# Wilson, ‘Powerful Form and Potent Symbol’, 1990 > [!cite] > Wilson, J. Keith. ‘Powerful Form and Potent Symbol: The Dragon in Asia’. *The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art*, vol. 77, no. 8 (1990), pp. 286–323. [https://www.jstor.org/stable/25161297](https://www.jstor.org/stable/25161297). > [!abstract] > In Asian legends, dragons dwell in mountains, lakes, rivers, and the sky. Featured in painting, sculpture, and decorative ornament, they have flourished in the world of art, too. Both in legend and in art these popular imaginary creatures often possess symbolic significance. --- ‘The dragon’s earliest associations may have been with the stars, designating a group of seven constellations in the Chinese sky.’ [[Wilson, ‘Powerful Form and Potent Symbol’, 1990|(Wilson 1990, 286)]] ^f44058 The Chinese word for dragon, *long*, has been used since the Bronze Age. [[Wilson, ‘Powerful Form and Potent Symbol’, 1990|(Wilson 1990, 287)]] ^ed98f7 ‘The earliest dragons in writing appear in divination inscriptions carved on bones or shells, and in dedications cast on bronze ritual vessels of the Anyang period … during the Shang dynasty.’ [[Wilson, ‘Powerful Form and Potent Symbol’, 1990|(Wilson 1990, 287)]] ^d202a9 ‘In addition to the term *long*, which serves as a general name for all kinds of dragons, Chinese storytellers, essayists, and poets have invented a number of other names to refer to different types of dragons. Hornless, baby dragons are known as *qui* or *chi*; for example, a *qiao* is said to be a type of dragon that resembles a snake with four short legs, and a dragon with wings or fins is known as a *yinglong*.’ [[Wilson, ‘Powerful Form and Potent Symbol’, 1990|(Wilson 1990, Footnote 1)]] Dragons have ‘dominated the arts of China’ for the past 2,000 years. [[Wilson, ‘Powerful Form and Potent Symbol’, 1990|(Wilson 1990, 286)]]