The lion is obviously an exotic beast, but why does it occupy an important place in traditional Chinese culture?

The climate in ancient China was very different from today. Even in Henan province, where elephant footprints have been seen, the lion has never been a "native" of China. Therefore, the lions in ancient China basically came from overseas, mainly from other countries.

China's encounter with live lions began with Zhang Qian's journey to the north of Serbia. According to the "Han Shu" records, when the ancient silk road was opened, "different parties dirty things on all sides", small elephants, lions, Caucasian dogs, big birds of the road quickly debut on the emperor's palace. Coupled with the tribute to live lions than tribute to the lion skin for a higher profit (Ming Dynasty Chenghua years a live lion can be exchanged for the grant is about 6.5 times a lion skin), the envoys to the dynasty will be more favored in the transport of live lions.

Because of the long distances involved, the envoys chose humanely bred beasts that could perform a certain amount of lion dancing to better ensure the passage of their shipments and to win the favor of the Chinese rulers. (Lionesses are of lesser ornamental value than the soft-furred beasts. And the arrival of lionesses in China would likely diminish the preciousness of lions and jeopardize the tribute trade.) They may have brought young lions with them, but by the time they arrived in China, the young lions would have grown into adults. As a result, the ancient Chinese largely never saw lion cubs.

In addition to the name "lion", the lion was also called "shizi" or "mythical animal" in ancient times. In the beginning, because they had never seen lions before, people would put them side by side with tigers and lions, which are similar in size and carnivorous nature, and use "roar", which refers to the loud shouting of tigers and lions, to refer to lions. Xu Shen wrote in Shuowen Jiezi (说文解字), "roar, roar, roar of the tiger, a lion".

After that, we learned in the Classic of Mountains and Seas and the biography of Mu Tien Zi that a small animal similar to the lion, that is, eating jackals, wolves, tigers and leopards, "light hair tiger" mythical beast. Since the lion originated from the West, and I heard that the mythical geibi was also born in the West, people simply equate the lion with the mythical geibi in the myths and legends.