| Summary: | 碩士 === 國立成功大學 === 歷史學系碩博士班 === 95 === Lion has never been native to China but it did play a role in Chinese culture where its image is seen in architectures, daily objects and everywhere. It was brought into China in the Eastern Han Dynasty and kept in the royal courts and it was difficult for the common people to catch a sight of it and therefore started to imagine it to be an extremely powerful animal dominating animal kingdom. The sculptured stone lions were at first used to guard the mausoleum and craftsmen represented them in an original and imaginative way, not only true to lion itself but also alike to tiger. The representation of them varied in accordance with the change of dynasties, from imposing and powerful to mild and tamed in its appearance, from a simple and modest to complicated and elaborate style in decorations.
Around the turn of Ming and Qing dynasties a great number of Han people migrated into Taiwan, bringing with them culture and customs of their original habitats. Most of the immigrants were then from Fu-Chien and Guang-dong areas and the representation of lion of the early Qing Taiwan bore deep resemblance to the its counterpart in the southern China, delicately-shaped but short and small in torso, lively in facial expression, simple in style. It became more elaborate in the late Qing Period. As for the material used, in the early period it was largely made of sandstone, granite or basalt but in the late Qing and Japanese Colonial Period it also used andesite of which there was an abundant quarry in the northern part of Taiwan.
In the Japanese Colonial Period Japanese people set up Jinja (“shrine”) in different parts of Taiwan and introduced therewith the traditional guardian animal of Jinja, called komainu. The komainu is very different from the traditional Han stone lion but more similar to Pekingese, with a greater variety in facial expression, violent, mild or cute. Apart from komainu acting as guardian animal there is also a Tang stone lion which is more similar to traditional Han stone lion but its kind could not be easily seen. From the stylistic perspective the exotic komainu and traditional Han stone lion coexisted well and from the combination of their features was born a new style of stone lion particular to Taiwan.
The Taiwan stone lion has undergone an evolution for several hundred years and its style has changed accordingly. Yet, whatever kind of change it underwent, stone lion has remained the guardian animal of Taiwanese belief and life. Amid the historical vicissitudes and the cultural impacts this variety of styles has a great significance and also proves the tolerating spirit of Taiwanese culture.
The present research is aimed at an analysis of the changes in stylistic features of stone lions in its different periods at Taiwan. The first chapter is general in its orientation, dealing with motivations and purposes of this research. The second chapter is an analysis of the development of stone lions after its introduction into China. The third chapter will place a stress on the stylistic features of stone lions in the Ming-Qing period (pre-1895) and try an attempt at a chronology of the changes in styles, represented by a chart that details its various features. The fourth chapter is about the Taiwanese stone lion in the Japanese Colonial Period (1895-1945) and will analyze three different systems of stone lions (traditional Han stone lion, komainu and Tang stone lion) in their different stylistic features, with a chronological chart of their styles. The fifth chapter deals with criteria and justification for the identification of features and employs the chronological chart of stylistic features to investigate stone lions which are uncertain in dating. A few suggestions will be made for their identification and dating. The last chapter is a tentative conclusion, attached with a record of the field study of all the stone lions that could dated certainly before 1945.
|
|---|
