Chinese guardian lions standardized and formalized during the Ming and Qing dynasties into more or less its present form. (pinyin:) sì shì sì, shí shì shí, shí sì shì shí sì, sì shí shì sì shí, sì shí sì zhī shí shī zì shì sǐ de. (4 is 4, 10 is 10, 14 is 14, 40 is 40, 44 stone lions are dead.) Chinese guardian lions Chinese guardian lions or Imperial guardian lions, often miscalled "Foo Dogs" in the West, are a common representation of the lion in imperial China. Chinese guardian lions are sometimes referred to in English as shishi, from the
Dog in Chinese mythology to its descendant. Anthony C. Yu, editor and translator of "Journey to the West" associates this bird with the "ts'ang kêng" of Chinese mythology (1980: Volume III, 441, note 5 on chapter 63). The Tiangou ("Heavenly Dog") has been said to resemble a black dog or meteor, which is thought to eat the sun or moon during an eclipse, unless frightened away. According to the myths of various ethnic groups, a dog provided humans with the first grain seeds enabling the seasonal cycle of planting, harvesting, and replanting staple agricultural products by saving some of the seed grains to replant,