Dragon in China vs. Dragon in West (#198; Topic K)

Yesterday, the Chinese Club in our retirement community honored a resident-cum-teacher for a Chinese painting and calligraphy course she just concluded for her fellow residents. A reception was followed by lunch at a nearby Chinese restaurant. Sitting next to me at lunch was a lady of Scandinavian decent. Seeing placemats featuring the Chinese zodiac, she asked: What is my sign? To answer it, I must know the year in which she was born. She happened to be born in the same year as I, but eight months my senior. We are Dragons. While waiting for food, I mentioned to her that, in the west, dragon is not viewed favorably, depicting it as vicious, etc., while in China, dragon is viewed as the supreme among animals -- emperors were referred to as dragons. It is an instance where the custom in China and that in the west are diametrically opposite. Another example is the gown worn by the bride in wedding. In the west, the gown is invariably white -- to suggest, perhaps, purity. This is not so in China, where the color associated with wedding is red -- to suggest good luck and prosperity. What can be better than these? (Recently, Vera Wang, a well known designer of wedding gowns of Chinese ancestry, has a collection of wedding gowns featuring red; they look gorgeous. So, slowly, the west is persuaded to the Chinese way of thinking.) White, in China, is invariably associated with death -- in a funeral, one only sees white and black. Come to think of it, except for the wedding gown, white is not favorably regarded in the west either -- white lie, white wash, white elephant, white flag, white ant, white sale. But red is -- red blooded, red carpet, Red Cross.