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Yesterday, I posted about Shang-Chi, which inspired a conversation with my friend, Tanya. All of this centered on the fact that there are tons of stories from mythologies beyond Western Europe that we don’t generally see in American art. Leave it to the MCU to take that step with Shang-Chi. Well, today is Caturday, so let’s go back to Shang-Chi.
Guardian Lions (Shishi)
Shang-Chi displayed a host of animals from Chinese legend. Two that stood out were guardian lions.
In a language I don’t speak, they’re called shishi. Needless to say, the west has its own term for them: foo dogs. Yeah, we named them after dogs. We can’t even put them in the right taxonomical suborder.
Shishi traditionally guard places as a single, mated pair, one male and female, with a connection to the concept of yin and yang. There were only two in Shang-Chi guarding Ta Lo, so it looks like the MCU did at least a little bit of homework. They’re said to have the power to ward against things as threatening as disease and evil spirits to things as mundane as crowds and shar corners. Their role in the battle of Ta Lo is also consistent with legend. There isn’t a lot they could have done beyond that, but it’s good to see that they’re staying close enough to the legends as you can expect from cinema. Close enough for government work. (That’s a dig against Tanya.) 🙂
You can see this as introducing American audiences to other cultures; I see it as proof cats rule the world.
Play What You Want 
[…] returned to my 1st Edition AD&D (“1e“) database. Having recently discussed the shishi, it was a nice coincidence that I finished Fiend Folio‘s oriental dragons last night. There […]
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“In a language I don’t speak, they’re called shishi. Needless to say, the west has its own term for them: foo dogs. Yeah, we named them after dogs. We can’t even put them in the right taxonomical suborder.”
To be fair, lions never lived anywhere in China, and the traditional Chinese concept of a lion had about as much to do with real lions as those sea monsters on old maps have to do with actual sea animals. Also, those shishi (stone lions) do look more like Shih-Tzu dogs (aka shizi gou, or lion dogs) than lions, so there’s that.
Basically when westerners decided to call those things foo dogs they were looking through a distorted lens at an image that was already filtered through a different distorted lens.
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Wasn’t aware. Thanks for the explanation.
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[…] I discussed the introduction of eastern folklore and mythology to the MCU, and specifically discussed the shishi in Shang-Chi. This inspired me to crack open my new PDF of 1st Edition AD&D‘s […]
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[…] week, I discussed the Shishi, pointing out how Americans get exposed only to western mythology. That’s not exactly true. […]
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