The concept, which originated and became popular in Chinese Buddhism, features a pair of Asiatic lions—often one male with a ball which represents the material elements and one female with a cub which represents the element of spirit— that were thought to protect the building from harmful spiritual influences and harmful people that might be a threat.

Used in imperial Chinese palaces and tombs, the lions subsequently spread to other parts of Asia including Japan (see komainu), Korea, Mongolia, the Philippines, Tibet, Thailand, Myanmar, Vietnam, Sri Lanka, India, Nepal, Cambodia, Laos, Singapore, and Malaysia.

[2] Lions were first presented to the Han court by emissaries from Central Asia and Persia, and were already popularly depicted as guardian figures by the sixth century AD.

Because of the high cost of these materials and the labor required to produce them, private use of guardian lions was traditionally reserved for wealthy or elite families.

Symbolically, the female lion protects those dwelling inside (the living soul within), while the male guards the structure (the external material elements).

[8] With increased trade during the Han dynasty and cultural exchanges through the Silk Road, lions were introduced into China from the ancient states of Central Asia by peoples of Sogdiana, Samarkand, and the Yuezhi (月氏) in the form of pelts and live tribute, along with stories about them from Buddhist priests and travelers of the time.

[9] Several instances of lions as imperial tributes from Central Asia were recorded in the document Book of the Later Han (後漢書) written from 25 to 220 CE.

On one particular event, on the eleventh lunar month of 87 CE, "... an envoy from Parthia offered as tribute a lion and an ostrich"[10] to the Han court.

[11] There are various styles of guardian lions reflecting influences from different time periods, imperial dynasties, and regions of China.