the vivid picture drawn for us by brother mateo ricci , of the temple gardens full of serpentine bodies one overlapping the other , which has so long dominated the western imagination , is not a wholly false one ; however , one must understand that among the chinese , dragons live rather within the cities than without , their presence thus all the more palpable , and they furthermore move hither and yon with far greater freedom , so that the dragon seen in the market square in the afternoon will often be the same individual observed earlier in morning ablutions at the temple , and then again , some hours later , dining at the cattle-yards upon the city border .