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Alan K | all galleries >> Victoria (Especially Melbourne) >> 2005 to 2011 Miscellaneous Melbourne > 100403_074421_6865 Or One Hacked Off Lioness? (Sat 03 Apr 10)
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03-Apr-2010 AKMC

100403_074421_6865 Or One Hacked Off Lioness? (Sat 03 Apr 10)

Tianjin Gardens, Spring Street, East Melbourne, VIC, Australia

As mentioned in the previous image, a pair of guardian ("fu") lions stands outside the entrance to Tianjin Gardens in Spring Street Melbourne.

The sculptures were traditionally placed in pairs, one male, one female outside significant places of the Chinese government until the end of the final empire. The male one is typically seen holding an orb under his paw representing the physical world, the female with a cub representing family and home and spirituality. The far one clearly has an orb, the near one... well, that doesn't really look like a cub but I'd still assume this to be the female one if only from the fact that she's on the left as you look at them, which is apparently the usual position.

Here she looks quite fierce and hacked off. At what? Possibly at the twonk who left an empty coffee cup on her companion's plinth (which I disposed of before taking this shot) despite the presence of garbage bins about 2 metres to my right. You do have to wonder how some people were raised.

But is she annoyed? If you looked at the previous image, you'll have seen that from front on she looks more sad than annoyed.

Addendum: My personal opinion is that Facebook is a sociopathic organisation that steals other peoples' intellectual property (including the images in this gallery) despite being explicitly denied permission to do so.

Canon EOS 40D ,Canon EF 24-105mm f/4L IS USM
1/50s f/4.0 at 45.0mm iso200 full exif

other sizes: small medium large original auto
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