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The longest dragon in the world, Sun Loong, is one of the most significant cultural symbols of Bendigo where the tradition of dragon dancing has been embraced ever since the Australian gold rush.
Over the weekend, the dragon journeyed to Melbourne as part of 2018's Chinese New Year celebrations, marking Sun Loong's first expedition beyond Bendigo — and it might be the dragon's last trip anywhere.
The story of Sun Loong
Dragon performer Dan Beck, 44, told the ABC the weekend's Melbourne Museum performance might mark the dragon's final performance ahead of its impending retirement.
He says he personally became interested in Dragon Dancing as a young child when he expressed his interest to his mother after being impressed by Sun Loong during an Easter Parade.
Beck eventually began performing 20 years ago inside the Sun Loong dragon itself, which was originally created in 1969 by one of the last traditional dragon makers in Hong Kong, Lo On Kee in 1969.
Unlike the more sinister ways dragons are often portrayed in the West, Sun Loong is seen as a heavenly creature who flies through the clouds and controls rains which water the crops in the Chinese culture.
At 100 metres long, it was covered in 6,000 silk scales at the weekend performance, each decorated with 23 tiny, hand-cut mirrors, adding up to an astounding 90,000 mirrors in total.
But as Beck says, the traditional craft of making dragons in that way in China has been broken because of the lasting effects of the Cultural Revolution.
"So many of the examples of that kind of dragon craft in China were destroyed during the Cultural Revolution — we are very lucky in Bendigo to have what we have and to have preserved it," Beck said.
For performances, Sun Loong has to be carried by more than 50 people including Beck, who stands in Sun Loong's 30-kilogram head, along with another five people who stand by to take over if needed.
And while Sun Loong might be the longest dragon in the world, it is not the only significant dragon preserved in Bendigo.
Sun Loong was actually modelled on Bendigo's first dragon, Loong, which was brought out towards the end of the gold rush in Bendigo.
"At that time there was still an emperor in China," Beck says.
"So it is a legitimate Qing Dynasty dragon that represents an embodiment of the Emperor himself as shown by his five claws and thousands of scales and mirrors that adorn his body."
As time went on, the dragons became one of the most significant cultural identities of Bendigo, where the tradition of dragon dancing was inherited as early as the 1890s.
The Dragon connects communities
One might imagine Chinese New Year, which starts on Friday, would mark the most significant time of the year for the dragons in Australia, but Anita Jack, the general manager of the Golden Dragon Museum, said that due to historical reasons Easter was when the dragon really came out as the biggest festivity of the calendar year.
"Way back, during the 19th century, the Chinese people of that time decided to bring the dragon out of Easter to raise money for a local hospital and the benevolent home, and that way they were able to contribute to society but their intangible culture was celebrated by all people within that community," Jack told the ABC.
More than 100 years later, this tradition continues to light up the community with its symbolic history.
Beck says the importance of the dragon became clear after they started a fundraising campaign once to replace Sun Loong because it was getting old and fragile after 48 years.
They put out word to the community that they needed to raise $750,000 to not only restore Sun Loong and put him in a museum for preservation, but to replace him with something equally as impressive.
"We were daunted by that task but in less than six months we hit our target," Beck says.
"I think that speaks volumes about what it means to the local community. Bendigo, the whole town, loves this thing, it's part of our identity as a town."
Beck said the strongest lessons he learned from dragon dancing over the years were of teamwork, collaboration and community working together.
"Those are the biggest lessons for me … what you can do with a community, with a group of people that work together with a common, shared purpose. It's not a mystical thing, it's a practical thing," Beck said.
A celebration of multiculturalism
Sun Loong will be displayed on the balcony of the Melbourne Museum for two weeks as part of 2018's Chinese New Year celebration.
Museums Victoria CEO Lynley Marshall said it was a wonderful opportunity to showcase this dragon to the people of Melbourne as they were celebrating Chinese New Year by representing part of the multicultural developments.
"We're planning to host many events that reflect the diverse cultures of this city," she said.
"It's what makes the city and state so special in Australia and in the world."
Meanwhile Melbourne resident Janette Thorburn said it was a wonderful offering to have it featured at the Melbourne museum where it had an open space to get the crowd engaged with the parade.
"Having it displayed along the balcony of the museum later will allow more people to see it," she said.
"It is also amazing that they let this thing out, it is delicate, it's precious."
Zeng Jianhua, China's deputy consul-general in Melbourne, said it was very impressive to experience this traditional performance in Melbourne.
"Chinese culture is an ancient culture that can be passed on to anyone who loves it," he said.
"I was amazed that the Dragon dancing was performed by many Australians today. This is really great."
Topics: art-history, performance-art, community-and-society, history, melbourne-3000, asia, china