Comparing Chinese and Central and Eastern European Dragon Cultures: Toward the International Communication of Chinese Loong Culture

Abstract

Addressing the long-standing misreading of Chinese Loong in Western countries as a result of its translation as dragon, this study adopts symbolic interactionism as its theoretical framework and employs a questionnaire survey, using Romania as a representative case of Central and Eastern Europe, to examine the cultural differences between Chinese and Central and Eastern European traditions and their implications for the international communication of Chinese Loong culture. The findings show that Chinese participants hold significantly more positive perceptions of Chinese Loong than do Central and Eastern European participants; the negative impressions associated with local dragon traditions among Central and Eastern European respondents tend to transfer to their evaluations of Chinese Loong; and acceptance of the term Loong and intercultural empathy both demonstrate a robust positive correlation with positive perceptions of Chinese Loong, making them key predictors of positive cross-cultural perceptions. On this basis, the study proposes strategies, including the gradual promotion of Loong, respect for cultural differences, and multi-channel digital communication, with the aim of shifting the communication of Chinese Loong culture in Central and Eastern Europe from misreading to empathy.