Number “9”and the Imperial Buildings

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It may not be common knowledge among Western visitors that the number “nine”carried a special significance in old China. Ancient Chinese regarded odd numbers as being masculine and even numbers as being feminine.”ine”, which is the largest single digit number, was taken to mean the “ultimate masculine”and was. therefore. smbol of the supreme sovereignty of the emperor. For this reason. the pumber nine”(or its multiples) is often emmloved in palace structures and designs.A noticeable esammle is the pmumber of studs on palace gates. The studs are usually arranged in nine rows of nine each. totaling eighty-one.

Ancient palaces generally consist of nine courtyards or quadrangles which are the same as the Teple of Confucius in Qufu, Shandong Province-a magnificent architectural complex worthy of an imperial household and testifying to the inportance attached to the great sage by the courts of various dynasties.

The number”nine”was sometimes combined with”five”to represent imperial majesty.The great hall on Tiananmen is 9 bays wide by 5 bays deep.An extreme example of the”game of nine”is perhaps the Circular Mound Altar（Huanqiu Tan）in the Teple of Heaven.Site for the Ming and Qing emperors to worship Heaven，the altar is arranged in three tiers.The upper terrace is made up of nine concentric rings of slabs.The first ring or the imermost circle consists of nine fan-shaped slabs，the second ring 18（2×9）slabs，the third 27（3×9）…unti1 the last or ninth ring which is made up of 81 or 9 ×9 slabs.

The number”nine”is not only used on buildings.The New Year dinner for the iperial house was composed of 99 dishes.To celebrate the birthday of an emperor，the stage performances must coprise of 99 numbers as a sign of good luck and long life.

The lion is a special animal to Chinese people.A pair of stone lions，a male and a female，can often be seen in front of the gates of traditional buildings.The male lion is on the left with his right paw resting on a ball，and the female on the right with her left paw fondling a cub.

The lion was regarded as the king in the animal world so its image represented power and prestige.The ball played by the male lion svmbolized the unity of the empire，and the cub with the feale thriving offspring.

The stone lions were also used to indicate the ranks of officials by the nmumber of lups representing the curly hair on the head of the lion.The houses of first grade officials had lions with 13 lups and the number of lumps decreased by one as the rank of the officialwent dogn each grade.officials below the seventh grade were not allowed to bave stone lions in front of their houses.

A.D..the King of Parthia presented a lion to him.nother lion was given b aCetral Asian country non as Yuezhi in the nest year.

The earliest stone lions were sculpted at the beginming of the Eastern Han dynasty（25-220 A.D.）with the introduction of Buddhisn into ancient China.It is said，Sakyamni，the founder of Buddhism，was seen after birth”to point to Heaven with one hand and to Earth with another，roaring like a lion.”In the Buddhist faith，the lion is considered a divine animal of nobleness and dignity，which can protect the Truth and keep off evils.

It was also popular to decorate bridges with sculpted-stone lions for the same reason.The best known of this is the Lugou Qiao（also as Marco Polo Bridge），built from 1189 to 1192.The stone lions on the posts of the bridge are most famous.It is said there are 485 lions in all，but there may be 498 or 501.A famous proverb says”the lions on the Lugou Qiao are uncountable.”