Around 110 BC, China was during the reign of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty. After sending Wei Qing and Huo to the north to drive the Xiongnu, Emperor Wu of han took control of the western regions, and the Central Plains Dynasty officially began to rule the western regions. At this time, most of the Western Regions were Donghu people, which were a nomadic people who appeared in the Warring States period.
In 129 BC, the Xiongnu invaded the territory of the Han Dynasty from the south, and Emperor Wu of han sent Wei Qinghuo to fight back against the Xiongnu, while expelling them from the western region and recovering the Hetao region. At the same time, Zhang Qian was also sent as an envoy to the Western Regions to communicate with the Thirty-Six Kingdoms. It was also at this time that the countries of the Western Regions and the Great Han exchanged views with each other.
After the opening of the Silk Road, the Eastern Hu regime began to trade commercially with the Han Dynasty, and also paid tribute. For example, when Emperor Wu of Han was thirty-one years old, Dong Hu paid tribute to a "divine beast". Legend has it that it is huge and loud, which is daunting. The Hu people called it a "divine beast", which made Emperor Wu of Han very unhappy, after all, most of the Chinese sacred beasts were true dragons, that is, tianzi.
Emperor Wudi of Han was very disgusted with this "divine beast", so he asked people to take this one to feed the tiger, who knew that the tiger completely fell to the ground after encountering the "divine beast", and did not even dare to look at it. What kind of animal was this "Divine Beast" that made the King of the Hundred Beasts so afraid?
This story is recorded in the Book of the Later Han Dynasty, and the so-called "divine beast" is actually a lion. At that time, the Hu people called it "Shizi", and the Book of Later Han records: "When a tiger and a leopard see a master, they are all blind and dare not look up." "The tiger and leopard are afraid of the lion's majesty and dare not CCTV it." As a result, the status of lions in China began to be established, and many people believed that lions were more noble than tigers.
During the Ming Emperor of the Eastern Han Dynasty, the introduction of Buddhism ushered in the status of lions. In Buddhism, tigers are fierce beasts, and lions are beasts, so people generally prefer lions to dislike tigers. Every New Year's Festival, only the lion dance team is seen but there is no tiger dance, and there are stone lions in front of the door, but there are no stone tigers.
In fact, there are many reasons why the status of tigers has become lower, and the introduction of lions is only one. In the "Shuowen Tiger", it is recorded that the tiger and the king of the mountain beast are also. Tigers are also known as mountain kings in ancient times, and it is said that after tigers eat people, the dead will turn into ghosts and help tigers hunt living people, so there is a saying of "doing tricks for tigers". Therefore, in ancient times, many people were more afraid of tigers than they were in awe.
In ancient literature and poetry, Li Guang shot the tiger, Wu Song beat the tiger, Sun Quan shot the tiger, and so on, all of which showed force by shooting tigers. It's not just tigers that are fierce, it's mainly because it's rampant. In ancient times, many people died in the mouth of tigers, and tigers were seriously affected. Therefore, the government supports the hunters of the people to hunt tigers.
Lions are different, originally introduced species, it is too late to protect, how willing to hunt. As the saying goes, "things are scarce and expensive" is also suitable for use here, so the status of lions is higher than that of tigers. The tiger not only lost its status outside the beasts, but also gradually became a disaster disaster and was wantonly hunted and killed by humans. And the lion, because of its identity as an "imported product", has become a beast, and has a more high-end name "Fox", which is loved by people.
Nowadays, lions and tigers have become animals that we can often see, and even rare "lions and tigers" can be seen in zoos. Lions are no longer rare, tigers have become state protected animals, and no one dares to emulate Wu Song in fighting tigers. However, a question has always existed in the mind of the editor, that is, the lion and tiger directly singled out, who is more powerful?