Dragon King

Dragon King
Dragon King of the Seas (海龍王), painted in the first half of the 19th century.
Chinese name
Traditional Chinese
Simplified Chinese
Literal meaningDragon King
Dragon Prince
Transcriptions
Standard Mandarin
Hanyu PinyinLóngwáng
Alternative Chinese name
Traditional Chinese
Simplified Chinese
Literal meaningDragon God
Transcriptions
Standard Mandarin
Hanyu PinyinLóngshén
Vietnamese name
Vietnamese alphabetLong Vương
Chữ Hán龍王

The Dragon King, also known as the Dragon God, is a Chinese water and weather god. He is regarded as the dispenser of rain, commanding over all bodies of water. He is the collective personification of the ancient concept of the lóng in Chinese culture.

There are also the cosmological "Dragon Kings of the Four Seas" (四海龍王; Sihai Longwang).

Besides being a water deity, the Dragon God frequently also serves as a territorial tutelary deity, similarly to Tudigong "Lord of the Earth" and Houtu "Queen of the Earth".[1]

  1. ^ Nikaido (2015), p. 54.