Have you ever noticed the stone lions stood
in front of Chinese Imperial palaces or government officials? (China tour packages to see Chinese stone-lion)
First of all, let
me tell you what is Chinese stone lion. Chinese guardian lions or Imperial
guardian lion, traditionally known in Chinese simply as Shi (Chinese: 狮; pinyin: shī; literally
"lion"), and often called "Foo Dogs" in the West, are a
common representation of the lion in pre-modern China. Statues of guardian
lions have traditionally stood in front of Chinese Imperial palaces, Imperial
tombs, government offices, temples, and the homes of government officials and
the wealthy, from the Han Dynasty (206 BC-AD 220), and were believed to have
powerful mythic protective benefits. They are also used in other artistic
contexts, for example on door-knockers, and in pottery. Pairs of guardian lion
statues are still common decorative and symbolic elements at the entrances to
restaurants, hotels, supermarkets and other structures, with one sitting on
each side of the entrance, in China and in other places around the world where
the Chinese people have immigrated and settled, especially in local China towns.
Chinese Stone Lions Lion is a special
animal to Chinese people. A pair of stone lions, a male and a female, can often
be seen in front of the gates of traditional buildings. The male lion is on the
left with his right paw resting on a ball, and the female on the right with her
left paw fondling a cub. The lion was regarded as the king in the animal world
so its imagines represented power and prestige. The ball played by the male
lion symbolized the unity of the empire, and the cub with the female thriving
offspring.
The
stone lions were also used to indicate the ranks of officials by the number of
lumps representing the curly hair on the head of the lion. The houses of first
grade officials had lions with 13 lumps and the number of lumps decreased by
one as the rank of the official went down each grade. Officials below the
seventh grade were not allowed to have stone lions in front of their houses. It
is interesting to note that China had no lions originally. It is believed that
when Emperor Zhang of the Eastern Han reigned in AD 87, the King of Parthia
presented a lion to him. Another lion was given by a Central Asian country
known as Yuezhi in the next year. The earliest stone lions were sculpted at the
beginning of the Eastern Han Dynasty (25 - 220 AD) with the introduction of
Buddhism into ancient China. It is said, Sakyamuni, the founder of Buddhism,
was seen after birth "to point to Heaven with one hand and to Earth with
another, roaring like a lion." In the Buddhist faith, the lion is
considered a divine animal of nobleness and dignity, which can protect the
Truth and keep off evils. It was also popular to decorate bridges with
sculpted-stone lions for the same reason. The best known of this is the
Lugouqiao (also as Marco Polo Bridge), built from 1189 to 1192. The stone lions
on the posts of the bridge are most famous. It is said there are 485 lions in
all, but there may be 498 or 501. A famous proverb says "the lions on the
Lugouqiao are uncountable."
If you want to know more information about
Chinese stone lion or China city tour, you can contact our tour agent.
This article is from www.chinatourcenter.com.
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