Longwang

The Dragon King of the Waters

Domain: Water, Rain & Seas
Alignment: Chaotic Neutral
Element: Water
Relics of Power: Rain Pearl

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5 sections of this entry are open to everyone: the summary, the people, the symbols, the lineage and the sources. The other 9 (Name and epithets, In the ancient sources, The myths, Worship and archaeology, How the god was depicted, What scholars debate, After antiquity, Did you know?, Codex relic) are part of the full Codex: PRO opens the whole study of all 500 deities, and without a subscription you can read one full entry a day, just like in the app.

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The People

People

Chinese

Region

China

Period

c. 1600 BC – present

The Chinese deities bring together traditions of Taoism, Buddhism, and folk religion, worshipped for millennia across China. Presided over by the Jade Emperor, they form a vast celestial bureaucracy mirroring the earthly empire. They are honored in temples, at Chinese New Year, and at the altars of homes and ancestors.

Chinese New Year greets the gods with fireworks, dancing lions, and offerings to the Kitchen God, who ascends to heaven to report on the family's conduct. The Dragon Boat Festival honors the poet Qu Yuan, and at Qingming families sweep the tombs and venerate the ancestors.

At a glance

Longwang (the Dragon Kings) are the four august sovereign monarchs of bodies of water, seas, rivers and seasonal rains in mythology, Taoism and traditional Chinese religion. Ruling the Four Seas associated with the cardinal points — Ao Guang in the Eastern Sea, Ao Qin in the Southern Sea, Ao Run in the Western Sea and Ao Shun in the Northern Sea — they dwell in magnificent undersea palaces of crystal and mother-of-pearl, commanding the rhythm of the fertile storms for the fields or sending tidal waves and droughts when the moral order of the earth is broken. Their sovereignty over the tides and the clouds guarantees the perpetual fertility of the land and the safety of ocean voyages for all nations. They protect vessels that cross the seas with rectitude and bless homes with fertilizing rains.

15 min read · Reviewed on September 28, 2026 · How we research

Sacred symbols

The dragon, the flaming pearl, the rain clouds and the crystal palace

Family

Longwang

Children

Ao Bing

Genealogy according to Shan Hai Jing; Taisho Shinshu Daizokyo 597; Xiyouji 3; Fengshen Yanyi 12

Sources and further reading

Primary sources

Wu Cheng'en, Xiyouji. translation: Anthony C. Yu, 1977.
Xu Zhonglin, Fengshen Yanyi. translation: Gu Zhizhong, 1992.
Anônimo, Shan Hai Jing. translation: Anne Birrell, 1999.
Tuo Tuo, Song Shi. translation: F. W. Mote, 1989.

Studies

C. K. Yang, Religion in Chinese Society. University of California Press, 1961.
Henri Maspero, Taoism and Chinese Religion. University of Massachusetts Press, 1981.
Derk Bodde, Essays on Chinese Civilization. Princeton University Press, 1981.
Anne Birrell, Chinese Mythology: An Introduction. Johns Hopkins University Press, 1993.

Name and epithets

The sacred theonym Longwang (龍王) is composed of the character long (the serpentine eastern dragon, the supreme embodiment of celestial Yang energy, of fertile water and of benevolent imperial sovereignty) and wang (king…

In the ancient sources

Shan Hai Jing., 4th century BCE.. Archaic records of serpentine water deities who inhabited the rivers and seas of China. Golden Cloud Sutra of the Dragons., 6th century CE..

The myths

Sun Wukong and the Seizure of the Sea-Stabilizing Pillar, the Ruyi Jingu Bang.. Seeking a weapon worthy of his colossal supernatural strength after learning the seventy-two transformations from the patriarch Subhuti, th…

Worship and archaeology

The cult of the Dragon Kings was one of the most universal, popular and indispensable ritual institutions of all traditional China, extending from the great port cities on the coast to the most remote farming villages o…

How the god was depicted

The artistic representation of Longwang in the history of Chinese art takes shape through a dual canonical language of sublime majesty and cosmic dynamism.

What scholars debate

The Fusion of the Chinese Dragon Long with the Nagaraja Serpent Kings.. Historians of comparative religion and sinologists such as Derk Bodde and Henri Maspero investigate the extraordinary syncretic fusion that merged…

After antiquity

In the contemporary world, the heritage and symbolism of the Dragon Kings remain one of the most vibrant and universally recognized pillars of global Chinese cultural identity.

Did you know?

The second day of the second lunar month is called Longtaitou, the day the dragon raises its head, marking the beginning of the agricultural spring.

Codex relic

Rain Pearl. A luminous pearl with which he commands the clouds, the rain, and all the waters of the world.

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