Is the 龍 a Dragon, again?
Late at night on 年初二, I received an SMS from someone I don’t know, which began “Hello Shelly Bryant.” The person claims to be a reporter, and they asked a lengthy question about the “recent” discussion over the translation of the term 龍 as “dragon” and the alternatives that have been offered by some academics in China, such as use of the pinyin long, or alternatively, loong, presumably to avoid confusion with the English word long.
The reporter didn’t state whether they intended to use my response in an article, or even whether they were asking on the record, which doesn’t make me very inclined to answer. But I have answered the question several times in the past when asked in interviews, and back when the discussion was more current. I suppose I should have expected it to come up again because this is the Year of the Dragon, but it happened long enough ago that I didn’t really think about it as the Year of the Dragon approached. But since I’ve been asked – again – I thought it might be worth putting some of my thoughts here for readers of A Polite Lie, as it is a question of translation.
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