Chinese classic texts began using
panlong in the
Han dynasty (206 BCE – 220 CE). The (2nd century BCE)
Huainanzi first records
panlong as a decorative style on
Chinese bronzes. 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 "coiled-dragon pattern/design (on bronzes, pillars, etc.)" compares with
panchiwen (see
chilong ) and
panqiuwen (see
qiulong ). Another
Huainanzi context lists
longshepan (lit. "dragon snake coiling") "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 (53 BCE – 18 CE) used both
panlong and
longpan. His
Fangyan "Regional Speech" dictionary defined
panlong "coiled/curled dragon", "Dragons which do not yet ascend to heaven [cf.
tianlong "heavenly dragon"] are called ''p'an-lung
." His Fayan
"Words to Live By" anthology coined the metaphor longpan'' (lit. "dragon coiling") "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 (2nd century CE)
Shangshu dazhuan commentary to the
Classic of History parallels
panlong and
jiaoyu (or
jiaolong ), "the 'coiled dragon' was greatly trusted in its lair, the ' dragon; crocodile' leaped in its pool." The (12th century CE)
Song dynasty Biji manzhi "Random Jottings from the Green Rooster Quarter" by Wang Zhuo describes using
panlong dragons in
sympathetic magic for rainfall, "where a mirror, adorned on the backside with a "coiled dragon", ''p'an lung'', , is said to have been worshipped (rather used in a magical way) in order to cause rain." ==Proper names==