Why do ancient buildings often put a pair of stone lions in front of the door? Does it have any origin?

Stone lions are lions carved out of stone, a kind of decoration often used in traditional Chinese architecture. Art of the dragon and the lion, one is the Chinese people created, one is absorbed foreign art and nationalized, they are better than many animal images, thousands of years for the Chinese people to use. Stone lion carving art, not only to reflect the auspicious wishes of our working people, but also shows the ingenuity of our working people and high artistic attainments, for the Chinese architecture adds a luster. It can be seen on Chinese palaces, temples, pagodas, bridges, mansions, gardens, mausoleums, and seal buttons. But more often than not, the term "stone lions" refers specifically to the pair of lions placed on the left and right sides of a gate. In the long history, these stone lions accompanied the vicissitudes of change, witnessed the rise and fall of dynasties, has become an indispensable decoration in ancient Chinese architecture. But there were no wild lions in ancient China, so these? The material embraces manhole peach account tarsal wrens from the frank Ui亍⒑問保坑秩绾卫吹街泄? Zuhai? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? The sacs accounted for the value of the sacs and the chafing value of which wood?

According to the Book of Han, the lion was introduced to China in the Han Dynasty, since Emperor Wu sent Zhang Qian to the Western Regions, the Western countries as a valuable tribute to China, but also believed to have been introduced with Buddhism. Its name according to the lion Sanskrit first sound "teacher" to call, plus "犭 "旁表示兽类，成为 "Lion"。 Lion is the king of beasts, folk put stone lion has to ward off evil spirits, auspicious intentions. China's earliest documented stone lions is the "Book of the Later Han Dynasty", which recorded that the Eastern Han Dynasty had a stone beast, engraved with the words "warding off evil spirits". "Paixie" is a Sanskrit translation, which means big lion. Over the past 2,000 years, China's craftsmen have shaped a thousand forms, applicable to different occasions of different functions of the Chinese characteristics of the stone lion: one is to protect the dead, standing in front of the tomb; two is to ward off evil spirits, often buried in the ground to drive away the ominous; three is a religious place as a guardian of God lion, Buddhist legend says that Siddhartha Gautama Buddha was born on a finger in the sky, a finger on the ground, as a "lion's roar! "; four is as an accessory to the building and decoration, more in the noble family, such as bridges, ancestral halls, palaces, etc., in order to increase its momentum, in recent years there is also the introduction of Western styling of lions, such as a lot of banks, savings offices in front of a more realistic kind of different from the "Chinese lion" statue; five is used as an ornamental, mostly small stone lions. Mostly small stone lions.

The home of the lion in Africa, India, South America and other places. However, the image of the lion is known to our ancestors: from the Song and Qing dynasties to collect the Zhou Dynasty bronze fine painted prints, there has been a three-dimensional image of the lion. It is said that the lion came from the West. It is said that during the Eastern Han Dynasty, lions were given as gifts to Chinese emperors. With the introduction of Buddhism into China, the lion was revered by Buddhism in people's minds into a noble and dignified spirit animal, China soon learned the art of stone lion carving from India and other places, and the phenomenon of displaying the tomb. For example, the stone lion in front of the tomb of Gao Yi in Ya'an County, Sichuan Province, is China's oldest surviving stone lions, is a relic of the Eastern Han Dynasty. So the lion in China is more as a mythological animal, together with the unicorn as the spirit animal of China. The Tang Dynasty monk Huilin said, "The mythical animal is also the lion, out of the Western region."

During the Tang Dynasty, the art of stone lion carving reached its peak. Due to the method of creation, the stone lions were completely Chinese. Chinese carving masters will be exceptionally magnificent stone lion carving, and realistic: head cape curly hair, open mouth and neck, four paws strong, powerful, overbearing ......

Ming Dynasty, the stone lion carving art is not only higher than in the Tang Dynasty, but also people's lives in the use of the scope of the wider. Palaces, mansions, mausoleums, and even general public housing, all with stone lions to guard the door; in the lintel cornice, stone railings and other buildings are also carved on the stone lions as decoration. Such as the famous Lugou Bridge, 140 columns on both sides, are carved with exquisite lively stone lions. Diverse postures, rich in expression, different sizes, carved vividly. Qing Dynasty, the lion carving has been basically finalized, "Yangzhou painting boat record" in the provisions of: "the lion divided into head, face, body, legs, teeth, crotch, embroidered belt, bell, spinning threads, rolling chisel embroidered beads, out of chisel cubs." Stone lions usually have a Sumeru base with a brocade pavement. Lions come in various shapes and have been embellished and retouched in China, with the basic form being a full head of curly hair, majestic and powerful. The shape of the lion in different dynasties have different characteristics: the Han and Tang Dynasty is usually strong and powerful; the Yuan Dynasty when the body is long, thin and powerful; the Ming and Qing Dynasty is more docile.

The placement of stone lions to watch the door is a rule. Generally speaking, are a male and a female, pairs of pairs, and generally are the left male and right female, in line with the traditional Chinese philosophy of yin and yang of the male left and female right. Placed in the doorway on the left side of the male lion is generally carved into the right front paw to play with the embroidered ball or between the two front paws square an embroidered ball; doorway on the right side of the female lion is carved into the left front paw caressing the lion cubs or between the two front paws lying down a lion cub.

The more famous lions, including the lions in front of Tiananmen Square, Zhongshan Park, the lions outside the door of the Jijitan, the lions in front of Peking University, Cangzhou Iron Lion and the Lugou Bridge lookout pillar on the more than 400 lions, as the saying goes, "Lugouqiao stone lions - countless! ". Beijing Tiananmen Jinshui Bridge before and after, each with a pair of embellished stone lions, left male and female, carved extremely fine. The right stone lion has a scar on its belly. About this scar there are two legends: one is to say, the Ming Dynasty general Li Guozhen was famous peasant insurrectionary leader Li Zicheng chased, hiding behind the stone lion, Li Zicheng found, raised his sword and stabbed, the result of the stone lion was accidentally injured; the other that the Eight-Power Allied Forces to invade Beijing, the stone lions by the invading forces destroyed.

In addition to the stone lions, the lion's influence on our culture is multi-faceted, we all know the lion dance, that is, "Lion Dance" at the latest in the Tang Dynasty has been popular everywhere, and has not declined.