Bronze lion ( йЉ…зЌ… TГіngshД«): for a bronze sculpture.Stone lion ( зџізЌ… ShГshД«): for a stone sculpture or.Today the guardian lions are more usually specified by reference to the medium or material, for example: Lions were first presented to the Han court by emissaries from Central Asia and Persia, and were already popularly depicted as guardian figures by the sixth century AD. In Chinese they are traditionally called simply shi ( Chinese: зЌ… pinyin: shД«) meaning lion-the word shi itself is thought to be derived from the Persian word ЕЎer. Guardian lions are referred to in various ways depending on language and context. When used as statuary the pair would consist of a male leaning his paw upon an embroidered ball (in imperial contexts, representing supremacy over the world) and a female restraining a playful cub that is on its back (representing nurture).

Pairs of guardian lion statues are still common and symbolic elements at the entrances to restaurants, hotels, supermarkets and other structures, with one sitting on each side of the entrance, in China and in other places around the world where the Chinese people have immigrated and settled, especially in local Chinatowns. They are also used in other artistic contexts, for example on door-knockers, and in pottery. Statues of guardian lions have traditionally stood in front of Chinese Imperial palaces, Imperial tombs, government offices, temples, and the homes of government officials and the wealthy, and were believed to have powerful mythic protective benefits. Used in imperial Chinese palaces and tombs, the lions subsequently spread to other parts of Asia including Japan (see komainu), Korea, Tibet, Thailand, Mynamar, Vietnam, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Cambodia, Laos, and Malaysia. The concept, which originated and became popular in Chinese Buddhism, features a pair of highly stylized lions-often one male with a ball and one female with a cub-which were thought to protect the building from harmful spiritual influences and harmful people that might be a threat. They are known in colloquial English as lion dogs or foo dogs / fu dogs. Typically made of stone, they are also known as stone lions or shishi ( зџізЌ… shГshД«). Without proper rendering support, you may see question marks or boxes, misplaced vowels or missing conjuncts instead of Indic text.Д¬hinese guardian lions, or imperial guardian lions, are a traditional Chinese architectural ornament. Note the different appearance of the face and details in the decorative items, compared to the earlier Ming version. A Qing-era guardian lion pair in the Forbidden City.

Imperial guard concept art