Cast in the 10th century, it stands more than five meters high and weighs 49 tons. Chinese lions do not just guard gates. Bridges often feature lion sculptures, by the way. The balustrades of the 17-arch bridge at the Summer Palace in Beijing, for instance, are topped with 120 marble lions, no two of them exactly alike. Sone are menacing, others seem to be peering into the lake.
Females have frisky cubs lying on their backs or peeking out from their embrace.
The bridge most famous for its lions, however,is the Lugou Bridge,southwest of Beijing. Built in the 12th century , this imposing bridge is 266.5 meters long and 7.5 meters wide and stands on 11 arches. Westerners call it the Marco Polo Bridge, because the 13th century Italian traveler,Marco Polo,crossed it and wrode a vivid description of it in his Travels. On the top of each balustrade post is atleast one stone lion. Many of the bigger ones have small ones on their backs or under their bellies.