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The 'Lion' which popularly exists in the Chinese culture and custom, is seemingly incredible because China does not have lions and the description of lions by the Chinese nobles derived from their imaginations. Chinese temples all over China and overseas had these imaginative lion sculptures placed in the frontages. These lions were far from the true likeness of a real lion because the real ones have no horns. The traditions of the lion dance had a long history in China. These were recorded over thousands of years ago. In the Tang dynasty, the lion dance was performed in a group of five lions of different colours. Each lion was followed by twelve men dressed in colourful costumes, with a red band round the forehead and a red coloured brush in hand. These people were called 'lion-men' and they danced in tempo to the musical pieces called 'Tai-pin' melody.
This 'Tai-pin' melody was composed as early as (951-960 A.D.) during the Chow dynasty. It was recorded that the lion dance was accompanied by 140 people singing the melody and 64 dancers. Lion dance at the time was a grand occasion and it was of course different from the lion dance now.