Make flood forecast. According to folklore, lions have the function of predicting disasters. It is said that if natural disasters such as floods or land subsidence occur, the eyes of stone lions may turn red or bleed. In other words, when disaster comes, people can take emergency evacuation measures. Here, the stone lion became a prophet of disaster.
Show strength. In ancient times, stone lions were often used as gatekeepers of palaces, palaces, officials and luxury houses to show the owner's power and name.
Shishi is also an indispensable decoration in ancient buildings.
The stone lions of the gatekeeper are placed regularly. Generally speaking, they are both male and female, and both are left male and right cancer, which accords with China's traditional philosophy of Yin and Yang. Investigators placed on the left side of the entrance usually play with hydrangea with the right front paw or carve a hydrangea between the two front paws. The lioness on the right side of the entrance is carved with the left front paw, stroking a little lion between the little lion or the two front paws.
There are a pair of stone lions at the entrance of Wang Fu in Beijing, and there are always a pair of stone lions in the Heqiao corridor in front of the Forbidden City, Wang Fu Mansion and temples in Beijing. What are their moral values? In ancient culture, the stone lion expressed the meaning of praying for rank, ward off evil spirits and ward off evil spirits. In Buddhism, the lion means to protect the law. In front of the palace, it mainly plays the role of suppressing evil spirits and guarding. In the cultural sense, the rolling hydrangea of the lion symbolizes "all the best", the matched zodiac represents "good things continue", and the lioness and cubs represent "future generations are prosperous".
Most of the lions in Beijing are carved with stones, and the stone carvings in Han Dynasty are mostly used by the royal family. There are also metal lions cast in Jin Dong Temple, Zhudong Temple and Zhu Zhe Temple, and Jin Dong Temple can only be used by the royal family. The lions placed in front of the palace are basically stone lions carved from stone.
The lion in Wang Fu can't see the creation time itself, and can only infer from the construction time of the attached building or the artistic style of the lion. Each era has its own unique artistic style, and the architectural style also affects other fields, and the creation of lions is no exception. Compared vertically, from the Ming Dynasty to the Qing Dynasty, architecture changed from majestic to troublesome, and it also appeared in the creation of lions. Like a lion in the early Ming Dynasty, strong and exaggerated. Lions in the late Qing Dynasty lost their majestic features due to their attention to detail description, and their expressions changed from fierce guardians to Balbarie's handmaids, which was also inseparable from the hierarchy of the Qing Dynasty. Compared horizontally, western lions attach importance to "shape", and their body proportions conform to anatomy, and their shapes are similar to those of actual lions. Lions in China attach importance to "God", exaggerating the proportion of their bodies with exaggerated methods, not pursuing the real form, but attaching importance to the majestic expression of lions.