DOGS OF CHINA AND JAPAN 



Buddhist and,secondarily,Lamaist,for their sacred represen- 

 tations, or for lay pictures to the fanciful descriptions such 

 as that of the scholiasts of the Han Annals. " The lion 

 resembles a tiger, and is yellow ; it has side-whiskers and 

 the soft hair at the end of its tail is of the size of a grain- 

 measure (tou)." ' In fact, the Chinese have never had a 

 correct conception of the lion, nor have their artists ever 

 drawn a natural sketch of a lion from life, but merely copied 

 the fanciful conventionalized types of lions introduced into 

 China from India with Buddhism." * 



When the Chinese pilgrim Sung Yun (A.D. 518) saw two 

 young lions at the Court of Gaudhara, he wondered that the 

 pictures of these animals, common in China, were not at all 

 good likenesses." f 



Lions continued to be sent to succeeding Chinese Emperors 

 up to the time of K'ang Hsi. The Portuguese possessed 

 lions, doubtless for the purposes of propaganda, at Macao. 



The following note is recorded as late as the sixteenth 

 century : " Nothing fetched so great a price among the 

 Chinese as a lion, for this beast does not occur in those 

 countries. They look upon it with intense admiration, and 

 give any price for it." J 



Old paintings of tribute-bearing embassies to the Chinese 

 Emperors include lions gambolling with a multicoloured 

 ball. 



Kublai Khan followed the example of Alexander the Great 

 in keeping lions in his palace. After State banquets the wild 

 beasts were paraded as a diversion for the Imperial guests. 

 " Then came mummers leading lions which they caused to 

 salute the lord with a reverence," says Friar Odoric. 



* " Chinese Pottery of the Han Dynasty," Laufer, pp. 238-9. 

 f Z. Yule, " Marco Polo," third edition, vol. i, p. 399. 

 j " Cathay and the Way Thither," vol. ii, p. 298. 



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