The Chinesecompoundpanlong' combines pan "coiling; curling; curving; bending; winding; twisting" and long or "dragon". Longpan 龍蟠 "dragon coiling", the reverse of panlong, is a literary metaphor for "person of unrecognized talent". Panlong "coiled dragon" can be written 蟠龍 or 盤龍, using pan 蟠's homophonous variant Chinese characterpan or "tray; plate; dish". Another example of this graphic interchangeability is panrao 蟠繞 or 盤繞 "twine round; surround; fill". Two Classical Chinesepanlong 盤龍 idioms are panlongpi 盤龍癖 "gambling addiction" and panlong-wohu 盤龍臥虎 "talented people remaining concealed". In Fengshui and Four Symbols theory, the Dragon and Tiger are symbolic opposites. Take for instance, longtan-huxue 龍潭虎穴 "dangerous places" or Wohu canglong'' 臥虎藏龍 Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon.
Great bells and tripods, beautiful vessels, works of art are manufactured. The decorations cast on these have been superb. The mountain dragon, or pheasant, and all animals of variegated plumage, the aquatic grass, flamboyants and grains of cereals were engraven on them, one symbol interwoven with another. The sleeping rhinoceros and crouching tiger, the dragon, wreathed in coils, were wrought.
The later term panlongwen 蟠龍文 "coiled-dragon pattern/design " compares with panchiwen 蟠螭紋 and panqiuwen 蟠虯紋. Another Huainanzi context lists longshepan 龍蛇蟠 "serpentine passage" as a good ambush location.
An exiguous pass, a ferry pontoon, a great mountain, a serpentine defile, a cul-de-sac, a dangerous pitfall, a narrow ravine, full of winding ways like the intestines of a sheep, a hole like a fisher's net, which admits, but from which there is no exit, are situations in which one man can hold back a thousand.
The materialist philosopher Yang Xiong used both panlong and longpan. His Fangyan 方言 "Regional Speech" dictionary defined panlong 蟠龍 "coiled/curled dragon", "Dragons which do not yet ascend to heaven are called p'an-lung." His Fayan 法言 "Words to Live By" anthology coined the metaphor longpan 龍蟠 "person of unrecognized talent", "'a dragon coiled in the mud will be insulted by a newt,' meaning 'a sage will be ridiculed by a fool'." The Shangshu dazhuan 尚書大傳 commentary to the Classic of History parallels panlong and jiaoyu 鮫魚, "the 蟠龍 'coiled dragon' was greatly trusted in its lair, the 鮫魚 ' dragon; crocodile' leaped in its pool." The Song Dynasty Biji manzhi 碧雞漫志 "Random Jottings from the Green Rooster Quarter" by Wang Zhuo 王灼 describes using panlong dragons in sympathetic magic for rainfall, "where a mirror, adorned on the backside with a "coiled dragon", p'an lung, 盤龍, is said to have been worshipped in order to cause rain."
Proper names
In addition to the ancient decorative style mentioned above, Panlong 蟠龍 or 盤龍 "Coiled Dragon" is used in several names.
