of fire, but glance up at the roof of a Taoist temple and you might spot a couple of the great beasts gazing down at you. Or a single dragon might crouch by the side of a phoenix – rather than foretelling danger, the coupling promises long life, prosperity and wedded bliss to the more traditionally minded Chinese. But if you are modern and ask for a recommendation to a night spot, you could be pointed to the lair Dragon-I – which gives another meaning to the word ‘hot’. Or go to watch a footy match and on the field might be a team from the Hong Kong Dragons Australian Rules football club – so named because, as representative Nathan Byrne explains, “When the Aussie boys were thinking of our footy club in Hong Kong and what to call ourselves, we wanted to think fierce, hard, scary and full of danger. What better could describe us than Hong Kong’s greatest and luckiest creature – the dragon!”

Should you later want something fierce and full of danger for the evening’s entertainment, you only have to go to the local video store. Among the umpteen local DVD and VCDs, you will find draconic titles like Dragons Forever and Fire Dragon along with Bruce Lee’s Enter the Dragon, Sammo Hung’s Enter the Fatty Dragon and multiple Oscar winner Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon. Then there are the place names – and we don’t only mean in HK movies with titles like Dragon Inn, Dragon Swamp, Dragon Tiger Gate and Dragon Town Story. If you were to look at a list of Hong Kong place names, you’d find a multitude which contain the word lung – the Cantonese word for the mythical creature many Chinese (who see themselves as ‘Descendents of the Dragon’) look upon as just, benevolent and – above all else – the bringer of good fortune. Though it is not to be confused with the lung (same pronunciation but different intonation and Chinese character) which means lobster!

For example, Lung Fu Shan – a mound on Hong Kong Island that has given its name to the newest and smallest country park in the territory – translates into English as ‘Dragon and Tiger Hill’ and a section of Tap Mun Chau (aka Grass Island) is known as Lung Keng Ken – Dragon’s Leg. Also, those who base their lives on auspicious portends and lucky signs might well seek to reside at places like Lung Mei Tsuen, Lung Tin Tsuen and Lung Wo Tsuen, addresses which respectively translate as Dragon Tale Estate, Field of Dragons Estate and Dragon’s Home Estate.

Wandering around the neighbourhood of the famous Tin Hau Temple in Causeway Bay, one will find a Dragon Road, Dragon Terrace and Dragon Court. This is not because the area was once renowned for a community of winged reptiles nor is the likelihood high that it is all the result of random naming. Rather the draconic names recall that the Tai Hang area is home to a popular three-day Fire Dragon Festival in mid autumn to commemorate, one legend has it, a single flying dragon which miraculously appeared in the vicinity and saved villagers from an attack
by pirates!

Which is apt, given dragons’ aquatic nature. And because of this preference for water, they have also been associated with more than one part of the Hong Kong landscape close to – or surrounded by – the sea. For instance, a small island off Clear Water Bay, largely uninhabited these days but whose 300-year-old fort and prehistoric stone carvings attest to long periods of human occupancy, is referred to by Cantonese speakers as Tung Lung Chau or Tung Lung To, both of which translate as Eastern Dragon Island. Or you might know it as Nam Tong Island.

Still, it’s in the hills of Hong Kong that people are most likely to see dragons. On Hong Kong Island, a hilly ridge that runs parallel to Shek O Road above Big Wave Bay (Tai Long Wan) and Shek O village has been named the Dragon’s Back (Lung Chek) because its appearance conjures up visions of a dragon at rest. Yet it would have to be one of the more friendly types of dragon – the ridge is very popular with hikers and hang gliders, the undulating trail along it makes for a scenic walk voted the Best Urban Hike in Asia by TIME magazine a few years ago.

In the northern part of the New Territories, the elevated area known as Bird’s Hill in English is Lung Shan (Dragon Hill) in Cantonese, though we could find no evidence that a real dragon ever perched up there. Yet, legend has it that one did cavort along the mountain range now known as Lung Yuek Ling (Mountain of the Leaping Dragon). We suspect there must be some truth to it as that particular range baptized Lung Yeuk Tau (Active Dragon Head) which is also known as Lung Ling (Dragon Mountain) and Lung Ku Tau (Dragon Drum Head). Incidentally, Lung Yeuk Tau has, in turn, given its name to a government-established heritage trail whose attractions include the early 16th century Tang Chung Ling Ancestral Hall, the central chamber of which houses the soul tablets of a Song princess and her husband, the pair distinguished from others by – you might have guessed it – elaborately carved dragon heads.
In western literature, dragons are known for hording treasure in deep caves, not for creating sunny gardens. But over in Lantau, along the Lantau Trail and in the unromantic sounding Man Cheung Po Site of Special Scientific Interest, the Dragon’s Son Garden (Lung Tsai Ng Yuen) is a traditional Chinese landscaped garden anomalously set among the hills of Hong Kong’s largest island. And not too far away from this private attraction which more than one visitor has described, albeit endearingly, as a folly, perched dramatically atop a boulder, a six-metre long statue of a flying dragon guards the Tsz Hing Monastery!

Kowloon. Spell that as Kau Lung or Kau-lung and suddenly several other dragons rear their magnificent heads. Kau Lung was the spelling before the Second World War and now we have a whole brood – Kowloon Tong, Kowloon City, Kowloon Walled City, Kowloon Walled City Park, Kowloon Mosque, Kowloon Park and so on – nestling on the back of the draconic peninsula. The name was given to the land in honour of the eight hills which dot its length – though we do hear one or more of our more knowledgeable readers exclaim “Wait-a-minute. Eight hills? I thought that Kowloon meant ‘Nine Dragons’ in Cantonese?”
And yes, it’s true enough that Kau Lung does mean Nine Dragons. And nine is the number that tends to be associated with dragons in the Chinese mythos: various legends state the dragon is composed of nine different creatures, there are nine species of dragons, and the dragon of dragons has nine sons (each, like the roaring Pulao whose image traditionally adorns bells, with their particular characteristics).

But, as the Kau Lung legend goes, it was an octet of hills that the last Sung emperor, a young boy variously known as Wei Wong or Di Bing – whose flight from the rampaging Mongols brought him to this part of his realm – had elected to identify as dragons, a lucky and royal omen. However, a retainer pointed out that the Chinese emperor was considered to be a dragon; therefore, with his imperial majesty’s presence in the
area, there were nine dragons in what has come to be known to this day as Kowloon.

For the record, the eight hills are Kowloon Peak (from which that boy emperor later jumped to his death to elude capture from his Mongol pursuers), Tung Shan (East Hill), Tate’s Cairn, Temple Hill, Unicorn Ridge, Beacon Hill, Lion Rock and Crow’s Nest – ironically, only the first has a draconic designation. Nevertheless, some (who just might know something more than the sceptics among us) say a dragon inhabits every hill and mountain in Hong Kong.

In view of Hong Kong’s plethora of dragon associations, perhaps it’s small wonder then that the mythical beast would figure prominently in the design of Brand Hong Kong. For those who have yet to see or realize it, the official symbol for the territory forms the stylized Chinese characters for Hong Kong and the initials ‘H’ and ‘K’ into the recognizable shape of none other than... a dragon.