Chinese Stone Lions in the Museum

Welcome to the Calgary Chinese Cultural Centre's Museum!

There are many buildings where you can see two stone lions standing in front of the entrances. The lions are meant to act as a guardian and protect the building. In ancient China, there were no lions, and Chinese people have never seen one. They only knew about them from books and the stories told by foreign visitors. Therefore, the lions' characteristics are far from accurate. Chinese people used to also believe that lions have curly hair. That's why the stone lions are featured with their iconic curly hair. When you see the lions closely, the lion on the left is male because it is holding a ball, and the lion on the right is female because it is holding a lion cub.