中國自從夏朝開始，自稱為龍的傳人。本文擬從 龍的形象及龍的功能加以探討龍圖騰的呈現藝術及其在中華玉文化的內涵。1.龍的形象: (1)從象形文字分析: 許慎《說文解字》云：「象形者，畫成其物，隨體詰詘，日、月是也。」 用文字的線條或筆畫，把要表達物體的外形特徵，具體地勾畫出來。例如「月」字像一彎月亮的形狀。以此類推，我們有理由相信甲骨文的龍字，像閃電的形狀。閃電之後大都雷雨交加，因而五穀豐收。因此，以龍圖騰器物作為向天祈雨的器物，便形成戰國以來各種形態紋飾多為谷紋的龍形珮。(2)從龍形象進化分析: 夏朝自稱是龍的傳人，而夏朝的主要圖騰之一為青蛙，青蛙在水邊產卵，這些青蛙卵經過四或五天形成蝌蚪。從夏朝玉瑗上的蝌蚪紋飾推論，蝌蚪可能是龍最原始的形象。2. 龍的吉祥特質:龍既然能帶來雨水，便能五穀豐收，人們自然視龍為吉祥物，為了兼顧陰陽男女，進而創造出鳳鳥，春秋玉璧以無限的創造力，將鳳鳥與龍的形象合為一體，以鳳鳥作為龍的組合件。3. 龍的皇帝象徵: 以龍爪的數目作為各朝代皇帝的代表，例如唐代以三爪龍為最尊貴，清代以五爪龍為最尊貴。The Chinese are attributed themselves as the descendants of dragons. Here we try to explore the dragon presentation art & its implication on the Chinese jade culture. 1. The form of the dragon: according to the formation of Chinese characters, one type of character was formed from the shape of the corresponding object it implies. Like the Chinese character sun (日) has the form of the sun. In oracles of the Shang Dynasty, the character of the dragon has the shape of lightning. We may infer that the original meaning of the dragon may be the lightning. From the natural phenomenon,  rain and thunder will follow after the lightning.  Rain will make crops grow, people will have a good harvest. In this sense, the dragon is an auspicious animal. In terms of jade carvings, crops are the main motif of the dragon carvings. In addition,  to order to have a balanced concept to include male and female, day and night, the concept of phoenix has been developed. This is well explained by the motif of a Spring-Autumn bi of which the motif of a dragon is composed of a phoenix, the dragons are further become the parts of God’s.  Finally,  dragons have evolved into a symbol of an emperor with a different number of claws in different dynasties. For example, in the Tang Dynasty, three claws of a dragon are the number for the Imperials while in the Qing Dynasty, five claws are considered most noble.