Lying on a remote hillside is a disgraced stone lion, which may have come from the Ming Dynasty.
Recently, when Yang Yunfeng, a Beijing citizen, took his grandson to play, he found a stone lion that had experienced many vicissitudes of life abandoned on the west hillside of Changxindian.
After the local community workers learned the news, they immediately moved the stone lions to the community for safekeeping and display.
Liu Weidong, a member of the Beijing Cultural Relics Appraisal Committee, believes that it is more likely that this stone lion came from the Ming Dynasty, and the protection work of the community is worthy of recognition, which has laid a foundation for the display and utilization of stone lions.
Since its establishment in March 2011, the Changxindian Old Folklore Objects Exhibition Hall has collected more than 3,000 folklore old objects under the operation of the former community secretary Yin Xijun.
Recently, a reporter from Beijing Youth Daily saw in Hehe Gong Community that a mighty and lifelike stone lion ushered in the exhibition hall.
The stone lion and the base are carved in one piece. The lion sits on the xumizuo, with a total height of 88 cm, of which the height of the lion is 58 cm, and the height of the base is 30 cm.
The left front and rear limbs and part of the base of the stone lion are missing. Fortunately, the lion's head is complete, with round eyes, a fat nose, an open mouth, and a slender beard.
The stone lion hangs a luan bell on its chest, its back is slightly arched, and the lion cub that is stepping on its right front paw has been honed over time to form a loose shape.
How did this stone lion come to Hehe Community?
According to a reporter from the Beiqing Daily, recently, Mr. Yang Yunfeng, who lives near Changxindian, took his 6.5-year-old grandson to play on the west hillside of Changxindian.
The child was very curious and found the stone lion lying in the wild.
Yang Yunfeng judged that this stone lion was probably a cultural relic, so he informed Yin Xijun of this information.
In order to protect the stone lions, Yin Xijun prepared a three-wheeled motorcycle and anti-collision quilts, and with the assistance of the staff of the Changxindian Sub-district Office, transported the stone lions to Hecheng Community for safekeeping.
"Due to the heavy weight of the stone lions, it took up to 6 hours from cleaning to moving." Yin Xijun said.
Knowing that there was a newly discovered ancient lion, Liang Xinli, secretary-general of the Beijing History, Geography and Folklore Society, immediately found Hecheng Community.
Liang Xinli has visited most of the existing ancient lions in Beijing, and is the author of "Beijing Ancient Lions", "Beijing Central Axis Cultural Tour - Ancient Lions" and other books.
According to Liang Xinli, China originally did not have such beasts as lions, but with the exchange of human beings, lions were brought to China as "tributes". Legend has it that lions were first introduced to China during the Western Han Dynasty.
The ancient lion that the public sees now is an artistic image that the ancients took the real lion as the prototype and reflected through the creation of craftsmen.
Most of the ancient lions in Beijing are made of stone, iron, and bronze, and they are distributed in palaces, government offices, temples, gardens, mausoleums, etc., and are precious cultural relics.
Regarding the stone lions on the west hillside of Changxindian, Liang Xinli pointed out that ancient lions from the Ming and Qing Dynasties are often placed in pairs in front of the door.
Judging from the direction in which the lions are squatting, most of them are left lions stepping on hydrangea balls with their right front paws, and right lions stepping on cubs with their left front paws. However, the stone lions on the west hillside of Changxindian are uncharacteristically stepping on cubs with their right front paws. The ancient lions are similar, but their shape and decoration style are more characteristic of the ancient lions of the Ming and Qing Dynasties.
Compared with some tall and mighty ancient lions inside and outside the imperial palace, the stone lions found on the west hillside of Changxindian are smaller in size, so the regulations will not be very high.
The four pendant corners of the brocade on the Xumizuo have copper coin patterns, implying a bright future, and the possibility that it came from the gate of a rich merchant's house cannot be ruled out.
It is worth mentioning that Changxindian in the Ming and Qing Dynasties was one of the important passages in and out of Beijing. There was a lot of people coming and going, which promoted the local prosperity to a certain extent.
Text and photo/Reporter Cui Yifei