The creatures of Shenyang

We recently had some friends come to our city so of course we had to take them to the main tourist attraction of Shenyang - the Old Imperial Palace  or Gugong.  Think of the Forbidden City minus the crowds, ticket prices and size.  We've been there several times and I have many pictures.  This time, I focused on the creatures-the small details of the palaces and rooms.  The creatures are charming and fun and some have symbolism.

Dragons are the symbol of the Emperor- meaning properity and long life.  There are dragons all over the palace.

Dragon banners and military uniforms. 



The roofs also have creatures- I think this may be an elephant.

A woman riding something, more creatures and a wire to prevent a lightening strike.

There are the guard creatures.

Multi-colored creatures on the roof- plus amazing tile.

Going up the stairs.

Close up detail.

A sign for the human creatures- "Grass blue under the foot is forgiving."  Or.."Keep off the grass."

Speaking of creatures, we saw this fur hanging at a store outside the palace.  To me, these look like cat furs on some kind of white fur.  We went over to ask the man and he said they were the furs of wild cats that were bigger than domestic cats.  Maybe, maybe not- it was creepy.

Outside of the palace, something that people might be surprised to see in China- a Christian bookstore name Manna.

Across the street is the scroll shop where they make scrolls with Bible verses- if you look closely you can see that the sign above the door says "God is love" in English.  They have some beautiful things.

And when we got home, we were greated by our favorite Shenyang creature.