During the Ching Dynasty was a time of war and internal problems, the Emperor of China at that time after a day in battle had a vivid dream. The dream was of a strange beast playing. This beast was lager than a dog but smaller than a horse and although it looked fierce its behaviour was unseemlier to a tiger. The next day being very interested to know what the beast was, the Emperor went to consult his official advisers. The advisers explained to him that this beast he saw was called a lion.

Later that day, after a glorious battle, which the Emperor’s armies won, the same dream, occurred to him. This time being very disturbed by the recurrence of the dream he went to consult his senior and most experienced advisers and consultants. These people explained to the Emperor that the lion was a gift from the gods. Since no lions existed within China, the god’s gift to him was to let the Emperor have everything. (This was deemed a good omen from the gods who favoured the Emperor).

On returning back to the palace after winning the battle, celebrations were evident everywhere. But still in the Emperor’s mind was the dream of the strange beast. Here on ‘talking to many of the Emperor’s court advisers they described to him how to go about and construct the features of this mystical lion. They explained how to use paper, cloth and bamboo to make this beast. The next battle the Emperor had, the lion became the symbol of good fortune for the armies. The battle was won and since then the result of this good omen is what we now call the lion dance.

As a result, today we now demonstrate the lion dance at all important festivals and occasions as the lion dance brings happiness, prosperity and good fortune to all the people attending the celebrations.