Dragon King of the West Sea

Dragon King
Cosmological diagram of the main Dragon Gods
Traditional Chinese
Simplified Chinese
Literal meaning	Dragon King Dragon Prince
Transcriptions Standard Mandarin Hanyu Pinyin Lóngwáng Yue: Cantonese Yale Romanization Lúng Wòhng
Dragon God
Traditional Chinese
Transcriptions Standard Mandarin Hanyu Pinyin Lóngshén

The Dragon King, also known as the Dragon God, is a Chinese water and weather god. He is regarded as the dispenser of rain as well as the zoomorphic representation of the yang masculine power of generation. He is the collective personification of the ancient concept of the lóng in Chinese culture. He can take a variety of forms, the most important ones being the cosmological Sìhǎi Lóngwáng (四海龍王 "Dragon Kings of the Four Seas") who, with the addition of the Yellow Dragon (黃龍 Huánglóng) of Xuanyuan, represent the watery and chthonic forces presided over by the Five Forms of the Highest Deity (五方上帝 Wǔfāng Shàngdì), or their zoomorphic incarnation. One of his epithets is Dragon King of Wells and Springs.

Besides being a water deity, the Dragon God frequently also serves as a territorial tutelary deity, similarly to Tudigong and Houtu.

The Yellow Dragon (黃龍 Huánglóng) does not have a precise body of water of which he is the patron. However, as the zoomorphic incarnation of the Yellow Deity with Four Faces he represents the metaphysical source of the universe.

Each one of the four Dragon Kings of the Four Seas (四海龍王 Sìhǎi Lóngwáng) is associated to a colour and a body of water corresponding to one of the four cardinal directions and natural boundaries of China: the East Sea (corresponding to the East China Sea), the South Sea (corresponding to the South China Sea), the West Sea (Qinghai Lake), and the North Sea (Lake Baikal). They appear in the classical novels like The Investiture of the Gods and Journey to the West. Each of them has a proper name, and they share the surname Ao (敖, meaning "playing" or "proud").