To the sons and daughters of the Chinese nation, the two, the Long （龙） and the Feng （凤）, are known to no one and are the unique symbols of the Chinese people. Some idioms circulating in the folklore can reflect that Chinese civilization is closely related to the Long and Feng. So, how did the Long and Feng come about?
In legend, Emperor Huang Di （黄帝） fought seventy-two battles with Chi You （蚩尤）.
Finally, he defeated Chi You in Zhuolu and unified the world.
After unifying the tribes, Emperor Huang Di planned to create a unified totem.
The totem was like a national flag, representing the country.
His trusted followers advised against creating a new totem.
They felt that Emperor Huang Di’s achievements were unparalleled, so they should just use his tribe’s totem.
Emperor Huang Di said, “How can we do that? I cannot disappoint everyone’s expectations.”
He recalled Chi You’s actions and decided not to repeat the mistakes.
He instructed Cang Jie （仓颉） to notify the tribes to bring their original totems and discuss a new one together.
Surprisingly, many totems were sent by the tribes.
They included images of snakes, eagles, horses, fish, bears, and other animals.
The representatives trusted Emperor Huang Di very much and gave him the power to decide the totem.
Emperor Huang Di couldn’t decide and asked his advisors for their opinions.
Da Hong （大鸿） said, “Why not just use any one of them?”
Emperor Huang Di said, “The totem’s creation cannot be hasty. We must consider the feelings of all tribes.”
Emperor Huang Di was inspired by a flash of lightning.
He decided to combine features from each tribe’s totem to create a new one.
Cang Jie suggested naming the new totem “Long.”
Emperor Huang Di agreed, and the Long became a symbol of the Chinese people.
After creating the Long totem, some tribe totems were still unused.
Lei Zu （嫘祖）, Emperor Huang Di’s wife, wanted to help.
She combined the unused totems into a magnificent bird.
Lei Zu’s other three concubines felt that one bird was too lonely, so they made another to pair with it.
They asked Feng Hou （风后） and Cang Jie to name the two birds.
Feng Hou praised them as unique mascots.
Cang Jie suggested naming them “Feng” and “Huang.”
Emperor Huang Di agreed to use “Long and Feng” as the new totem.
This is the origin of the Long and Feng totems.
For thousands of years, the Long and Feng have been great symbols of the Chinese people.
Today, Chinese people still proudly call themselves “descendants of the Long.”
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