Historically, the dragon was the symbol of the Emperor of China. In the Zhou Dynasty,
the 5-clawed dragon was assigned to the Son of Heaven, the 4-clawed dragon to the nobles
(zhuhou, seigneur), and the 3-clawed dragon to the ministers (daifu). In the Qin Dynasty,
the 5-clawed dragon was assigned to represent the Emperor while the 4-clawed and 3-clawed
dragons were assigned to the commoners. The dragon in the Qin Dynasty appeared on national flags.
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