Didn't it used to go that only the Emperor could have dragons with five toes?

In China, all dragons had five toes (because they were all emperors descended or gods.) There were other strict things to making it a Chinese dragon, such as the ball under the chin, the beard, how the ears and snout were drawn, and this silly thing about 88 scales down its back.

In tattooing way back when, it was an offense of death if you got a tattoo of a five-toed dragon, and only high military peoples could have dragons with 4 toes. Commonpeople could have 3 toed ones. Isn't that whack?

I love history =D

The Chinese people of old would probably be rather upset at the fan I have now, then. they're both 5-toed dragons (never knew about the 88 scales), but the scale lines overlap and is a little messy.... But I like it because the art is pretty good, and it darkens up my wall (as it's mostly black).