Have there been lions in China since ancient times

The lion, commonly known as lions, is a large cat that survives in Africa and Asia, and its male mane is one of its characteristics. It is one of the most successful of the big cats, and used to be found on several continents, but today its habitat is quite small. The Chinese word "lion" is a translation of the Persian word shir, which did not exist in China, but was only known to exist in India after Zhang Qian's passage to the West.

The lion is not a Chinese species, the image of the lion began in the Han Dynasty, it is said that the lion is from the Western region. According to legend, when Emperor Zhang of the Eastern Han Dynasty, the Western Kingdom of Dayuezhi paid tribute to the emperor of China as a gift of a golden-haired lion. Later, with the introduction of Buddhism, the lion became a spirit animal endowed with divine power. In Chinese culture, the lion is used more as a mythical animal than a real-life animal, joining the unicorn as China's spirit animal. The Tang Dynasty monk Huilin said, "The mythical animal is also the lion, which came out of the West."

I don't know when the lion became a good-luck charm for guarding portals. And it gradually merged with Chinese culture. The shape of the lion in different dynasties have different characteristics, the Han and Tang Dynasty is usually strong and powerful, the Yuan Dynasty, long and thin body strong, Ming and Qing Dynasty, more docile. In the Qing Dynasty, the lion carving has been basically finalized, "Yangzhou painting boat record" (made in 1795) stipulates that: "the lion is divided into head, face, body, legs, teeth, crotch, embroidered belt, bell, spinning threads, rolling chisel embroidery beads, out of the chisel cubs."

Stone lions not only have different characteristics of the era, there are obvious regional characteristics. In general, the northern stone lion appearance of the atmosphere, carving rustic; southern stone lions more spiritual, lively modeling, carving a variety of decorations, the lion cubs are not only in the lioness under the palm of the hand, some climbed on the back of the lion, lively and adorable.