Carp Leaps the Dragon Gate

Becoming a Dragon

Carp that leap the Yellow River’s Dragon Gate become dragons — emblem of passing great exams.

At the Dragon Gate of the Yellow River, the waters are so swift that even the great carp rarely climb them. But each spring the carp swim upstream, and any that leaps the gate is transformed into a dragon; those that fail fall back with a wound on the forehead. From this came the image of the carp leaping the gate — the poor scholar turned official, the common family producing a son who passes the exams and changes everything.