Definition: Loongson

A family of CPU chips from BLX IC Design Corporation, a partnership founded in 2002 by the Chinese Academy of Sciences' Institute of Computing Technology (ICT) and Jiangsu Zhongyi Group. Although the architecture differs from MIPS computers, Loongson chips execute the MIPS instruction set. Loongson 3 models have some 200 additional instructions that assist the QEMU emulator in running x86-based applications.

Running Linux and BSD operating systems and a variety of open source software, in time, Loongson chips are expected to power hundreds of millions of desktop and laptop computers in China and around the world.

Dragon Chip and Godson
In Chinese, Loongson means "dragon core," and Loongson CPUs are also called Dragon chips. The chips were originally named "Gou Sheng," which means "dog leftover" in Chinese, following a tradition of using humble names for good luck. Gou Sheng sounds like "godson" to English speakers, and Godson became the code name for Loongson chips.