Some Chinese people—including the country’s supreme leader, Xi Jinping—call themselves “descendants of the dragon". But in both China and other countries, dragons come in all shapes and sizes.

It is a Chinese character composed of three smaller characters for the word “dragon” written in traditional Chinese. A rare character, it has sparked heated discussions online.

About two-thirds of respondents to a poll on Weibo, a Chinese social-media platform, said they prefer it to the word “dragon”. “Change the definitions of words,” wrote one commenter ...