Mandarin Go | Why are two stone lions in front of many Chinese buildings?

Stone lion is marble, bluestone and other materials, with the lion as the prototype carved. As a traditional exorcism in ancient China, stone lions are often placed in palaces, gardens, mansions and other places.  Now, as a symbol of identity and good meaning, stone lions are placed at the door of some hotels, residences, scenic spots and other places. 

In front of the gates of traditional palace halls, old government offices, temples, etc., a pair of stone lions are often seen. Carved from stone, the male is on the left, his right paw resting on a ball, and the lioness on the right, her left paw fondling a cub. The ball symbolizes the unity of the empire, and the cub with the lioness represents thriving offspring.

Stone lions were also used to indicate the ranks of officials in ancient times by the number of lumps in the curly mane of lions. Houses of first-ranking officials had stone lions with 13 lumps. The number of lumps decreased by one as the official rank went down each grade. Officials below the seventh grade were forbidden to have stone lions in front of their houses.

The mouth of the stone lion placed at the door of the mansion is usually a closed one, the lion with its mouth open is seen as entering wealth, the lion with its mouth closed is regarded as guarding wealth, and the lion with its mouth open is usually fierce, and the lion with its mouth closed is soft, which implies that the property is only in, the money will prosper, and the money will come. Now in some banks, hotels and other places, often see this kind of stone lion. 

In fact, lions are not native to China. They were first offered to emperor Zhang of the Han Dynasty by western countries as tribute. Later, lion as a kind of imported goods began to enter the Life of Chinese people.  The ancients' life is must comply with grade, what don't want to carve what is carved on the door, the ancients wanted to carving statues in his doorway to protect his own family, can not in violation of the hierarchy, and to show the majesty of his home cause the respect of others, so they spent a hard time on selected animals, the lion had come into our country at this time,  In addition, Buddhism regards the lion as the highest god beast, and it also has a very fierce appearance, so it chooses the lion as the god beast to guard its own.  At that time, the emperor and ministers did not regard the lion as their own country, nor did they regard it as the totem of their own country, so the lion became the object of creation in the building. Moreover, people also believed that the lion had the function of warding off evil spirits, and if left at their door, evil spirits would not enter their homes.