Why are there a pair of stone lions in front of the gate?

Now, if you go to some old cities or some old factories, you may often see a pair of stone lions in front of the door. But now it's hard to see it in a new city. Today we will talk about what this stone lion is for and what it stands for in traditional culture.

First of all, the lion is not made in China, but belongs to an exotic species. It first appeared in the Han Dynasty and was presented to the Eastern Han Dynasty as a tribute to the Western Regions. In the traditional culture of China, the lion is a mythical god beast, and Huilin, a monk in the Tang Dynasty, even thinks that the lion is the eldest sister of the nine sons of the dragon, so there is a great difference between domestic stone lions and normal lions. In ancient times, people's cognition of things had certain limitations, and there were many objects of worship. It is also reasonable to regard some rare and strange-looking animals as divine beasts.

Because the lion represents a god beast in the traditional culture of China, the meaning of the stone lion has the characteristics of a god beast. The stone lion is regarded as an auspicious thing and has the function of guarding the house to ward off evil spirits. After a long period of evolution, Shishi has gradually become a beast guarding the gate. In ancient times, it mainly appeared in front of some palaces, temples, Taoist temples, government offices and inhabited mansions. In ancient times, stone lions were generally placed by rich people, so the shape of stone lions was also very ornamental. It can be used not only as a town house, but also as a good decoration, becoming the standard of luxury houses.

There are many kinds of stone lions, including Beijing lion, Chaoshan lion, playing lion, giving money lion, playing ball lion and so on. Legend has it that the stone lion collided with the Eight Diagrams Mirror, Dragon Turtle, Eagle, Wenchang Tower and Taishan Stone, so don't put it at the door at the same time. Now, although many people don't believe that stone lions can ward off evil spirits, some people still put a pair of stone lions as decorations in front of the door. If the stone lion is big enough, it is still very domineering from a distance.

This is the end of today's introduction of Shishi. If you want to know more about traditional culture, please click the attention button above, and then you can click the avatar to go to my home page to see more.