Loong is a supernal totem in China. It flys above clouds. It hids in deep pool or river. Rarely does Loong show itself. When Loong appears, people know it's auspicious.

There is no convincing evidence that Loong existed.The very few documents that mentioned Loong had been seen are recorded as far back as the early days of Chinese culture. The common view is that loong is mythological. Most think loong is the creation, instead of a creature, that shows the Chinese worship of all kinds of wild animals, variations of weather and climate, in all, the worship of nature. It's not hard to find those elements selected from nature in loong's totem.

Loong used to share the translation of dragon,which brought many misunderstandings say the Chinese worship the evil...

There are some pictures and a repaste of an article from this website:

http://www.loong.cn/word_loong.htm 

Loong is not so much in the Chinese life nowadays.Only in special occations like a Loong light in Yuanxiao Festival or a Loong Canoe in Duanwu Festival and maybe some Dragon Dance, a very cultural way of celebration. 

Loong's image can be very abstract.There are different versions.Some looks scary,some looks nice.Well,different artists or artisans do loong differently.Loong should be romantic I suppose.

Antique.

In Feudal Age, only the empire can use loong patterns. People then knew that they should never risk to try the country's tradition. It's OK if you put on a empire's clothes now.

The character 龙(Loong) is common in Chinese names.

 Many Chinese families hold such bowls,some are precious, most are not.

Loong 的新版英语解释（英汉对照）（欢迎批评指正）

（全英文版地址：www.loong.us/loong_word.htm）

The word loong was created on the base of the pronunciation of its counterpart character in Chinese at least 60 years ago.
（Loong 这个单词是根据它在中文里的对应汉字"龙"的发音创造出来的，时间至少是六十年前。）

The packaging of Loong Voong cigarettes, 1940's （龙凤香烟的包装纸，1940 年代）

The bas-relief of loong （龙的艺术品）

Loong is a mythological creature, with the head of a camel or horse or snake, the horns of a deer, the eyes of a rabbit, the ears of a cow, the neck and body of a snake, the belly of a kind of huge clam, the scales of a carp, the claws of a hawk, the palm of a tiger, whiskers and a beard.
（龙是一种想象出来的生物，头部似骆驼或马或蛇，角似鹿，眼似兔子，耳似牛，脖子和身体似蛇，腹似蜃，鳞似鲤鱼，爪似鹰，掌似虎，还有着胡须和腮须。）

Loong has not wings. But Ying Loong has wings. Loong will become Ying Loong after a one-thousand-year's self-tempering.
（龙没有翅膀。但是应龙有翅膀。龙经过一千年的修炼可以变成应龙。）

Loong is generally regarded as benevolent, powerful, worshipful and lucky. It is thought the source of wind and rain.
（龙一般被认为是瑞兽，拥有巨大的力量，尊贵，吉祥。龙被认为是风和雨的制造者。）

The earliest artwork of loong ever discovered was built in China about 6,000 years ago. It is a sculpture of loong made by heaping shells of clam.
（迄今为止所发现的龙的艺术品中，最早的是六千年前在中国建造的一座用蚌壳堆造而成的堆塑。）

Loong used to be the symbol of Chinese emperors. Now it stands for luck, happiness and power by ordinary Chinese people.
（龙曾经被中国皇帝用作自己的象征。现在它被普通中国人作为吉祥、幸福和力量的象征。）

It is wrong to translate loong as dragon in English. In fact, loong is so different in nature from dragons that it may be more reasonable to consider them as dissimilar creatures, rather than as the same creature interpreted differently.
（把龙翻译为 dragon 是错误的。实际上，龙和 dragon 在性质上的差异非常大，把它们理解成不同的生物，更加合理。它们不是相同的生物的两种不同解释。）

Loong is a part of the Chinese culture. It is the symbol of the Chinese nation. Loong is a spiritual tie linking the Chinese people all over the world. Chinese people are proud to call themselves "the offspring of the Loong". （龙是中国文化的一部分。它是中国的象征。龙是连接全世界华人的精神纽带。中国人自豪地称自己是"龙的传人"。 The famous Chinese Kung Fu star Bruce Lee's Chinese name is Lee Sui Loong, written in English. "Siu Loong" is the pronunciation of "a little loong" in Chinese, and means a strong and smart boy. （著名的华裔功夫明星李小龙的名字翻译成英文时，其中的"龙"字被写为 Loong。"小龙"的意思是"健壮机灵的孩子"。

The stage property used in The Loong Dance (or Chinese Dragon Dance) is called loong in some Australia museum based on the Internet (e.g. http://203.219.57.198/dragons.html).
（龙舞所使用的道具龙灯，在澳大利亚的一些网上博物馆里被翻译为 Loong。例如：http://203.219.57.198/dragons.html）

(黄佶，2006年12月15日)

Hi All,

The American TV Series are very popular among college students in China.

I think FRIENDS is watched and favoured by most. PRISON BREAK and LOST used to be the most popular. Chinese students are attracted to HEROES and GOSSIP GIRL now. English teachers would recommend DESPERATE HOUSEWIVES and THE APPRENTICE.

I am a fan of BOSTON LEGAL.

Do you watch any American TV Series?Any favourites?

There was some officious Chinese stirring up the discussion on the nation's reaction to Liu hypothetically failing to win the gold medal on the internet. Quite a portion of Chinese netizens, majorly consisting of people age between 15-30,said Liu should not be blame in the hypothetical situation. Some people，who I thought them being ill-intentioned，"predicted" that under pressure Liu would flee the competition. Well, the ill-intentioned get to laugh now. Liu quit the 1st round during the time when players getting ready for the second firing after someone beat the gun. He limped off with a painful injury.

When the announcer informed a stadium of puzzled Chinese, each of them were ready to shout and cheer at the moment Liu spins, a loud and long sigh burst in Birds' Nest, I can sense the astonished and disappointed tone of all the audience.

One of my friend was standing close enough to clearly record every movement and facial expression of Liu in the Birds' Nest with clouds of fans. She said the fans started shouting "LIU Xiang jiayou (a term to cheer the players in Chinese)" two hours before Liu showed up on the track. When she heard Liu quit, she can't help the emotions burst into tears like any Chinese fans there, and the next thing they want to do is to leave the stadium.

Liu is an excellent athlete. His magical performance four years ago introduced the whole nation to the excitement of 110-meter hurdles and the joy of witnessing Liu's every single winning. And in the past four years he was keeping his legend for the most of time. Liu's character is adorable. Every Chinese remembers what he said after winning gold medal "Who convinced the world that the yellow can't achieve top eight in such kind of sports? I am the Olympic champion." He likes to challenge, and he is qualified to do so. He was becoming an icon of Chinese pride and glory. Thinking about Chinese pride and glory, the old way is to date back to ancient times. I do respect and love the Chinese history and culture, but honestly speaking, the glorious ancient history is too far away from us, fading and not as exciting as 2004 Heroic LIU Xiang wining Olympic gold medal. Ever since, the nation was expecting to wave the national flags on Liu's victorious moments, especially the one in 2008 in Beijing.

Nobody knows Liu would really have no choice but quit, including those "accomplished predictors" .The injury, the cause of his quit, was an old one, and it was reported to be under control. Liu was said to have achieved around 12'90 in a test on August 8th.However his good condition just wait till last Saturday. And this morning, before his went to the call room, three doctors tried to control his pain, but unfortunately, even some extreme acesodyne methods could not ease his pain. Liu insisted to compete. SUN Haiping, Liu's coach referred to this determination as putting his life at risk. When he appeared on the track, he managed to walk normally at the beginning. But after a warm-up sprint, Liu can't hide his pain anymore. He rested on his knees, with an aching expression. After he got on his feet, he limped, still looking painful. But he went straight to the block and bend to be ready for the starting gun. He was grinding his teeth to tolerate. The gun fired, all of the players started. There was a false start. Liu's Olympic ended right in front of the first hurdle.

Banners in air, people stunned. Why? Athletes quit because of injuries are common. Why Liu's quit hurt the Chinese so much? Does it has anything to do with the lost of hope repeat to be champion? These days we have several athletes failed to repeat miracles( SHI Zhiyong, weightlifting gold medalist, quit during the game for injury,etc.) , but no audience would text messages, make phone calls to tell acquaintances like what we react to Liu's quit.

Liu was a miraculous golden boy. All we know about him is, he comes he wins. We know nothing about how he was trained to be a champion. We don't know about his injuries, his rise and fall. From the day we heard about him, he is always with good news. Almost Four years he often kept winning and winning. We just don't see him lose. And perhaps he is the first Chinese athletes who kept the image of healthy, dynamic and indefectible. Lost in his victories, the Chinese has forgotten Liu is after all a human being.

When I saw the contrastive pictures of people smiling before while weeping after today's event，I realized something quite unfamiliar in the slogan of 2008 Beijing Olympics "One World, One Dream". When the theme song "You and Me" went along with the shots of Liu today, the song for the first time touched me.