Wikipedia [1] has some more details, but not too many on the main page itself.
Also from the top of that page I learned that "Loongson" means "Dragon Core" which to me as a westerner makes it sound very clearly Chinese (because dragons) but also a lot cooler (because ... dragons!). Nice.
Associating China with dragons seems like such a lucky PR win to me. How many countries are, outside of that country, associated with any mascot at all, let alone such a badass one?
Also it seems appropriate that the Western concept of a dragon is much less friendly than the Chinese one -- at least, judging from the dances.
