Longwang (the Dragon Kings)

Rulers of the Waters

The belief that dragons control water and rain is ancient in China. With the arrival of Buddhism, the Indian naga kings of the sutras, serpent rulers of underwater palaces, merged with native dragon lore to produce the Dragon King (Longwang). By late imperial times every sea, river, lake, and well could have its dragon king, and the most prominent were the four kings of the Eastern, Southern, Western, and Northern Seas.

Officials of Heaven

In popular religion the Dragon Kings serve in the celestial bureaucracy. They send rain on the Jade Emperor's command and can be punished for disobedience. Journey to the West opens its episode of the Tang emperor with the Jing River Dragon King, who alters the amount of rain ordered by Heaven and is condemned to execution.

Ao Guang and the Monkey King

The novel's most famous scene has Sun Wukong visit Ao Guang's crystal palace beneath the Eastern Sea in search of a weapon. None suffices until he lifts the iron pillar once used to measure the sea, which shrinks at his command into the Ruyi Jingu Bang. The humiliated Dragon Kings complain to the Jade Emperor, one of the provocations that lead to Heaven's campaign against Sun Wukong. Ao Guang also appears in Investiture of the Gods, where the boy Nezha kills his son.

Rain Temples

Longwang temples were among the most common village shrines in north China. In droughts, communities carried his image in procession, and officials themselves performed rain prayers.