Chinese culture
Chinese dragons are legendary creatures in Chinese mythology, Chinese folklore, and East Asian culture at large. Chinese dragons have many animal-like forms such as turtles and fish, but are most commonly depicted as snake-like with four legs. They traditionally symbolize potent and auspicious powers, particularly control over water, rainfall, typhoons, and floods. The dragon is also a symbol of power, strength, and good luck for people who are worthy of it in East Asian culture. During the days of Imperial China, the Emperor of China usually used the dragon as a symbol of his imperial power and strength. They are also the symbol and representative for the Son of Heaven, the Mandate of Heaven, the Celestial Empire and the Chinese Tributary System during the history of China.
Teng (mythology)
Some bilingual Chinese dictionaries translate "teng" as "wingless dragon", but this apparent ghost meaning is not found in monolingual Chinese sources. For instance, the Wiktionary and the Unihan Database translation equivalent for "teng" 螣 is "mythological wingless dragon of" . This dangling "of" appears to be copied from Robert Henry Mathews (1931:894) "Mathews' Chinese-English Dictionary" "A wingless dragon of the clouds", which adapted Herbert Giles's (1892:1352) dictionary "A wingless dragon which inhabits the clouds and is regarded as a creature of evil omen." While dragons are depicted as both winged and wingless (e.g., the lindworm "a bipedal wingless dragon"), Chinese dictionaries note "teng" "flying serpents" are "wuzu" 無足 "footless; legless" (see the "Xunzi" below) not "wingless".