Hi
My younger brother recently gave me a lion model, which was a traditional Chinese lion head used for lion dance. Its proportion is smaller than a real paper-crafted lion head, approximately 1:10. I loved it very much because its processing technique was so meticulous and beautiful.
As far as I knew, it looked like the "Ma Chao" lion, and I had once learned from some articles that certain types of lions could be identified by their headdresses and unique colors; for example, the three famous lion types represented 3 characters below from Chinese history which was recorded in the martial classic, "The Romance of the Three Kingdoms":
(1st) Liu Bei (yellow-based face, white fur and beard);
(2nd) Guan Gong (red-based face, black bristles and a long black beard) and
(3rd) Zhang Fei (has a black-based face with short black beard, small ears and black bristles).
Except above three heroic lions, the additional three lions were then added to the lions’ family, of which the green-faced lion with black beard represented (4th) Zhao Yun, the yellow/orange face with white beard represented (5th) Huang Zhong and the last one had a white-based face and white beard and fur, some blue grains painted on the head was known as (6th) Ma Chao. I knew and was familiar with all about these lions before.
The reason why Ma Chao lion was given this color is because Ma Chao always wore white armbands when he fought against the Emperor of Wei - Cao Cao to express his condolences for his father and brothers who were killed by Cao Cao in the war before. Generally speaking, people rarely give white lions to others unless they don't know it. That's why I was surprised when I got a white lion.
The salesperson of the souvenir store in Guangzhou had told my younger brother that it was not a Ma Chao lion (hereinafter called "MC" or "MC lion") but the new generation of Zhao Yun lion (hereinafter called "ZY" or "ZY lion") and claimed that patterns for the lions in Guangzhou had undergone some variations in recent years. Though my brother did not believe what the salesperson said, yet he finally bought it because ZY(1.0) had been sold out.
Personally, I didn't mind having the Lion because the name by which it was known after everyone had read Ma Chao's story was Righteous Lion, and it had some good story from behind. In case you haven't heard, you can search his story on the website for information.
Let's look at the head from above, there is a steel plate like a mirror attached to the lion's forehead, many lions do have the same thing as I know, it is said that it can drive away negative energy, because negative energy would be reflected backward, and evil spirits would be frightened by their own appearance and run away when they look in the mirror.
Thanks
No comments:
Post a Comment