Lions play a significant role in Chinese culture. Lion dances, gate-guarding lions, lion dolls… Similar customs can be found throughout China.
However, lions have never migrated to Chinese territory in history. Why do we have such a special fondness for lions?
There are lions in Asia
There is still much debate regarding how many subspecies of lions exist, but it is generally accepted that there are only two subspecies of lions: Asian lions and African lions. This classification is somewhat akin to that of elephants.
Asiatic lions are distributed in Eurasia and northern Africa, while African lions are distributed in southern Africa. The two may have separated from each other 200,000 years ago.
Photo: Kevin Pluck, a male African lion
Therefore, although the two types of lions are classified as subspecies, the genetic difference between them is actually quite substantial. The two types of lions cannot even interbreed to produce healthy, fertile offspring (in this regard, they are even less compatible than lions and tigers).
With the advent of the industrial age, big cats have faced hardship. Today, the Asiatic lion is nearly extinct. It only exists in India’s Gir National Park, and there are only regarding 400 wild populations left in the world, even following extensive conservation efforts.
But in the past, this group thrived. They were widely distributed in Eurasia, throughout the Indian subcontinent, and in southern Europe, primarily Greece, and the Middle East.
Photo: A male Asiatic lion with less mane and very exposed ears. Bernard Gagnon
Why didn’t lions migrate to China?
Although Asiatic lions flourished in parts of Europe and Asia in the past, they did not migrate to China because they were unable to access Chinese territory from the east, south, west, or north.
As for why lions cannot enter China, this question is essentially the same as why tigers cannot enter Africa. No one knows for sure, and there are only many speculations.
First, there is a very interesting fact regarding the distribution of Asiatic lions, namely, that although they were common in India in the past, they are almost absent in India’s neighboring country Bangladesh.
Since lions do not appear in Bangladesh, they naturally might not continue to migrate to Southeast Asia. In other words, lions might not enter China from the south.
In fact, the most fundamental reason for the emergence of two distinct countries in a single region is that there is obvious geographical isolation between the two countries, which has been the case historically and continues to be so today.
India and Bangladesh also have distinct geographical isolation, and lions are largely separated by such geographical isolation.
At the border of India and Bangladesh, trees become thicker and thicker until they form a rainforest that lions cannot penetrate or even approach the edge of.
Because they are “sniped” by tigers. Tigers are adapted to the jungle, while lions are adapted to grasslands and bushes. The two are similar in size, and their prey are also similar in size, leading to intense competition.
Although India has both lions and tigers, their habitats actually have almost no overlap. The reason is that in the competition between them, there must always be a winner, and whoever is at “home” wins.
One of the reasons why tigers did not migrate to Africa is that they were “sniped” by lions.
Further, the habitats of leopards, tigers and lions overlap. This is because leopards are smaller than tigers and lions, and there is a difference in their prey size, so competition is not particularly apparent.
Secondly, lions were common in the Middle East in the past, and they even existed in Afghanistan, but the Himalayas lie to the west of China, a vast geographical barrier, making migration from the west to China impossible.
Third, lions are no longer distributed further north in the Middle East, meaning they might not bypass the Himalayas and enter China from the north.
As for why Asian lions did not migrate to the north of Eurasia, there may be one contributing factor. That is, in the late Pleistocene more than 10,000 years ago, a large cat species – cave lions – lived in the northern region of the entire Eurasian continent. They also favored savannas and occupied an ecological niche almost identical to that of modern lions, but cave lions were 10%-20% larger than modern lions. Their presence would have prevented modern lions from moving north.
Cave lions are legendary cats, and they even crossed the Bering Strait and reached the American continent.
Image: Cave Lion
However, with the end of the last ice age, the climate gradually warmed, forests gradually replaced grasslands, and cave lions became extinct (recent studies have shown that gray wolves may have been the final blow that destroyed the cave lions). Following the extinction of cave lions, humans had already reached the dawn of agricultural civilization, and modern lions had no chance to continue expanding northward naturally.
Therefore, there would indeed be no lions in China, at least modern lions would not be able to appear on Chinese soil.
So why is there such a strong “lion worship” in China?
It is believed that the earliest record of lions in China can be traced back to the Western Zhou Dynasty more than 3,000 years ago. King Mu of Zhou rode eight steeds on a tour of the Western Regions. One of the steeds was called “Cunning Mao”, which many people believe was a lion.
During the Western Han Dynasty, Zhang Qian traveled to the Western Regions and established the Silk Road. Lions began to be brought into China from Persia (now Iran) in increasing numbers and were domesticated among princes and nobles.
Due to the affection of princes and nobles, lions soon became tribute materials from some vassal states of ancient China, and became increasingly common in China. Gradually, people began to create artistic representations of lions.
According to records, the lion has been considered an auspicious animal since its introduction to China, and it is generally believed to bring good luck.
The reason why the image of the lion truly became a cultural symbol of China is due to the spread of Buddhism in China, because Buddhism has a strong reverence for lions, and even the image of Sakyamuni has been transformed into a lion.
Cultures such as gate-guarding lions and lion dances are more or less related to Buddhism. It is believed that the earliest record of lion dances was in the Northern Wei Dynasty, when lion dances were only performed during important Buddhist festivals (April 4).
Why a lion and not a tiger?
The veneration of lions is not only common in China, it is common all over the world. For instance, in areas like India where both lions and tigers exist, people worship lions far more than tigers.
So the interesting question is, why do people favor lions over tigers?
This question also puzzles me. Of course, I haven’t found any relevant explanation, so I can only speculate. I think there are two main reasons: one is that the male characteristics of lions are more pronounced, and the other is that lions are easier to tame than tigers.
Although lions and tigers are regarding the same level of strength, there is no significant difference between male and female tigers, while male lions are obviously distinct from female lions, which makes sense in a patriarchal society.
On the other hand, tigers are solitary animals while lions are social animals.
Many people may not know that animals domesticated by humans are primarily social animals, and very few solitary animals are domesticated. This is primarily because social animals have a strong sense of obedience, while solitary animals do not.
Even male lions have a strong sense of obedience, because they will form a lion alliance – usually a group of related male lions hunt together and occupy lion groups together. The lion alliance also has a boss and a second in command, and the second in command will be relatively obedient to the boss.
Therefore, male lions can usually be tamed, but tigers are more challenging.
Ancient rulers liked to demonstrate their power by taming large wild beasts, and they chose lions because they were significantly less dangerous than tigers.
Why Does China Have So Many Lion-Related Cultures Even Though There Are No Wild Lions?
Lions play an important role in Chinese culture. Lion dances, gate-guarding lions, lion dolls… Similar customs can be found all over China.
However, lions have never migrated to Chinese territory in history. Why do we have such a special affection for lions?
There are lions in Asia
There is still a lot of controversy regarding how many subspecies of lions there are, but it is generally believed that there are only two subspecies of lions in existence – Asian lions and African lions. This classification is a bit similar to elephants.
Asiatic lions are distributed in Eurasia and northern Africa, while African lions are distributed in southern Africa. The two may have separated from each other 200,000 years ago.
Photo: Kevin Pluck, a male African lion
Therefore, although the two types of lions are classified as subspecies, in fact, the genetic difference between the two is very large. The two types of lions cannot even interbreed to produce healthy, fertile offspring (in this respect, they are even worse than lions and tigers).
With the advent of the industrial age, big cats have had a hard time. Today, the Asiatic lion is almost extinct. It only exists in India’s Gir National Park, and there are only regarding 400 wild populations left in the world, and this is the result of vigorous protection.
But in the past, this group has flourished. They are widely distributed in Eurasia, throughout the Indian subcontinent, and in southern Europe, mainly Greece, and the Middle East.
Photo: A male Asiatic lion with less mane and very exposed ears. Bernard Gagnon
Why didn’t lions migrate to China?
Although Asiatic lions flourished in parts of Europe and Asia in the past, they did not migrate to China because they were unable to enter Chinese territory from the east, south, west, or north.
As for why lions cannot enter China, this question is actually the same as why tigers cannot enter Africa. No one knows why this is the case, and there are only many speculations.
The South
Firstly, there is a very interesting fact regarding the distribution of Asiatic lions, that is, although they were common in India in the past, they are almost absent in India’s neighboring country Bangladesh.
Since lions do not appear in Bangladesh, they naturally cannot continue to migrate to Southeast Asia. In other words, lions cannot enter China from the south.
In fact, the most fundamental reason for the emergence of two different countries in one region is that there is obvious geographical isolation between the two countries, which has been the case in the past and now.
India and Bangladesh also have obvious geographical isolation, and lions are largely separated by such geographical isolation.
At the border of India and Bangladesh, the trees become thicker and thicker until it becomes a rain forest that lions cannot penetrate or even approach the edge of.
Because they are “sniped” by tigers. Tigers are adapted to the jungle, while lions are adapted to grasslands and bushes. The two are similar in size, and their prey are also similar in size, so there is huge competition.
Although India has both lions and tigers, their habitats actually have almost no overlap. The reason is that in the competition between them, there must always be a winner, and whoever is at “home” wins.
One of the reasons why tigers did not migrate to Africa is that they were “sniped” by lions.
In addition, the habitats of leopards, tigers and lions overlap. This is because leopards are smaller than tigers and lions, and there is a difference in the size of their prey, so competition is not particularly obvious.
The West
Secondly, lions were common in the Middle East in the past, and they even existed in Afghanistan, but there is the Himalayas to the west of China, a huge geographical barrier, so migration from the west to China is not possible.
The North
Third, lions are no longer distributed further north in the Middle East, so they cannot bypass the Himalayas and enter China from the north.
As for why Asian lions did not migrate to the north of Eurasia, there may be one factor. That is, in the late Pleistocene more than 10,000 years ago, a large cat species – cave lions – lived in the northern region of the entire Eurasian continent. They also liked savannas and had almost the same ecological niche as modern lions, but the size of cave lions was 10%-20% larger than that of modern lions. With their existence, modern lions would never have the opportunity to move north.
Cave lions are legendary cats, and they even crossed the Bering Strait and reached the American continent.
Image: Cave Lion
However, with the end of the last ice age, the climate gradually warmed, forests gradually replaced grasslands, and cave lions became extinct (recent studies have found that gray wolves may have been the last straw that destroyed the cave lions). After the extinction of cave lions, humans had already reached the dawn of agricultural civilization, and modern lions had no chance to continue to expand northward naturally.
Therefore, there would indeed be no lions in China, at least modern lions would not be able to appear on Chinese soil.
So why is there such a strong “lion worship” in China?
It is believed that the earliest record of lions in China can be traced back to the Western Zhou Dynasty more than 3,000 years ago. King Mu of Zhou rode eight steeds on a tour of the Western Regions. One of the steeds was called “Cunning Mao”, which many people believe is a lion.
During the Western Han Dynasty, Zhang Qian traveled to the Western Regions and established the Silk Road. Lions began to be brought into China from Persia (now Iran) in increasing numbers and were domesticated among princes and nobles.
Due to the love of princes and nobles, lions soon became tribute materials from some vassal states of ancient China, and became more and more common in China. Gradually, the people began to form related artistic creations of lions.
According to records, the lion has been an auspicious animal since it was introduced to China, and it is generally believed that it is an animal that can bring good luck.
The reason why the image of the lion really became a cultural symbol of China is due to the spread of Buddhism in China, because Buddhism has a great worship of lions, and even the image of Sakyamuni has been transformed into a lion.
Cultures such as gate-guarding lions and lion dances are more or less related to Buddhism. It is believed that the earliest record of lion dances was in the Northern Wei Dynasty, when lion dances were only performed during important Buddhist festivals (April 4).
Why a lion and not a tiger?
The worship of lions is not only common in China, it is common all over the world. For example, in areas like India where both lions and tigers exist, people worship lions far more than tigers.
So the interesting question is, why do people like lions instead of tigers?
This is also my question. Of course, I haven’t found any relevant explanation, so I can only guess. I think there are two main reasons: one is that the male characteristics of lions are more obvious, and the other is that lions are easier to tame than tigers.
Although lions and tigers are regarding the same level of strength, there is no obvious difference between male and female tigers, while male lions are obviously different from female lions, which makes sense in a patriarchal society.
On the other hand, tigers are solitary animals while lions are social animals.
Many people may not know that animals domesticated by humans are basically social animals, and very few solitary animals are domesticated. This is mainly because social animals have a strong sense of obedience, while solitary animals basically do not have it.
Even male lions have a strong sense of obedience, because they will form a lion alliance – usually a group of related male lions hunt together and occupy lion groups together. The lion alliance also has a boss and a second in command, and the second in command will be relatively obedient to the boss.
Therefore, male lions can usually be tamed, but tigers are relatively more difficult.
Ancient rulers liked to prove their power by taming large wild beasts, and they chose lions because they were much less dangerous than tigers.