1、Chinese stone lions,The lion is a special animal to Chinese people. A pair of stone lions, a male and a female, can often be seen in front of the gates of traditional buildings. The male lion on the left with his right paw resting on a ball, and the female on the right with her left paw fonding a cu
2、b.,The lion was regared as the king of the animal world, so its image represented power and prestige. The stone lions were also used to indicate the ranks of officals by the number of lumps representing the curly hair on the head of the lion.,The houses of the first grade officals had lions with 13
3、lumps and the number of lumps decreased by one as the rank of offical went down a grade. Officals below the seventh grade were not allowed to have stone lions in front of the houses.,In the buddhist faith, the lion is cosidered a divine animal of nobleness and dignity, which can protect the truth an
4、d keep away evils. It was popular to decorate bridges with scuplted-stone lions for the same reason. The best known of this is the Lugouqiao, built form 1189 to 1192. The stone lions on the posts of the bridge are most famous. It is said there are 485 lions in all, but there may be 498 or 501. A famous proverb says“the lions on the Lugouqiao are uncountable.“,Thank you,
