China's African Traditional Culture

In ancient times, there were a pair of stone lions guarding this place in front of important buildings, which had the functions of exorcism and gatekeeper. Some people will ask, it does not belong to Africa, Africa, West Asia, America and other regions, and suddenly becomes the role of the patron saint before architecture in ancient civilization. According to historical records, in 87 BC, an interest country in the Western Regions sent an envoy to present a lion to the Emperor of the Eastern Han Dynasty. Tigers and leopards have seen a lot, and suddenly seeing a mighty lion will definitely attract people's attention and great interest.

Many painters and sculptors will use their creative skills to create portraits of lions, so there will be stone lions. Folk artists are not idle. They used the legends and records in the book to bring their spatial imagination into full play, and used artistic techniques such as exaggeration and vividness to open the artistic creation of China Shishi.

Stone lions just began to exist in the Eastern Han Dynasty and became popular in the Southern and Northern Dynasties. In the Tang Dynasty, they had developed into a prosperous country, and then reached the peak in the Ming and Qing Dynasties with the continuation of the Song and Yuan Dynasties. By the Ming and Qing Dynasties, Shishi had gradually developed into two factions, namely, the South School and the North School. The characteristics of the Northern School are strong and mighty, with obvious limbs muscles and eyes like eggs. Nanpai, on the other hand, is lively, with a cylindrical body, smaller limbs and eyes like balls.

To sum up, it can be concluded that the ancient stone lions in China evolved from the lions in nature, and after artistic creation by artists and craftsmen, they merged into the national aesthetic and traditional culture, forming the present stone lion culture, which has been passed down to this day. Because of its long history, it is difficult to know when the stone lion became the patron saint of the house.