Shi-Tzu Lions – granite mythological lions brought from China, decorate the ceremonial descent to the Neva opposite Peter I’s cabin. They were made in the Manchurian city of Girin for the prayer hall of the Chinese General Chan, but after his death, the new ruler of the city gifted these statues to Grodekov – the Governor-General of Priamurye, ethnographer and writer. He decided to regift these sculptures to Petersburg and at his own expense sent them to the capital. General Grodekov donated one thousand rubles of his own money for transportation costs and requested to install them on the new Peter’s Embankment near Peter the Great’s cabin. The city council accepted the gift. The total cost of transporting the lions from China to Petersburg was about 1000 rubles. At that time, this amount could buy 10 horses or 16 dairy cows. From Girin, the Shi-Tzu were transported by railway, and in Vladivostok they were loaded onto the steamer "Sopernik," which on September 4, 1907, safely arrived in Petersburg. By September 7, they were installed on massive pedestals on both sides of the granite descent to the Neva on Peter’s Embankment, constructed in 1901-1903 according to the project of architect Novikov and engineer Zbrozhek. Architect Benois, who consulted on the installation of the Shi-Tzu, believed the statues represented undeniable artistic interest and the location chosen for them was successful. In honor of the donor, the pedestals under the lions were inscribed: “Shi-Tzu from the city of Girin in Manchuria transported to Saint Petersburg in 1907. Gift of Infantry General N. I. Grodekov.”

The Shi-Tzu are carved from gray Manchurian granite, four and a half meters tall, each statue weighing two thousand four hundred kilograms. These decorative statues represent a rare example of Chinese monumental sculpture for Saint Petersburg. The statues do not look exactly like lions, but rather like fantastic guardian creatures, half-lion, half-dog, half-frog. They have large heads with short wide muzzles and half-open mouths with many sharp teeth, a protruding chest, strong front legs that are not lion-like at all. Why is that? Simply because lions never lived in China, and the Chinese had only a very approximate idea of what they looked like, so the fantastic appearance of the lion sculptures looks so unusual — the Chinese masters carved them as they imagined them; the word Shi-Tzu in Chinese means lion.

In China, stone and bronze sculptures of fantastic lion-like creatures were placed at the gates of imperial palaces, temples, and also in cemeteries.

Usually, the male beast is placed on the right, and the female on the left. The lion is depicted with an open mouth, and under its paw is a ball, which symbolizes Buddhist knowledge bringing light into darkness, and also has the power to fulfill wishes. The lioness, on the contrary, has a closed mouth, and under her paw sits a lion cub. It is believed that the open mouth is meant to scare away evil spirits from the guarded building, and the closed mouth – to keep good spirits inside. On Peter’s Embankment, both beasts have open mouths, it is unclear why this exception was made here. Apparently, there is some meaning behind it, as the Chinese are a people who carefully think everything through.

Emperor Nicholas II and the imperial family descend to the yacht on Peter’s Embankment. August 1912.

Privat-docent of Petersburg University Pavel Stepanovich Popov translated the hieroglyphic inscription carved on the statue slabs: “This lion was made in Girin on the lucky day of the tenth month of the 32nd year of the reigning emperor of the Dai-Qing dynasty, whose reign years are called Guangxu, meaning the continuation of glorious rule.”

Sources:

https://pantv.livejournal.com/1462518.html

http://www.visit-petersburg.ru/ru/showplace/194724/