Lions are not native to China, but since ancient times, Chinese people have regarded lions as a symbol of auspiciousness. Whether it's imperial palaces, official residences, or even merchant homes, there are often a pair of stone lions standing on either side of the entrance. At the beginning of the Yuanxiao (Filled round balls made of glutinous rice-flour for Lantern Festival), accompanied by the sonorous drums and gongs, dancers dressed in gold and red lion robes move and jump on the high stakes, showing the majesty and flexibility of the king of beasts vividly... Lion dance, as one of the most recognizable cultural symbols, carries the Chinese people's deep expectations for auspicious, hard work and peace of the country. In fact, before the Han Dynasty, there were no historical records related to lions in China. Chinese people call lions "Suanni", which originated from the ancient Indian phonetic translation. With the opening of the Silk Road, Zhang Qian and others sent envoys to the Western Regions, allowing lions to enter the Central Plains. In the first year of Emperor Zhanghe of Han Dynasty (87 AD), King Anping sent an envoy to present a lion as a tribute, which was later kept in a royal garden. At that time, due to its fierce appearance, lions were regarded as "strange objects" and were not accepted by the public. People's love for lions is generally believed to be related to the spread of Buddhism. In Buddhism, the mighty and brave lion, the king of all beasts, holds an extremely important position and is regarded as a noble object. Manjusri Bodhisattva's mount is a blue lion. And teaching Buddhist scriptures is called 'Lion Roar'. Su Shi jokingly coined the term 'Lion Roar in the East of the River' as a result. During the Han and Tang dynasties, there were often traces of stone lions in front of imperial tombs, but they were only placed on the sacred path as one of the many divine beasts used to intimidate, rather than the stone lion image that later guarded the gates. According to research, the Tang Dynasty began to enlarge stones under the pillars of archways, and craftsmen carved auspicious beasts such as lions and qilins on the stones. After the Song and Yuan dynasties, stone lions gradually moved from the palace to the common people and became auspicious beasts guarding the gates. The head of a stone lion or a bronze lion has circular protrusions. There is a traditional delicacy called Lion Head, named after its resemblance to the hairstyle of a stone lion. The curly bumps on the head of a stone lion originate from the most common hairstyle of Buddha, called spiral hair or spiral bun. During the Sui and Tang dynasties, people transplanted this hairstyle onto stone lions. The number of bumps on a lion's head is graded. The bronze lions in the Forbidden City have the most bumps on their heads, with 45 of them, because the emperor is the supreme ruler of the Ninth Five Year Plan. The lion with a Chinese style design has gradually become a symbol of warding off evil spirits. Accompanied by deafening gongs and drums, lion dances, and parades, the core meaning of exorcising evil and bringing good fortune quickly merged with the folk custom of "exorcising Nuo, warding off epidemics, and praying for a peaceful new year" on the fifteenth day of the first lunar month. Especially in some southern regions, during the traditional Nuo ritual in January, people often wear lion masks with fierce expressions and walk through the streets and alleys to "chase after the epidemic along the door", expelling the plague ghosts and disasters lurking in winter and welcoming the arrival of the new year. In the Tang Dynasty, the "Five Directions Lion Dance" (Taiping Music), which combined the rhythm of Western region music and dance with the grandeur of Central Plains ritual music, shone brightly in the court, marking the high maturity of Chinese lion dance art. If we delve deeper from the perspective of body language, the reason why this "fictional lion" can come to life is precisely due to the exploration of body expression by dancers throughout history. Chinese lion dance does not blindly pursue imitation of real lions, forming the beauty of the East in lion dance. In long-term practice, dancers integrate the charm of martial arts with the tension of dance. Whether it's the lifting of qi and concentration during rising, or the shift of center of gravity during jumping, whether it's the rapid freezing of the lion's head in mid air, or the delicate rhythm of the lion's tail following the beat of the drum, they all form a rigorous and highly ornamental vocabulary of movements. The lion's expressions of joy, anger, sadness, happiness, movement, stillness, surprise, and doubt are not only simple animal attributes, but also endowed with human emotional waves and narrative tension. In the traditional lion dance performance routine, the coordination between two people and one lion can be considered tacit. The former controls the expression and emotional outburst of the lion's head, while the latter supports the ups and downs and weight of the entire body through the flexion and extension of the spine and the steady chassis. This movement form based on Eastern limb philosophy creates a strong muscle burst and visual impact for lions when soaring, falling, and rolling. When these moments full of primitive vitality are captured by the camera, the dynamic trajectory of flying lion hair, dripping sweat, and interplay of light and shadow creates a highly aesthetic visual picture. The creative process of concretizing mythical beasts into exquisite body art has transformed the image of the lion from a static totem worship to a visual carnival shared by millions of people in the festival square. In contemporary times, this' Chinese lion 'has long departed from folk rituals and traditional performances, and jumped into the cultural life of the Chinese people. On the streets of Shenzhen, Guangdong during the Spring Festival in 2025, a "robot dog" equipped with intelligent programs donned a traditional lion robe and transformed into a "cyber lion dance". With precise mechanical movements, it completed rolling and jumping, perfectly integrating traditional exorcism and blessing with hardcore artificial intelligence; The first large-scale ethnic dance drama in China based on Guangdong lion dance, "Awakening Lion", has been performed over 300 times since its premiere in 2018. The drama transforms intangible cultural heritage elements such as Nanquan horse steps, lion dance, and wooden fish rap into modern dance vocabulary. In the late Qing Dynasty, martial artists in Guangdong often practiced martial arts by establishing lion dance clubs. This is reflected in the Wong Fei hung film series' The Lion King '. The lion dance scene and patriotic enthusiasm still make the audience's blood boil to this day. Of course, there is also the animated movie 'Lion Boy', where three teenagers strive all the way for their dream of waking up a lion. Their leap on a high pole is not only a pursuit of their dreams, but also a contemporary interpretation of lion dance culture, making countless viewers shed tears for this lion. These avant-garde expressions that span across light and shadow, materials, code, and limbs have brought unprecedented vitality to this mythical creature that was born out of nothing. When you think that the square of the Yuanxiao (Filled round balls made of glutinous rice-flour for Lantern Festival) Festival is still the traditional "Qiangdong Qiang", the style of painting suddenly turns. In the Hunan University Student Dragon and Lion Dance Competition, the creators of the post-00s boldly combined the traditional lion dance with the global popular single "APT". What's even more interesting is that in the past, lion dance was a combination of two people, emphasizing the magnificence of "human lion unity". But young men have jumped out of their own style. When the lion's head was still trying to hold on to its dignity, trying to show off its awe inspiring kingly aura, in a blink of an eye, it was discovered that the lion's tail was no longer under control, stuck to the beat of pop music, twisting extremely enchanting and cute. The appearance of blinking big eyes and occasionally scratching and rolling, with agile movements and a delicate and silly aura, is like a lovable domestic cat, presenting a contrast between majesty and liveliness. These post-2000s inheritors did not put lion dance on the shelf, but let it enter the campus and the trend, making lion heads a "trendy toy" for young people and making lion dance a popular choice for campus clubs. Under their operation, the image of the lion has been constantly extracted and reconstructed, becoming the China-Chic blind box, graffiti on skateboards, and even the popular print on motorcycle helmets that young people love. At the same time, lion dance is no longer just a traditional skill that requires hard practice, but has become a shining "trendy business card" on campus. The true inheritance is never to seal it in a glass display cabinet for people to appreciate from a distance, but to allow it to collide and be reborn in the storms of the times. The reason why lion dance has not become a cold display item in museums like many ancient relics is precisely because it has maintained an extremely rare "grassroots resilience" and "market vitality" from beginning to end. From the exorcism ceremony held by ancient ancestors to pray for good weather, to the generous battle songs that awaken the national soul during the resistance against Britain in the Three Elements region in modern times, to the "contemporary auspicious beasts" infused with technological codes and popular rhythms by young people today, every magnificent turn of Chinese lion dance is a precise response to the deepest psychological demands of the people of that era. Another traditional festival, when we look up at the lion that is sometimes majestic, sometimes funny and cute, we may feel a little touched. This "fictional lion" born in the endless imagination of the Chinese land seems younger, more passionate, and more vibrant than ever before. (New Society)