The emperor, as “son of heaven,” was meant to mediate between the natural and the supernatural. When dragons were becoming visible to regular folk, as they were in the Yuan and Ming, the supernatural was bypassing its usual channels — a dangerous deviation.

[The China Project] Not just a metaphor: Dragons of imperial China show us how people lived

<p>China Stories from the Sinica Network on The China Project brings you audio narration of the best articles and op-eds appearing in Sixth Tone, Caixin Global, Week in China, The World of Chinese, and of course The China Project. Subscribe to the podcast and you can listen to features on the go, with narrators who won’t butcher the pronunciation of Chinese names and words.</p>

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China Stories from the Sinica Network on The China Project brings you audio narration of the best articles and op-eds appearing in Sixth Tone, Caixin Global, Week in China, The World of Chinese, and of course The China Project. Subscribe to the podcast and you can listen to features on the go, with narrators who won’t butcher the pronunciation of Chinese names and words.

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[The China Project] Not just a metaphor: Dragons of imperial China show us how people lived

[The China Project] Not just a metaphor: Dragons of imperial China show us how people lived