In China, the dragon has special and enduring cultural connotations. With this year marking the Year of Dragon, the fifth animal in the traditional Chinese zodiac, there are dragon decorations everywhere. In fact, the first dragon images were being made about 8,000 years ago. Since then, a dazzling number of exquisite artifacts have been created using this motif.
Archaeologists have unearthed a dragon formed from mussel shells earlier this week in the city of Chifeng, North China s Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, which dates back far earlier than the iconic C-shaped dragon made of jade that is also from the Neolithic Hongshan Culture.